MOSCOW, November 6. /TASS/. Russian universities have plans to attract more than 7,000 foreign school leavers by 2021 to implement the program ‘Human Resources for the Digital Economy’ of Rossotrudnichestvo (the Russian Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation), its head Eleonora Mitrofanova said at a news conference on Wednesday.

"The program is part of the federal project Digital Economy," she said. "Under the program, we are planning to forge ties between compatriots abroad and Russian scientific and cultural centers as well as to attract talented foreign young people to Russian universities. In particular, we have plans to draw on more than 7,000 foreign school leavers by 2021 to study IT at Russian universities."

Mitrofanova has pointed out that one of the agency’s objectives is to introduce best practices at Russian schools abroad that will develop digital literacy, which "not only will upgrade the training at those educational institutions, but will also make those schools more attractive for the local population."

"We want to form a responsible digital behavior and increase interest in programming and robotic technology, especially among young people, so as to educate the talented youth and find jobs in Russia [for them]," she added.

According to Mitrofanova, a wide range of events is scheduled to be held in 37 countries.

"Many ideas are being already implemented. Among them are international hackathons in engineering in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Germany, carried out by the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, as well as high-tech seminars in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan along with digital online Olympiads for students of Russian schools abroad," she said.

"A particular feature of the program is that Russia offers creative, modern solutions that target specific age and professional groups on the basis of digital products," she added.

Under Rossotrudnichestvo’s program, more than 40 international resources for teachers and students are to be launched across the world. Major Russian technical universities will help implement the program until 2021.