27 UrFU Master’s Students Awarded Prestigious Potanin Foundation Scholarships
In the academic year 2023/24 the Master’s students of the Ural Federal University once again took part in the Vladimir Potanin Foundation scholarship competition. 144 UrFU students made it to the second stage of the competition, where they had to demonstrate their creative and intellectual abilities and experience in teamwork and project activities. Business games, interviews, and case studies were used for selection. As a result, 750 students from 72 universities, including 27 UrFU Master’s students, won the competition.
Among the leading universities in terms of the number of winners are the Higher School of Economics, Moscow State University, ITMO University, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, and UrFU. Now the participants of the program will receive a monthly personal scholarship from Vladimir Potanin of 25 thousand rubles (from February 2024 until the end of their studies).
The 2023/24 scholars are studying in 101 fields of study. The most popular are Management, Biology, Education, Physics and Economics. New specializations include public health and industrial pharmacy. The Ural Institute of Humanities has the largest number of scholarship holders. There are 11 scholarship holders, and the Institute of Economics and Management is in second place with 5 scholarship holders.
According to the organizers, the format of the scholarship competition is constantly updated, but the goal remains the same: to support the most active, talented, and dedicated students from Russian universities, to create a community of creative professionals, and to consolidate their efforts in solving complex social problems.
“This year’s scholarship competition is marked by changes. One of the most relevant topics today is the use of artificial intelligence. We decided to give students the opportunity to use AI when preparing their applications. At the same time, the applicant had to be informed about it and agree to an individual interview. As a result, 17 people took advantage of this opportunity – mostly students of technical fields, including informatics, robotics, and computer science,” says Oksana Oracheva, General Director of the Potanin Foundation.
Another important update is based on the results of a study on the effectiveness of the scholarship program, which the Potanin Foundation conducted together with the Zirkon research group. According to the CEO of the Foundation, the feedback received confirmed the existence of a demand for the development of flexible skills, as well as the need to take into account the project approach to education, which is now integrated into the educational process of most universities.