The Mega School is open to everyone who participated in the Mega Contest, a national student competition for Bachelor’s students and graduates. This year, the contest features 27 tracks within every discipline available to ITMO’s Bachelor’s students and has welcomed 2,000 participants. Apart from getting into the university without exams, winners will receive relocation packages: they will be supported during their move to St. Petersburg and have their dorm fees covered throughout the entire period of studies.

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Key Facts About the Second Season of ITMO’s Mega Contest

The Mega School is held as part of the contest for the first time this year. The event is meant to not only introduce applicants to the university’s fields and opportunities, but also to offer them another chance to enter ITMO’s Master’s programs without exams. Whereas at the Mega Contest participants have to solve tasks right away, at the Mega School they first get to attend lectures and develop their cases with ITMO’s lecturers – and only then present them to an expert board.

Photo by ITMO.NEWS

Photo by ITMO.NEWS

School schedule

The Mega School will last four days, from February 27 till March 2. The first two days will feature lectures from ITMO’s keynote speakers, including Alexander Boukhanovsky, a professor at the Faculty of Digital Transformation; Andrey Anfinogenov, the dean of the Faculty of Technological Management and Innovation; Anton Boytsev, an associate professor at the Research and Educational Center for Mathematics; and Daria Denisova, the head of the Center for Science Communication. At these talks, students will learn how to apply for grants, publish their first article, attract investments to their startup, and make a successful presentation. Moreover, they’ll get to learn about data analysis and the capacities of contemporary AI.

Then, in the last two days of the school, the participants will pick one of the 19 tracks with more lectures, meetings with ITMO’s lecturers, and the chance to work on their own cases or projects.

Depending on the track, at the end of the school, the participants will either defend their project or take a test. Those who successfully complete the task will have the opportunity to enter ITMO’s Master’s programs within their track without exams.

“The Mega School is a great opportunity for the participants of the Mega Contest to learn more about ITMO’s top fields. We’ve developed a program that features hard and soft skills and offers the chance to apply them in practice. For example, within the track Artificial Intelligence participants will develop an idea for an actual product, while the track of the Faculty of Technological Management and Innovations will give students the opportunity to develop an MVP and present it in front of experts. Moreover, at the school the participants will get to meet ITMO’s lecturers and learn all about their projects,” says Yulia Tolstykh, head of ITMO’s Educational Marketing Office.