Digital Technology in Higher Education

Artificial Intelligence in Education

Main article: Artificial Intelligence in Education

2024

The St. Petersburg university has installed smart cameras that track student involvement in classes

On October 17, 2024, it became known that a system of smart cameras began to operate at the St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications named after Professor M.A. Bonch-Bruevich (SPbGUT), which track the level of student involvement during classes. This innovation became part of a pilot project implemented jointly with Skolkovo. Read more here

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation asked to ban the use of foreign software when training builders in universities

On July 18, 2024, it became known that the Association "National Association of Organizations in the Field of Information Modeling Technologies" (NOTIM) proposes to use exclusively domestic software when training builders in Russian universities and colleges. The NOTIM initiative provides for the imposition of a ban on the use of foreign software for these purposes.

According to RBC, the corresponding proposal of NOTIM (unites key developers of domestic software for the construction complex, as well as customers, developers and other representatives of the industry) was sent to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, the Ministry of Digital Development and the Ministry of Construction. The association believes that students in the Russian Federation who have chosen construction specialties should study only on domestic solutions in order to subsequently be able to work with them in employment. At the same time, Western products, according to NOTIM, can be mastered optionally.

NOTIM President Mikhail Viktorov emphasizes that most Moscow educational institutions have already switched to Russian software for construction when teaching students. However, the opposite pattern is observed in the regions. Universities and colleges often teach to work on foreign software, while Russian is represented minimally or not at all. Meanwhile, the mandatory transition to domestic solutions can contribute to the import substitution of software in the construction sector. The Ministry of Digital Development speaks positively in relation to the idea.

We support the use of Russian software in training. Moreover, both in terms of ensuring the educational process - there are more than 300 such products in the register - and solutions for automating production and management processes so that students can get practical skills in working with them, - said the representative of the department.[1]

How virtual and augmented reality is used in Russian education

In Russian education, virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technologies are actively used, which significantly improve the quality of training and training of specialists. This became known on July 9, 2024. These technologies are used in various fields, from mechanical engineering to medicine, contributing to improving the efficiency of the educational process and the safety of students.

According to Kommersant, one of the key initiatives in this area was the creation of "digital departments" in Russian universities. Launched in 2022, these programs allow students to gain additional qualifications in information technology in parallel with the core curriculum. By the 2023/2024 academic year, the number of universities participating in the project increased to 119, and the number of educational programs reached 800. These programs are developed and approved together with the business community, which ensures their relevance and compliance with market requirements.

𝓲

Unsplash

The Moscow State Technical University "Stankin" has developed an ARacle system that uses VR/AR technologies to learn how to work with various equipment. The main task of this system is to train personnel in the field of mechanical engineering and robotics. ARacle allows you to collect data from real industrial equipment and track user actions, which helps you analyze and improve the learning process. A digital assistant accompanying students in VR scenes uses natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to tailor learning to each student's individual needs.

The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) is introducing VR/AR technologies to create an ecosystem of services for telemedicine consultations. A group of students led by a scientific head Pavel Morozov develops a software and hardware complex that includes audio and video devices, as well as specialized software using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Immersive technologies, creating the effect of immersion in an artificially created environment, began to enter the daily practice of universities. Such systemic penetration of augmented, virtual, mixed reality begins to change the landscape and didactics of education, scientists from the Moscow City Pedagogical University (MGPU) said.

At Sevastopol State University, a student of the "digital department" is developing digital twins of architectural elements and attractions of Sevastopol. The idea of ​ ​ recreating the hero city arose during the educational process.

It is very important for our generation to remember and preserve the cultural and historical heritage of our country, and thanks to the presence of modern and advanced technologies, we have the opportunity to study, create and transfer our knowledge in years. And all this was embodied from idea to project, - notes the main developer, student of SSU Alexei Dolban[2] Digital Departments

Digital student cards and credit books are launched on the State Public services portal

In April 2024, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree on the launch of an experiment to introduce electronic student tickets and credit books in Russia. These documents will be available on the State Public services portal. Read more here.

2023

The government reported on the digitalization of higher education for the year

In mid-May 2024, a report of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education on the implementation of state policy in the field of higher education and additional vocational education was published on the government's website. The document, among other things, talks about the digitalization of this area.

In particular, the Ministry of Education and Science drew attention to the development of the state information system "Modern Digital Educational Environment" (GIS SCOS). In 2022-2023. more than 450 educational organizations of higher education are connected to it, as well as 44 online education platforms. As a result, GIS began to store data on more than 4.5 million students of educational organizations of higher education, including information on credit books and student tickets, as well as information on more than 284 thousand educational programs of additional vocational education.

𝓲

Unsplash

By the end of 2023, 1520 online courses were posted on the GIS SCOS, including 1240 courses on additional vocational education programs. About 370 thousand users are registered on the platform. More than 9.7 million requests per month are received from educational organizations to the resources of this system.

The report also reports that 1,023 universities and their branches and more than a million applicants participated in the admission campaign of the 2023/2024 academic year using the super service "Admission to the university online," which submitted more than 2.87 million applications. 906,779 applicants were enrolled (432,582 - for budget places).

In 2023, 86,113 students received additional IT qualifications at the "digital departments." In 2023, artificial intelligence was taught at 104 universities, and advanced training of university teachers in the field of AI was organized.

In addition, the government reported on the connection of leading scientific and educational organizations (NICS) to the national research computer network of a new generation. By the end of 2023, the share of organizations connected to the network reached 80% (a total of 282 organizations out of 352 were connected to NICS, including 73 institutions connected in 2023).

For the development of NICS in 2023, 9 trunk communication nodes were created and modernized, as well as 12 new sections of the trunk network were put into operation, which makes it possible to organize and support channels with data transfer rates from 10 to 100 Gbps. In addition, as part of the work on the development of NICS in 2023, the following tasks were solved:

• modernization of the NICS service platform hardware;
• creation and modernization of a set of network services for the field of science and education;
• development of a computer incident response center.

The report also describes the design of the Science and Innovation domain as a single digital space that ensures the integration of digital platforms and services in the interests of scientists, scientific teams regulating the scientific activities of departments, as well as enterprises, development institutions with scientific and technological needs, was provided in 2022. In 2023, 14 priority services were developed on the basis of the Unified State Information System for Accounting for Civil Research, Development and Technological Work.

According to the Ministry of Education and Science, by the end of 2023, the share of the use of domestic software by class in 2023 was:

• browsers - 47% (an increase of 10% compared to 2022);
• antivirus protection - 86% (an increase of 9%);
• general-purpose operating systems - 15% (an increase of 6%);
• video conferencing - 63% (an increase of 40%).

REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STATE POLICY IN THE FIELD OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND RELATED ADDITIONAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

The Ministry of Education and Science has developed a program for the digitalization of higher education in Russia

The Ministry of Education and Science has developed a program for the digitalization of higher education in Russia for the period 2024-2030. The document, according to the deputy head of the department Daria Kiryanova in mid-December 2023, was sent for consideration to the government.

According to Kiryanova, the implementation of the digital transformation program of Russian higher education includes three stages:

• 2024-2025 This phase is designed for business process notation and staff retraining;
• 2026-2028 involves reengineering business processes and building a prototype technology platform;
• 2028-2030 It is planned to scale the new model and put it into commercial operation.

The Ministry of Education and Science has developed a program for the digitalization of higher education for the period 2024-2030.

As Daria Kiryanova noted, as part of the digital transformation of higher education, super services can be created that will be useful to the university, potential applicants and employers. Among other things, it is planned to further develop existing platforms that allow you to apply to the university online from the State Public services portal in the form of an entry point. In the future, universities can dynamically adjust curricula to the requirements of potential employers or offer various educational trajectories for students who are already studying at the university, added the deputy head of the Ministry of Education and Science.

In December 2023, the Ministry of Education and Science and Rostelecom signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of digitalization of higher education. The contract is aimed at:

• development of the system of higher and additional education, improving the quality of training in the field of information technology;
• introduction of domestic developments in the spheres of activity of universities;
• development of tools for monitoring, collecting and analyzing data in terms of identifying the needs of universities in digital products of domestic production and a number of other areas.

Ministry of Digital Development introduces electronic student tickets

On November 13, 2023, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation announced the introduction of electronic account books, student tickets and other documents confirming the training. They will be available on the State Public services portal. Read more here.

Digital student tickets launched in Khabarovsk Territory

In early November 2023, digital student tickets were launched in the Khabarovsk Territory. The pilot project involves the Pacific State University (TOGU) and the Far Eastern State University of Railways (DVGUPS). Read more here.

The Ministry of Education and Science allocates 29.4 billion rubles for the digital transformation of science and higher education

The Ministry of Education and Science allocates 29.4 billion rubles for the digital transformation of science and higher education. This was reported in a document that the department published in early August 2023.

As Kommersant writes with reference to this document, the indicated amount will go to the creation of digital services, which are designed to reduce the negative impact of the isolation of Russian science and education from the international community. Among the new solutions will be systems that will allow universities in real time to analyze the personnel situation in the context of specialties, as well as make forecasts for the development of the labor market.

The Ministry of Education and Science will allocate 29.4 billion rubles for the digitalization of science and higher education

We are talking about the Scrub system - it should, through the automatic collection of data from various sources, provide universities with the situation on the labor market, a forecast for a change in demand for personnel in the horizon of five years, as well as compare the competencies of graduates with the requests of employers.

The second project, Seraphim, involves the creation of a Russian framework (a set of tools for developing a product) of AI, which will allow universities to design educational programs: "Scientific teams receive a domestic tool for developing AI models for research, attracting interdisciplinary specialists and scientists." Judging by the document, the development and operation of both tools will cost 6.4 billion rubles until 2030, the newspaper notes.

According to experts interviewed by the publication, it is theoretically possible to develop such systems, but the quality of analytics on such a long horizon is unlikely to be high. In order to analyze and predict changes in the labor market, you can use the data of job search services and educational projects, says Dmitry Babchuk, information security director of Ultimate Education. According to him, analyzing new areas of training, demand for specialists and payment, it is possible to build correlations with a high degree of probability.^[3]

2022: Ministry of Digital Development will use the Unified Biometric System in all student exams

On August 25, 2022, it became known about the decision of the Ministry of Digital Development to use the Unified Biometric System in all student exams on an ongoing basis. The department noted the positive results of the experiment. Read more here.

2021: The Government of the Russian Federation approved the directions of digital transformation of science and higher education

In December 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, which approved the directions of digital transformation of science and higher education. The implementation of the initiatives indicated in the document will be carried out by the Ministry of Education and Science together with interested federal executive bodies and state extra-budgetary funds of Russia.

In particular, we are talking about the following strategic directions of digitalization of the field of science and higher education:

• artificial intelligence in terms of recommendation systems and intelligent decision support systems, promising methods and technologies;
• Big data in terms of the use of mining methods of significant amounts of information to support management decisions and improve data quality;
• distributed registry systems;
• internet of things;
• cloud technologies.

The Government of the Russian Federation approved the directions of digital transformation of science and higher education

The digital transformation strategy of the science and higher education industry consists of seven projects:

• "Datahab." This is a system for managing data in the field of science and higher education, the purpose of which is to improve the quality of data and systematize work with them for their use in making management decisions;
• "Digital Transformation Architecture";
• " Digital University." Aimed at creating and developing digital services in the field of science and higher education, covering all types of business processes;
• Unified Science Service Platform. It should become a single ecosystem of services for research and development, in order to improve their quality and availability, as well as reduce costs by creating a single exchange of research and the necessary infrastructure;
• "Marketplace software and Equipment." Involves the creation of a unified information environment for interaction between educational organizations and suppliers and manufacturers of equipment and; ON
• "Digital Education." The project is aimed at increasing the level of digital competencies of students, scientific and pedagogical workers, as well as the formation of a competent team for managing the digital transformation process;
• "Service Hub." It is a single service system for the digital transformation of business processes of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia and universities.^[4][5]

2019

Special Presidential Envoy Dmitry Peskov told how universities can survive in the era of digitalization

In the era of digitalization, universities face a challenge: an education system is developing that allows students to teach much more efficiently, massively and much cheaper than Russian universities do today, said Dmitry Peskov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Digital and Technological Development, speaking at the EdCrunch conference on October 1. The efficiency of both online and offline training in Russian universities is extremely low in terms of economic categories - the ratio of costs and results, he said.

In the current conditions, there are several scenarios according to which the fate of Russian universities may develop in the coming years, Peskov believes. One of them is "cannibalistic": when several leading universities create online platforms and actually wash out the core of regional universities. Such a scenario has many unpleasant social consequences, the special representative of the president noted.

Dmitry Peskov outlined scenarios for the development of universities in the context of changes in education against the background of digitalization "(photo - Kirill Kukhmar/TASS)"

There is also a scenario in which universities take advantage of the opportunities they have. The main such opportunities are three, and they are reflected in national projects, says Peskov. The first is digitalization, that is, reducing its costs with a parallel increase in efficiency.

The second is the transformation of oneself into institutions that learn to earn money and enter a stable trajectory, first of all, of additional education programs in the regional market. And the third is the export of education: the training of foreign students and competition at the world level.

All three opportunities are open today, and in the next 5-10 years the main struggle will take place around these three plots: who will learn to sell services abroad, who will turn into a center for additional education, who will be able to create an effective digital platform, - said Dmitry Peskov. - That is, in fact, in order to survive, the middle university must blur its focus.

The official added that in matters of technology, it is important to separate what the last 20 years have been doing at universities from digitalization, because the appearance, for example, in the university of accounting software or electronic schedules is not yet a digital university. And even online courses are not yet a digital university.

A digital university is primarily about how the educational process is going, how it affects the quality of the final educational result, and this can be achieved only by deeply immersing yourself in the essence of how students study, what motivation they have, "Peskov emphasized.

Peskov noted that there are many technologies that can be transferred from other areas to the field of education. For example, we are talking about sales funnels. It is known that of those who study independently online, 5-7% reach the end, he cited statistics. Any increase in the number of people who have independently completed their programs means an increase in educational results. There are metrics for working with the end consumer, which must be taken from marketing, from business, recommends Dmitry Peskov.

Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Science Denis Solodovnikov - on the digitalization of the industry

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, created in 2018, will have to transform the industry using digital platforms. Denis Solodovnikov, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, spoke about the contours of these platforms and approaches to their creation in an interview with TAdviser editor-in-chief Alexander Levashov in February 2019.

In September 2019, Denis Solodovnikov gave another interview to TAdviser, in which he spoke in more detail about the upcoming digital educational platforms. These include, in particular, the integration platform for continuing education and the second - the modern digital educational environment.

The Ministry of Education and Science will have to design these platforms together with the Ministry of Digital Development: determine a single architectural space of existing and created solutions, develop a concept and roadmap for development. It was decided to fulfill the development tasks after the design, namely in 2020.

2018: Approval of the action plan "Personnel and Education" within the framework of the national program "Digital Economy"

Following the meeting of the Government Commission on the Use of Information Technologies to Improve the Quality of Life and Business Conditions, held on February 9, 2018, an action plan was approved in the direction of "Personnel and Education" of the "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation" program. Read more here.

See also

Education in Russia

Notes