Ural Federal University Speeds Up Digitalization of Russian Economy
The rapid implementation of digitalization in the Russian economy is becoming an increasingly urgent task, and the demand for project management specialists in this area is constantly growing. The Ural Federal University master’s program “Smart Region: Sustainable Development in the Digital Economy” is designed to fill the shortage of such specialists.
The specifics, opportunities and unique advantages of the program were described today at the TASS-Ural press center by Evgeny Gurarii, the Russian President’s Plenipotentiary Representative in the Urals Federal District and the Head of the Educational Program, Mikhail Ponomarkov, the Minister of Digital Development and Communications of the Sverdlovsk Region, and Alexandra Iskhizova, the Head of the Corporate and Government Segments of Rostelecom in the Urals.
According to Evgeny Gurarii, the educational program is based on an interdisciplinary framework that combines skills and competencies in economics, finance and management, business analytics, digital technologies, public administration, urban planning, housing and utilities, and sociology.
“The purpose of the program is to meet the demand for specialists in the implementation of digital projects for the benefit of territories,” says Gurarii. – We have sectors whose activities directly affect the development of cities and regions: housing and utilities, electricity, logistics, social sector, healthcare, education. The role of digitalization is very large here, and the tasks of implementing digital solutions are of the utmost importance. To successfully implement such projects, we need competent managers.”
The program consists of a large number of modules. In particular, there is a module dedicated to digital twins and their implementation in a specific industry. A separate module focuses on BIM and SIM technologies in design and construction. There are modules dedicated to big data and learning the basic rules of Python programming.
“The program is aimed at providing key skills related to how this or that technology works, how much it costs, and how it can be used,” emphasizes Evgeny Gurarii. – And the trainees are given the skills and abilities to manage a digital project from development to implementation and maintenance.”
An important factor in the success of the program is the partnership with the business community. The key partner is Rostelecom, which reviews the content of the educational program and makes recommendations for its improvement.
“We have been working with UrFU for a long time, our lecturers have helped to form a program around three key blocks: digitization of business, financing of such programs, and interaction between business and the state in terms of digital transformation,” says Alexandra Iskhizova. – It is very important that a student of the program acquires competencies not only from the theoretical part, but also from the practical part. As part of the course, Rostelecom provides an opportunity for internships and in-depth study of already implemented projects. An important advantage is that we have experience working not only in one federal district, but all over Russia. We are interested in training really high-quality specialists in this field.”
This year will be the third intake for the program, with 17 state-funded places available for applicants. Those who wish to enroll must submit documents and take tests, all of which can be done online.
“The region now has a shortage of specialists in this area,” adds Mikhail Ponomarkov. – This also applies to specialists not directly related to IT. We need specialists who understand digitalization and software products. Every civil employee works with some software products, digital services, and this is where we see a real need for additional training of specialists. In Russia as a whole, the shortage of IT specialists is between 500,000 and 1 million people. In the Sverdlovsk Region the shortage of such specialists is about 5.5 thousand people”.