Import substitution of software in higher educational institutions

Main article: Import substitution in Russia

2023: Minobornauki together with ARPP "Domestic Software" is going to introduce Russian software in the country's universities

The Association of Software Developers "Domestic Software" and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education signed an agreement on joint work to solve the problem of introducing Russian software in educational institutions of the country. This was announced on December 14, 2023 by the press service of Anton Nemkin.

Our economy is accelerating its transition to domestic software, and this process should take place with an understandable final result - complete information and technical security and autonomy of our country. It is important to take into account the essence of the request and feedback from the public, which will use the functionality of Russian software every day in work and life. The process started a long time ago, and the level of expert discussion, where important decisions are born, and the range of support measures for our developers inspire confidence in the high-quality fulfillment of urgent tasks, "said Daria Kiryanova, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

It is expected that soon the ministry's website will appear information from the industry catalogs of the ARPP about existing domestic decisions in terms of. software

{{quote 'With this agreement, we record the previously begun interaction between the ARPP and the Ministry of Education and Science, aimed at accelerating the transition of Russian universities to domestic software. The agreement provides for not only joint measures to popularize domestic software among teachers, students and employees of scientific organizations. We intend to actively exchange information and share industry expertise on the capabilities of Russian software, to promote the integration of domestic software in the scientific and educational environment, "said Renat Lashin, Executive Director of ARPP" Domestic Software. " }}

2022

Technical universities replace Autodesk, significantly increasing purchases of Russian engineering software

Since March 2022, technical universities have increased the volume of purchases of domestic engineering software, which are replaced by foreign software: the number of jobs under the acquired licenses has increased several times compared to the same period in 2021. According to TAdviser in the consortium "Dlavit," the most in demand among educational institutions are Russian computer-aided design (CAD) systems , engineering analysis systems (CAE) [1] and building information modeling systems (BIM). [2]

According to the consortium, only members of Dlavit - which includes ASCON, ADEM, APM NTC, SIGMA Technologiya, Tesis and ProSoft - sold CAD licenses for 2,235 jobs from March to July, CAE - for 340 and BIM - for 2,640. A year earlier, during the same period, they acquired CAD for 244 jobs, CAE for 222 and BIM for 415.

Universities of engineering profile bought from March to July 2022 CAD licenses for more than 1000 jobs, ECAD - more than 200, CAE - more than 200. These figures do not include deliveries to the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, which were completed before March 2022. Construction educational institutions acquired BIM licenses for 1385 jobs in four months of 2022.

The most commonly substituted foreign systems are: САПР – Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Fusion 360 и Dassault Systemes Solidworks; [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]BIM – Autodesk Revit и Autodesk BIM 360. In March, Autodesk and Dassault Systemes announced their departure from Russia.

Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Fusion 360 and Dassault Systemes Solidworks are most often replaced by domestic Compass-3D and Delta Design, and Autodesk Revit and Autodesk BIM 360 are replaced by Russian Renga and Pilot-BIM.

At the same time, for all the time, Russian universities have acquired (the figures do not include student versions of products that are installed on home computers and are provided free of charge): CAD - for 108,890 jobs; CAE - 6 972 (including KompasFlow and APM Fem applications, as well as APM WinMachine); PDM-MDM-CAD TP - 38 564; BIM – 19 394.

MSTU named after Bauman in 2021 acquired more than 1000 licenses of the domestic CAD "Compass-3D." Photo - npo-nauka.ru

To date, the largest import substitution project in the field of education is the project of the Moscow State Technical University named after Bauman, which in 2021 acquired more than 1000 CAD licenses, replacing the foreign software of the domestic CAD "Compass-3D." In addition, strength calculation systems (CAE) were partially replaced at the university. Bauman Moscow State Technical University has acquired 50 licenses for the use of the APM FEM strength analysis system. In the new academic year, according to the information of the RadioIT consortium, it is planned to test and switch to Russian CAE (strength calculations and hydrogas dynamics), CAM (process preparation automation systems), 1D modeling (one-dimensional modeling) and PLM (product lifecycle management systems).

At the same time, as Olga Chernyadyeva, head of the educational program "ASCON," told TAdviser, from the point of view of import substitution in the field of engineering software "Baumanka" is an undoubted leader, but not all universities are in a hurry to follow this example, for many, the purchase of domestic engineering software is still in the plans.

Inertia is very great in formation. At the same time, long-term and sustainable technological independence begins with education, with the training of future specialists. Who will work with domestic software in three years, when it will not be possible to use foreign software at KII facilities, if universities continue to produce specialists who are accustomed to working with foreign solutions? - Olga Chernyadyeva believes.

Nanosoft Development, an engineering software developer, told TAdviser that their nanoCAD product is used to replace AutoCAD from the American company Autodesk. Moreover, the company gives software to universities for free. According to Nanosoft Development, from March to July 600 Russian educational institutions were granted licenses for 26 thousand jobs, which is three times more than in the same period a year earlier. Moreover, both CAD and BIM are in demand in Russian universities. Nanosoft Development launches courses in educational institutions: only from the beginning of 2022, a cooperation agreement was signed with 76 universities.

As the rector of NRU "MPEI" Nikolai Rogalev told TAdviser, the structural divisions of the university began to carry out intensive work on the transition to domestic engineering software from the end of March 2022, in connection with the termination of sales by foreign manufacturers and support for previously purchased programs.

Acquired domestic software for the study of thermal schemes of technical systems SimInTech, computer-aided design system "Compass-3D" for creating three-dimensional models of equipment, for modeling physical processes in power equipment purchased domestic software APM Multiphysics. In addition to the replacement of foreign software used in the development of new equipment, the replacement of foreign software that is used in the performance of design work is carried out. So in 2022, at the expense of the grant, nanoCAD software was purchased, which is an analogue of foreign Autodesk Revit software, says Nikolai Rogalev.

Denis Yanyshev, director of the Center for the Development of Electronic Educational Resources of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, explained to TAdviser that for the university the purchase of engineering software is not as acute as for technical universities. According to him, individual laboratories are engaged in the purchase of software, which independently decide which software to use. Most of the software used at Lomonosov Moscow State University is supplied together with technical installations or developed for specific projects by laboratory employees on their own.

Omsk Agrarian University moved to "P7-Office"

On May 31, 2022, it became known that the Omsk GAU began the procedure for transferring work with educational materials and documents to the P7-Office decision. Read more here.

MSTU named after Bauman made the transition to Russian Linux

On April 18, 2022, it became known that representatives of the Astra group of companies were transferring MSTU named after N.E. Bauman to the domestic Linux distribution Astra Linux. Read more here.

Tomsk State University acquired licenses "P7-Office"

Tomsk State University (TSU) provided employees with the R7-Office office suite to work with documents. This was announced on April 25, 2022 by the P7-Office company. Read more here.

Russian universities partially lost access to subscriptions to Microsoft products and other foreign software

During the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia initial inventory of the equipment formations software and equipment available in the organizations, it was established that the organizations use subscriptions to the corporation's products Microsoft and other foreign software. At the same time, most of the services are no longer available, and some may become inaccessible in the near future, which endangers information security institutions. Representatives ARPP "Domestic Software" reported this TAdviser on March 24, 2022.

The Ministry of Education and Science said that Russian universities have lost access to subscriptions to Microsoft products and other foreign software
Photo: itmo.ru

At the initiative of the Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Alexander Narukavnikov, on March 18, a meeting was held with domestic developers, including representatives of the ARPP "Domestic Software" and its executive director Renat Lashin.

As you know, the realities of the Russian IT market are such that foreign hardware and software suppliers are rapidly leaving it, in connection with which new challenges for the state appear. And the education sector is no exception.

However, new challenges open up new opportunities. During the discussion, plans were outlined for the joint work of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and domestic developers in the field of import substitution.

"The Ministry of Education and Science of Russia will definitely and fully switch to Russian software. As a result of the meeting, there was a clear understanding that the Russian IT market is able to meet not only the demand from our side, but also the requirements of information security legislation, "said Alexander Narukavnikov, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

The developers who took part in the meeting confirmed their readiness to work together with representatives of the ministry in the direction of import substitution of software.

"The policy of import substitution and transition to the predominant use of domestic software has been actively implemented in the country over the past 8 years. The register of domestic software first earned in 2016, and today it already has more than 13 thousand software products in all classes of software. This gives reason to talk about Russia's readiness for any challenges in terms of replacing foreign software solutions with domestic ones, "said Renat Lashin, executive director of ARPP" Domestic Software. "

The Ministry of Education and Science of Russia is already working on measures to support domestic developments, including infrastructure solutions and software, as well as additional measures to support scientific and educational organizations of higher education for import substitution. It is planned to submit such proposals in the near future.

In addition, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia initiated the creation of a single register of domestic products that are being developed by universities and scientific organizations.

"The department is studying the issue of ensuring the collection of information and the formation of a single technological stack of software solutions for educational organizations of higher education and scientific organizations," said Alexander Narukavnikov.

As conceived by the department, such a register will quickly ensure the integration of the necessary solutions for the uninterrupted and high-quality work of organizations, as well as their full scale.

See also

• Import substitution of software in the public sector