The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation has prepared a new draft order on the involvement of IT companies in the implementation of educational programmes and extracurricular activities. Public discussion of the document is open on the federal portal for draft regulatory acts until 11 March.
The document clarifies the procedure for concluding, implementing, and evaluating the outcomes of agreements between accredited IT organisations, educational institutions, and regional authorities. Specifically, it expands the list of activities that companies may carry out as part of their mandatory contribution to education: ranging from teaching practical courses and developing curricula to co-financing top IT and AI programmes, as well as managing supplementary education for students in programming, robotics, and information security.
The draft also details the requirements for experts permitted to teach (at least two years of experience within the last five years), establishes transparent rules for financial support—no less than 3% of the tax benefits received by the company—and introduces standardised reporting and evaluation frameworks.
Andrey Kurilo, Information Security Advisor at FBK Cybersecurity LLC (Cyber Business Consulting), said in a comment to ComNews.ru:
‘A considerable number of companies have long had contractual relationships with educational institutions. This addresses the most critical issue, namely the weak hands-on training of students. Finding specialists capable of teaching theoretical foundations turns out to be significantly easier than finding those with extensive practical experience in using various products who can pass that knowledge on.’ Andrey Kurilo is of the view that the new initiative is a means to fund these tasks.
