Opening of Joint HP & UNESCO IITE Center for Education and Research at St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technology, Mechanics and Optics

The Joint HP & UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE) Center for Education and Research has officially opened its doors at St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technology, Mechanics and Optics (NRU ITMO) on May 18, 2012. The project, established within the framework of the  UNESCO-HP Partnership Agreement and HP Institute of Technology program, is aimed at improving the training of world-class IT professionals and giving both students and teaching staff access to the most up-to-date scientific research and technologies.

One of the key features of the new NRU ITMO Education and Research center will be its focus on technologies which play strategic role, such as cloud computing, virtualization, network and mobile solutions.

The Education and Research center at NRU ITMO involves the use of modern equipment and software provided by HP, including blade servers, data storage system, routers, wi-fi hot spots and other network equipment, as well as high-capacity workstations and laptops.

This center is the first one to be founded in the frameworks of the joint HP & UNESCO IITE program for training of world-class IT professionalsand professional development of teachers in the field of information and communications technologies. On a competitive basis,UNESCO IITE will select experts among the NRU ITMO staff in order to develop IT curricula and training courses as well as to hold training sessions with students and professors from ITMO school and teachers from other educational institutions. Besides, UNESCO IITE is to organize lectures, practice, trainings and master classes delivered by foreign experts, and to provide all kinds of information and consulting support for the joint Education and Research Center activities.

HP intends to provide PR support for the Centre activities, too. Besides, HP will organize visits of HP representatives and HP Labs researchers to NRU ITMO  to give lectures and will help with development of training programs both for students and professors. Teachers will attend courses at HP Russia Training Center.

‘HP Institute of Technology program is currently one of the first-priority areas for our company, and to collaborate with such university as NRU ITMO is a big honor for us. We are proud that, thanks to our support, students will be able to use the most up-to-date equipment and will get access to the advanced knowledge regarding IT. Besides, we are looking forward to employing the most talented young specialists at HP Russia, after they have been trained at the NRU ITMO Education and Research Centre,’ comments Alexander Mikoyan, Managing Director, HP Russia.

The opening ceremony was held on May, 18. NRU ITMO top management; Herbert Rastbihler, HP Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe; Alexander Mikoyan, HP Russia Managing Director; Igor Belousov, Education and Research Programs Manager for Central and Eastern Europe; Alexander Khoroshilov, IITE UNESCO National Programme Officer;  and other honorary guests attended the opening ceremony.

‘As a result of modern technologies provided by HP and deployed into the training process we are sure to achieve considerable improvement of quality of education and make our graduates more competitive at the labor market,’ says Vladimir Vasilyev, NRU ITMO Rector. ‘Implementation of the planned education and research programs within the new Centre will grant our students and employees an opportunity to realize their full potential and build a successful career in the dynamic industry of IT.’ 

‘Areas of collaboration between UNESCO and HP were defined in the Partnership Agreement, which was signed in 2007 at the highest level. We’re glad that a joint HP & UNESCO IITE Education and Research Centre in NRU ITMO has been established as a result of implementation of the key propositions of the above mentioned Agreement and its Amendments, which together will help to train highly qualified staff and to enhance teachers’ professionalism using the opportunity of most up-to-date technologies and UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (UNESCO ICT-CFT),’ comments Dendev Badarch, UNESCO IITE Acting Director. ‘Experience of creating a joint Education & Research Centre at NRU ITMO, which is one of the leading Russian ICT-focused schools, will be certainly considered while creating similar joint HP & UNESCO IITE centres in other countries.’