The Academic Council Announced Plans for the Future

Admission numbers

The rector mentioned that 2016 admission process differed from the previous ones. In 2016, the following strategy was used: to enroll fewer students but choose those with higher results. This year, the applicant’s average Unified State Exam’s result was 86,7 points (100 are maximum), which is 12 points more than in 2015. There are 220 freshmen who won school Olympiads. Furthermore, 42,6% of newcomers got enhanced scholarships because their overall points for the 3 exams were from 260 to 300 points. This year the University has increased the number of positions for Master’s students; what’s more, 51% of newcomers received their Bachelors’ degrees at other universities. The competition has also increased from 2 to 2.36 people per position. Some 93 young specialists have chosen distance courses – these numbers proved the efficiency of this new addition to the system.

“This year we’ve focused on quality rather than quantity. We didn’t enroll school leavers whose results didn’t meet our requirements and yet were not afraid of not having enough students.”

The rector also mentioned that the amount of international students has increased from 2% to 17.2% in comparison with last year. This breakthrough correlates with the internationalization strategy of the University.

The top three events of 2016

The 110th Anniversary of ITMO University's First Graduation was a bright opening of the past academic year. The celebration received positive feedback from its’ participants and guests. On the same day, ITMO.Store opened. The store offers various products with ITMO’s motto and logo: clothes, phone and tablet cases as well as souvenir items.

“All the events were organized so as to unite everybody and create a family, which is a community for students, staff, alumni and even applicants” said Vladimir Vasilyev.

In 2016, Institute of Refrigeration and Biotechnology celebrated its` 85^th anniversary. Moreover, 5 years passed since it has joint ITMO University. During the meetings and sessions dated for the anniversary the experts agreed on to the point that it was a right decision to become a part of the University – according to them, this change led to many positive results, noted Vladimir Vasilyev.

To prepare for the celebrations it was decided to invest in the maintenance of University’s buildings and dormitories. Unfortunately, deadlines were not met because of the grave damages of some parts of buildings. However, it was planned to complete the work by the end of 2016.

The third significant event took place in March. The officials of ITMO University presented the 5-100 Project roadmap to the International Council on Competitiveness Enhancement of Leading Russian Universities among Global Research and Education Centers. The experts appreciated ITMO’s development strategy, plans and goals as well as its’ high growth rate. ITMO team also talked to council’s representatives about focusing on Master’s and PhD studies, progress in international contacts and social media promotion.

Plans for the forthcoming academic year

The top-priority goal for the next year is to develop ITMO’s Strategic Academic Units that are focused on cutting age areas of modern knowledge.  These units are represented by three Schools that will have more financial freedom. According to the plan, the paperwork connected with restructuring is to be completed before the beginning of the next academic year.

“The second goal is complex and multisided because it is connected with quality of education. Both students and executives are not satisfied with the educational model based on Soviet standards. There are few opportunities to choose the courses, students can’t evaluate the quality of lecturers’ work. The rules of educational process have to be changed. At the Academic Council’s session in September we will discuss directions for changings that will have to be implemented until 1st of September, 2017,” commented Mr. Vasilyev.

The third goal is related to increasing Master’s and PhD programs' efficiency. According to Vladimir Vasilyev, ITMO enrolled more Master’s and PhD students this year and reduced the Bachelors’ positions .

At the end of his speech, the Rector congratulated colleagues and students with the beginning of the new academic year.