Ural Federal University and WSB Academy Create Start-Ups

09:25, December 4, 2020

University students develop start-ups together with Polish colleagues

A two-week Russian-Polish workshop is coming to an end, in which students of the Ural Federal University and the Higher School of Business (WSB) Academy participate. In mixed teams, they work on developing their own ideas, which can be turned into a startup, and will present them to the jury on Friday.

Students work on startups independently; they are consulted by Pavel Urgach, head of the international service of the WSB Academy. In addition, every day there are conversations and meetings with experts from the field of business and entrepreneurship, teachers who tell you where and how you can get support for your startups, how to develop a team, which algorithms of project activities must be taken into account.

For example, at the first lecture, students were told where in Poland one can find support for developing their own business, what organizations and structures provide grants and material support and how to report on them, what infrastructure is there for startups in this country.

The workshop is held as a test of cooperation between UrFU and WSB in the field of joint educational projects. UrFU signed an agreement on a double degree program with the Academy of Data Science. This will be the trajectory under the Practical Data Analysis Master's program, starting in September 2021.

“We constantly have ideas for new joint projects for cooperation. When two universities are in a friendly dialogue, then we constantly exchange information and ideas. The Academy is a private university, here they are forced to constantly look for grants, including international ones. If the conditions of the grant allow, then they invite UrFU as a partner from Russia, ”says Vladimir Gryaznov, coordinator for international cooperation in the framework of the Practical Data Analysis master's program.

He also notes that UrFU is interested in the development of international project workshops on Data Science.

“We are witnessing global changes in the economy and the higher education system around the world. We have no guarantees that our decisions are correct, but we believe that the development of this kind of network forms of interaction, testing of different hypotheses in the partnership strategy is a guarantee of the formation of a student learning model that is resistant to external shocks in modern conditions using digital technologies. We have a unique chance to create and develop new innovative practices in digital international education, ”adds Vladimir Gryaznov.

About UrFU and USB Cooperation

UrFU and WSB began to cooperate last year - the vice-rector for international relations of the Polish university Rafal Rebilas came to Yekaterinburg on May 9. Friendship developed between universities, which grew into interaction within the framework of Erasmus Mundus programs, mutual guest lectures, participation in UrFU conferences (for example, EdCrunch Ural). The idea of ​​creating a joint program on Data Science within the framework of the international scientific and methodological center for the transfer of competencies in the digital economy of UrFU also arose.