Developing Human Potential for the Modern Digital World

Venue: the city of Kazan, IEC KAZAN EXPO, Hall 12.

Time: 18.05.2023, 15:40–17:00

Organizer: University of Innopolis, ANO VO

Venue: the city of Kazan, IEC KAZAN EXPO, Hall 12.

Moderator: Maria Obraztsova, Director of the Institute of Additional Education of Innopolis University, ANO VO

Speakers:

Erdal Balci, Co-founder and Head of Bodrum Private College of British Culture;

Yulia Munavirovna Guseva, Head of the Center for Specialized IT Training, Innopolis University, ANO VO

Imam Muwaffak Mohd Fawaz Sudki, Lecturer, Department of Computer and Engineering Sciences, Institute of Software Development and Software Engineering, Industrial Software Development Laboratory, Innopolis University, ANO VO

Svinin Aleksander Aleksandrovich, Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Indonesia;

Fuad Magerramov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Agency for the Development of Economic Zones under the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan;

Sevara Khidoyatova, Chief Analyst and Monitoring Specialist at the Department of Investments and International Relations of IT Park Uzbekistan;

Sharipova Anna Nikolaevna, Managing Director for National Projects of the Rostec State Corporation, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RT - National Initiatives, ANO.

Erdal Balci, Co-founder and Head of the Bodrum Private College of British Culture (BIKK), said there are 19,000 secondary schools in Turkey, and 2,200 of which are private. The BIKK educational program differs from the programs in public and other private schools by the fact that children in BIKK study 210 days a year, but not 180. An additional four weeks are used to adapt the child to a new environment, draw up individual educational plans, including the choice of hobby clubs, sports sections, and extra classes. The school also pays great attention to mentoring, creating a comfortable atmosphere and bringing up emotional intelligence.

Yulia Guseva, Head of the Center for Specialized IT Training at Innopolis University, spoke about the experience of the University in organizing IT training for schoolchildren. Currently, a large number of schoolchildren are showing interest in programming. The Specialized IT Training Center conducts training within the framework of the Code of the Future project, where schoolchildren of grades 8-11 can receive IT education free of charge during the calendar year in four programs. More than 2 thousand schoolchildren have already completed their courses and 15 graduates have become students of Innopolis University. Currently, almost 8,000 schoolchildren from all over the country are enrolled in the courses. Intensive courses are planned for the summer.

Imam Muwaffak Mohd Fawaz Sudki, Lecturer at the Department of Computer and Engineering Sciences of the Institute of Software Development and Software Engineering, Industrial Software Development Laboratory of Innopolis University, ANO VO received his first higher education at the University of Jordan, and then took the opportunity to continue his education and entered the Innopolis University. Academic mobility requires you to leave your country and part with your family, and possibly, temporarily decrease your financial situation. On the other part, it provides an opportunity to plunge into a new professional environment, gain useful knowledge and skills, become more independent, make friends, and get to know a new culture. Imam Muwaffak considers his decision to move to Innopolis the best decision of his life and urges never to miss the opportunity to continue studying, not to fall into the trap of “a comfort zone” and strive to gain new knowledge and develop your skills.

Alexander Svinin, Trade Representative of Russia in Indonesia, introduced the session participants to the state of IT education in Indonesia. Currently, modern types of technology are being actively introduced into the Indonesian education system. This is due, among other things, to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, as a result of which more than 530 thousand schools were closed and more than 68 million students were transferred to home schooling. In 2021, only 80% of children attended school. This is due to the territorial features of the country, located on the islands, 6 thousand of which are inhabited. Accordingly, there is a very high demand in affordable educational solutions in Indonesia, thus the online solutions from Russia can be in high demand.

The main difficulties in the development of online education in Indonesia are: difficult access to funding for projects in the field of online education, poor digital infrastructure, lack of qualified personnel, unwillingness of some parents to pay for additional education, high costs for attracting and retaining new customers.

In a country with a population of 280 million people, less than 1% of the working-age population (998 thousand people) is employed in the development of IT solutions. The country's authorities are actively trying to remedy the shortage of qualified personnel by launching additional education programs and establishing scholarships for higher education.

Alexander Svinin also drew attention to the fact that Russian IT companies entering the Indonesian market should consider the peculiarities of the country, in particular: it is possible to develop IT services here only being inside the country; hence, significant investments are required for the logistics of development teams; and thus, it is more efficient to hire local specialists. In Indonesia, 90% of users use the mobile Internet, therefore, all developments must be adapted for mobile devices. In addition, there may be communication problems, as English is not widely spoken, and knowledge of the Indonesian language is required.

Fuad Magerramov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Economic Zones Development Agency under the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, said that the Economic Zones Development Agency was established in 2021 with the aim of organizing the activities, management and development of industrial parks, industrial quarters and agricultural parks in Azerbaijan. Currently, the Agency manages 6 industrial parks, 4 industrial districts and 51 agricultural parks.

The total area occupied by industrial parks is 1202 hectares. They have 127 residents, in which 10,362 new jobs have been created. Residents of industrial zones in the first 10 years are exempt from income taxes, real estate, land tax, VAT.

51 agricultural parks occupy an area of 239.3 thousand hectares, and their total investments volume comprises USD1.4 billion.

Educational institutions are being created in industrial zones to train highly qualified specialists in 15 areas, who receive both theoretical knowledge and practical skills on the basis of industrial sites.

Sevara Khidoyatova, Chief Analyst and Monitoring Specialist at the Department of Investments and International Relations of IT Park Uzbekistan. IT Park Uzbekistan is a special economic extraterritorial zone providing support for IT companies, including startups launching, development of educational courses and promotion of resident program.

IT Park Uzbekistan operates IT Park University, the country's first distance education university. In 2021, a large-scale project “One Million Uzbek Coders” was launched, which is a free online platform for training population the skills of programming and working with digital technologies. As a result, 1.1 million people received certificates of education. In 2022, a joint project was launched with Coursera, the international platform of open online education, within which 1.2 million young people will be able to take online courses on Coursera and receive the corresponding certificates.

IT Park Uzbekistan has 1300 residents, including 130 companies from Russia. Residents enjoy tax preferences. A relocation program is available for future residents from other countries.

Uzbekistan has great potential in the IT field. It is the largest country in Central Asia, with a population of more than 36 million people; about 60% of the population are people under 30 years old, IT programs are taught at 65 universities, Internet coverage in the country is 99%, GDP growth in 2022 amounted to 5.7%. The country is launching additional IT education programs not only in its capital, but also in the regions, and many joint projects are being developed with foreign partners.

Anna Sharipova, Managing Director for National Projects of the Rostec State Corporation, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of RT - National Initiatives, ANO emphasized that for a company to comply with the digital agenda, it is necessary to teach the management team not to be scared of new terms and understand the need in them. For this in mind, it is necessary to include the sections on eliminating digital illiteracy in training programs.

As for the IT education of children, according to Anna Sharipova, training of children is not synchronized with the digital agenda of the country. They should learn not only programming, but also study such relevant areas as quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, bioengineering technologies, distributed registry technologies, the Internet of things, etc. It is necessary to assess if children are ready for the reality in which the country is actively investing.

When preparing programmers, it is necessary to teach future specialists to associate software development with the final product for which it is being developed, so that it becomes of the highest quality and does not require additional implementation costs. We must educate thoughtful programmers, and such an integrated approach can become our huge competitive advantage.

In conclusion, the speaker emphasized that management at any level should understand that digital technology is already an integral part of any industry operation process, and learn how to use it.