The Lyceum ended up receiving the highest sum in the bidding process.

The competition was created by the federal authorities to invite universities which have in-house secondary schools to upgrade their facilities and update their studies and other activities.

Vice-Rector for International Cooperation Timirkhan Alishev notes, “This is a great victory for the university and the IT Lyceum team. Before that, we took part in this competition for two years, but it was this year’s application that ended up successful. We received the maximum amount possible. This victory provides additional resources that will help modernize the material and technical infrastructure of the IT Lyceum, provide an opportunity for schoolchildren to participate in various events, training camps, Olympiads, competitions; create conditions for the professional development of teaching staff and attract new talented teachers, as well as involve young ambitious children in science. I am sure that working within the framework of the development program will help  anchor the IT lyceum among the leading schools in Russia.”

The 600 million rubles set to be disbursed to KFU is the largest sum in the history of the Specialized Educational and Research Center program. There were four winners in 2019, one in 2020, and five in 2021 (including the IT Lyceum).

“Specialized Educational and Research Center is a super-school, a school for young scientists,” says Director of the IT Lyceum Ildar Mukhametov. “We are bestowed with this new status and are going to be called Specialized Educational and Research Center of Kazan Federal University – IT Lyceum. The three-year funding plan comprises infrastructure modernization, advanced training for employees, new online courses, and other measures.”

In the next month, the Lyceum plans to prepare the paperwork and submit it to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia to finalize the winning bid.

“Our goal is to train highly qualified specialists for an innovative economy, primarily to continue their studies at KFU, develop a career at the university as a research worker or in high-tech areas. It is important for us to form a new educational model in the context of a paradigm shift from subject-oriented to competence-oriented, to universal skills and to personalized education. We wish for all Lyceum students to be digital transformation leaders in different roles. In addition, a program of professional development for innovative programs and technologies will be implemented. At the Lyceum, talented children should have talented teachers. The funding will help us to send children to international and all-Russian Olympiads, and we will be able to carry out such events ourselves here,” continues Mukhametov.

According to national rankings, the IT Lyceum was recently rated among the 100 best secondary schools in Russia, including being in the top 50 mathematical schools.

“We receive much support from the KFU management and Rector Ilshat Gafurov. He tasks us with becoming a transfer platform for KFU employees to implement their initiatives for further use in education. We also want to continue providing internships to pedagogy students,” concludes the Director.

Source text: Alina Minnevalieva

Photo: Alexander Kuznetsov

Translation: Yury Nurmeev