Coach Stankevich has brought teams to the World Finals fifteen times, always with stellar results. ITMO U team are a record six-time world champions in programming.

“Dr. Stankevich is an exceptional talent, and we’re very proud that he’s an integral part of our team,” congratulated him Vladimir Vasilyev, ITMO University Rector.

An ITMO graduate, Dr. Stankevich was accepted to the Chair of Computer Technologies in 1998, having proved himself as a talented programmer by winning Russian National Informatics Olympiad for High School Students.

 An associate professor at the Computer Technologies Chair, the coach still devotes much time and effort to organizing “Olympiads,” or contests, for students of all levels throughout Russia and abroad. Over the past 15 years, he’s taken every role from creating tasks to heading juries. His contributions to programming contests in Europe have earned him ACM ICPC Founder’s Award.

When asked about his role, Coach Stankevich says, "As a coach I greatly enjoy being able to work with brightest and most dedicated students. Their desire to learn and achieve is the reason for me to keep working hard in preparing teams for World Finals. As a coach I am responsible for everything, theory, practice, team work. I try to make the most comfortable environment for the team and the let the students to perform best they can. Actually my students are what I enjoy most being a coach."

Before starting his coaching career, Dr. Stankevich was part of ITMO University’s team at ACM ICPC and together with Georgi Korneev and Denis Kuznetzov, won gold in 2001 in Vancouver, Canada.

Students and peers appreciate the magnitude of his talent and commitment. “Students believe in themselves thanks to him and that’s the secret to success,” said Anatoly Shalyto, professor at the Chair of Programming Technologies. “Thanks to him, ambitions and talented young people want to study here. A unique, completely irreplaceable person.”

“He taught me how to fight till the end,” said Dmitri Abdrashitov, 2008 world champion in programming. “Oftentimes, by the end of the competition it becomes obvious that you won’t have time to finish the solution, it’s tempting to relax and give up. Andrei makes you give it your all till the last second.”