Solving a puzzle
ITMO’s admission campaign this year included an intriguing quest that started with a mysterious haiku on billboards, which you could see all around St. Petersburg. Those who decided to learn more about the poem could google it and solve the mystery by applying their cryptography, steganography, markup, and programming skills, as well as logical thinking.
Ilya Shapovalov became the first out of over 5,000 participants to complete all 15 stages of the quest and was given the opportunity to enter any Bachelor’s program at ITMO University as part of the ITMO.STARS initiative.
One of the builboards with ITMO's haiku (A single photon // Lonely without entropy // Singularity). Credit: ITMO University
Key stats
Bachelor’s studies
ITMO University evaluated over 13,000 applications for Bachelor’s programs. As a result, over 1,300 students were accepted on the tuition-free basis and over 1,100 applicants became tuition-based students. In previous years, the numbers were lower – 1,100 tuition-free Bachelor’s students and 700 tuition-based students in 2020, and 1,277 and 924 students correspondingly in 2021.
A record-breaking number – 609 students – was admitted through academic competitions, which is two times higher than at other St. Petersburg universities.
A total of 24 students were admitted through the ITMO.STARS contest, which is also a record broken – last year, there were only 19. Kronbars.Stars, a contest for applicants engaged in sports, made it possible for seven people to get enrolled.
The most popular subject areas among all Bachelor’s applicants, including competition winners, were Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Information Systems and Technologies, Software Engineering, Physics and Engineering, and Chemical Engineering. The average USE points increased, too: 301 for Applied Mathematics and 308 for Information Systems and Technologies.
ITMO's 2022 admission campaign. Photo by Dmitry Grigoryev, ITMO.NEWS
Master’s studies
Over 9,000 applications for Master’s programs were submitted in 2022. 76% of the applicants have acquired a Bachelor’s degree at another university.
The most applied-for programs were: Game Development Technologies (nearly five people per position), Data Analytics (four people per position), Programming and Internet Technologies (~4 people per position), and Multimedia Technologies, Design and Usability (~4 people per position). Among brand-new programs launched this year, the most popular are Machine Learning Engineering and Deep Learning and Generative AI.
Interdisciplinary programs also remain a hit. Among them, most applications (on average, three per position) were submitted to Art & Science, Digital Humanities, and Public Health Sciences.
A total of 26% of students were admitted without having to take entrance exams thanks to the portfolio contest, the I Am a Professional contest, and the Congress of Young Scientists, as well as other competitions and hackathons hosted by ITMO’s schools and departments.
For third and fourth year Bachelor’s students, ITMO hosted a Megacontest, the winners of which can be automatically admitted to the university’s Master’s programs. Over 30 students were granted this opportunity this year.
ITMO's 2022 admission campaign. Photo by Dmitry Grigoryev, ITMO.NEWS
PhD studies
In 2022, ITMO University offered 309 tuition-free PhD positions, which is also a record-breaking number. For instance, in 2020 there were only 266. Among the applicants were citizens of France, the US, China, India, Algeria, and the CIS countries.
Among the most popular were IT programs, such as Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Robots, Mechatronics and Robotics Systems, biology-related programs (six people per position), as well as Agricultural Engineering and Food Technologies (four people per position).
This year, PhD applicants had the chance to preliminarily choose their future scientific advisor and a thesis topic.
New website
As part of the 2022 admission campaign, ITMO University was promoted not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Moscow and other regions, with a total reach of over 10 millions potential applicants.
ITMO also launched a new website for its applicants (available in Russian). It changed both in terms of design and functionality, and now it’s easier to navigate the information about educational programs and curricula. Alyona Gupaisova, head of ITMO’s Marketing Department, notes that according to the website traffic indicators, users were able to find the required info much quicker thanks to the new design.
