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Russia’s North Caucasus universities ready for accelerated training of IT-specialists

Experts estimate the economy's demand for IT specialists at more than 700 thousand people

STAVROPOL, December 17. /TASS/. The universities of the North-Caucasian Federal District are ready for a rapid digital transformation to train qualified specialists, the press service of the North Caucasus Federal University (NCFU) told journalists on Friday following the results of the inter-regional forum "North Caucasus 2030. Digital Transformation."

"Higher education establishments are ready for a quick digital transformation, which aims to integrate new technologies in all educational processes, including the training of qualified personnel. Thus, according to experts, the economy’s demand in IT-specialists is more than 700 thousand people. At the same time, almost 6 thousand specialists in this area graduate from the macro-region labor market every year," the press service quotes Dmitry Bespalov, chairman of the Consortium of Higher Educational Institutions of the North Caucasus Federal District and Rector of the North Caucasus Federal University.

On the sidelines of the forum in Ingushetia, specialists discussed the strategy of digitalization of the macroregion. The participants included representatives of the Office of the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the North Caucasusian Federal District, experts from leading Russian universities and the rectors of universities that are members of the Consortium of the North Caucasus universities. Antoniy Shvindt, assistant to Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, noted the importance of the topic under discussion.

"When we speak about digital transformation, we understand that it is an important tool for improving the quality of management, not only at the country level, but also at the university level, which is certainly an important step that will help large educational organizations to reach a new level," the press service quotes Shvindt as saying.

The forum included a session titled "Digital transformation of the education and science industry" and an expert session titled "Strategies of digital transformation of universities of the North Caucasusian Federal District: infrastructure and digital services, human resources and data".

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