Ilya Obabkov: "We Do Everything to Keep the Educational Process Attractive and Relevant"

11:28, July 8, 2022

The director of the Engineering School of Information Technologies, Telecommunications and Control Systems shared the institute's successes and plans

Ilya Obabkov, Director of the Engineering School of Information Technologies, Telecommunications and Control Systems of UrFU, told how in 20 years the Institute managed to increase enrollment several times (more than 4,800 students study on state-founded and contract basis), as well as to become a leader in innovation in education and in terms of graduate employment among the departments of UrFU.

"Today, the educational process at the institute is built at the junction of the traditions of high-class engineering education and new modern approaches. Digital technologies are spreading into education, and we need to work with this challenge. For example, our institute was the first in Ural Federal University to use the project-based learning method and offer students a wide range of individual educational trajectories," said Ilya Obabkov.

For example, the institute has been working for three years with Custis, the developer of "Modeus 3.0," a system necessary for course selection and implementation of flexible student scheduling.

In addition, IRIT-RTF is a leader in the number of special courses with industrial partners. More than 40 companies actively participate in the Institute's educational process. For example, Sberbank, Yandex, Alfa-Bank, UPKB Detal, NPO Automatics, Tinkoff Bank, and MegaFon. Among IRIT-RTF's partners are such IT industry leaders as Ekaterinburg companies Kontur, Ural Center of Security Systems, Naumen, and Prosoft Systems.

"We provide our students with a great variety of additional educational and extracurricular formats and events: such as an information security club, scientific and practical conferences, programming and cybersports competitions, chess tournaments, construction camps, meetings with companies, job fairs, internships, student festivals and, of course, Radio Day," said the Institute Director.

This year, IRIT-RTF has renewed several master's programs, and a new direction "Artificial Intelligence Engineering" has appeared.

"When we design our programs, we put the student at the center of the educational process and we think in terms of the student's interests: What should a master's degree provide, what could he stay in our walls for two more years? What are the possible options for a graduate student to succeed in?" - Obabkov said.

Several new types of master's programs are now being implemented at the Institute. Some programs focus on the Master's student as a well-educated professional who already has work experience and decides to deepen his knowledge, for example, in the area of information system architecture or artificial intelligence and data analysis. The joint master's program "Applied Data Analysis" with Sber is already based on these principles, as is the joint master's program on information security with MIPT and Ural Center of Security Systems.

Another option for the design of the Master's program is to train and develop researchers. This is a Master's program only for those who see themselves in science and plan to continue their PhD studies.

"We expect our Master's students to succeed in basic and applied research in all major areas," emphasized Ilya Obabkov.

The third option is a Master's degree as a way of professional retraining. For example, for those who were educated in physics, mechanical engineering, chemistry, and economics, but are ready to connect their professional life with information technology or instrumentation, to complement their professional activities with digital skills. Such programs are now being developed and are planned to be launched in the near future.

• UrFU Master's Degree Programs in English 

The news article was translated by UrFU International Marketing Office
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