I Am a Professional is a student competition held as part of the national project Youth and Children and supported by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
The competition welcomes Bachelor’s, Specialists, and Master’s students from a diverse range of fields, including engineering, humanities, natural sciences, pedagogy, agriculture, and medicine. This season, the contest will be held in 70 strategic fields of science, technology, and culture, including several new ones: Product Management in Digital Business, Green Metallurgy, International Relations, and many others.
The contest includes a qualifying (online) and a final round. It seeks to assess both theoretical knowledge and practical competencies. The most successful participants will have the chance to join the It’s Your Call! forum, which will feature expert-led lectures, workshops by programming champions, corporate tours, and a case championship.
“ITMO University helps organize the I Am a Professional contest every year. Our tracks bring together students from different universities to work on cases prepared by the university’s top experts and leading Russian companies,” say the competition’s organizers at ITMO.
Medalists, winners, and prize-winners will be granted benefits when enrolling in the university’s programs: these are exam-free admission for Master’s applicants and additional points for PhD applicants. This year, 65 contest participants entered ITMO University.
All contestants will have access to a career platform with internships and job listings from partners.
The registration form and updates can be found on the competition’s official website (in Russian). Registration will be open until November 11. The qualifying round will take place from November 14 to December 1 and the final round – from February to April 2026. The results of the contest will be announced in late spring.
ITMO students regularly participate in the competition; last season, 13 of them were named medalists and 120 – diploma winners – this is one of the top results among participating universities.
The general partner of the competition is Sberbank.
