"School 21" opened in Ufa

On June 10, the opening of "School 21" took place at the Genome Center of the interuniversity student campus of the Eurasian Research Center. The Head of Bashkortostan, Radiy Khabirov, and the President and Chairman of the Board of PJSC "Sberbank of Russia," German Gref, participated in the ceremony.

"School 21" - a school of digital technologies from Sberbank offers the opportunity to any candidates aged 18 and above who have successfully passed the selection stages to pursue a sought-after IT profession for free.

"School 21+" in Ufa is being implemented by Sberbank jointly with the government of Bashkortostan, as a multi-level ecosystem for training IT specialists of the digital era - from schoolchildren to professionals in the field of bioinformatics and big data.

The head of the republic noted that today is a significant event, and the opening of "School 21" creates new opportunities.

"For our thinking, unconventional, talented youth, who determine the soul and essence of our future strategic development of the economy, this was necessary. In the future, more than 5 thousand young people can study here," said Radiy Khabirov.

President and Chairman of the Board of Sberbank of Russia, German Gref, noted that Bashkortostan is a strong scientific and intellectual region with a developed industry.

"Your campus has an amazing partnership of the Academy of Sciences, universities, and industrial partners. Until now, we have not had a single school associated with the engineering of living systems. Here in Ufa, a specialization related to scientific and industrial potential has been conceived," said German Gref.

Currently, "School 21" is represented in 14 cities of Russia: Moscow, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Surgut, Veliky Novgorod, Yakutsk, Yaroslavl, Magas, Belgorod, Anadyr, Magadan, Chelyabinsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and Nizhny Novgorod. Also in November 2024, a joint campus of Sechenov University and "School 21" opened. In the coming years, the school's campuses will be established in several regions of the country.

Admission to "School 21" does not depend on prior knowledge, work experience, programming skills, or the possession of diplomas. For more than 50 percent of students, participation in the project is the first experience of programming. Participants in the training can begin their path in programming and then develop in promising areas such as digital product management, cybersecurity, digital creativity, biotechnology, and others.

After the final selection stage, each participant will develop an individual educational track tailored to their goals. You can choose a development area: backend, frontend, mobile development, or Game Development. Or one of the five new areas of "School 21", where the ability to write code is not required - cybersecurity, Data Science, systems and business analysis, DevOps, and ensuring the smooth operation of high-load services, as well as software testing (QA). For those already working in the IT field, accelerated courses are available that allow participants to enhance their skills specifically. Basic training lasts from 1.5 to 3 years, depending on the pace of learning, which participants determine themselves.

The school employs the "peer-to-peer" teaching method, where everyone learns from one another. Thanks to it, participants receive not only "hard" but also "soft" skills, which are essential for creating a high-quality IT product. This includes the ability to work in a team, self-discipline, time management, the ability to defend your point of view, and finding a compromise.

Participants are trained on the Sber digital educational platform, which was developed specifically for "School 21". This is a technological product with game mechanics, which enables the development of the school's methodology and the quick adaptation of educational programs to current market demands.

Author: Azat Gizzatullin