Global market of educational products in the it sphere: priorities for russian universities

INTRODUCTION

In recent years, all technolog] cal breakthroughs in one way or another are connected with inf armation technologies and oc­cur, as a rule, at the intersection of IT, engineering, social and natural sciences.This trend is rapidly capturing all infrastruc­ture industries: energy, medicine, transportation, engineering, aerospace, etc.Universal intellectualization, machine learning, neural networks, augmented reality, additive and other break­through information technologies quickly penetrate into the conservative branches of the economy, radically changing the industrial landscape, business models and corporate economics [Agamirzyan, 1.,2015; SukhovA., Streha A.,2012; University of the Future,2012; International Trends,2015],

The volume of the world market of information technology (for example, software) was 2.3 trillion dollars in 2016, and now the market is estimated at about $4 trillion, taking into account convergent solutions [ITIndustry,2016; Bailer, S.,Dutta_jS., Lan­vin, B., 2016; Rangarajan Dr. K., Tiwari, S. K., 2014].

It is quite logical that the scale of such deep technological changes should correspond to the changes in universities that train highly qualified personnel for the new digital industry.

In this context, some experts highlight the development of university ecosystems, which are built around clusters that use breakthrough information technology.These ecosystems serve as market integrators, thanks to which the digital scientific and industrial environment is formed. Almost every innovation zone in the world is associated with university centers: Silicon Valley around Stanford and Berkeley, New England-MIT and Harvard; University of Paderbom, University of Bielefeld and Hammlpl- stadt Graduate School-in the IT cluster OwL (Germany), Cam­bridge in the UK; Institute of Wetzman in Israel; University of Aalto in Finland [Agamirzyan, I., 2015; Ferguson D., Femandez R.E.,2015; Graham R., 2014; Gaussmayer., 2012].

As a result, there are changes in the organizational models of universities while they try to integrate advanced scientific achievements into the curriculum (Figure 1).

The authors'observations on the development of IT educa­tion in Russia lead to contradictory conclusions. On the one hand, there are enough universities in Russia with a strong research infrastructure and experienced teams. However, the global IT market is dynamic and unpredictable and reliance on the latest experience in no way contributes to the transformation of scien­tific and educational processes in order to adapt them quickly to new market demands (employers, students, potential investors).

That is why it is advisable to analyze the experience of lead­ing universities in the field of IT and its organization of the sci­entific and educational process in order to determine the readi­ness of universities, primarily Russian, to new challenges.

ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

The domestic universities participate in the national program of increasing the competitiveness of "5-100" and its main goal is to get into the subject ratings of QS world University Rankings and THE Times Higher Education.Therefore, the position in the QS ranking for the subject areas Computer Science and Infor­mation Systems and Engineering in Electrical and Electronic Engineering was chosen as the first criterion for analysis while selecting a sample of international universities for analysis.

The second criterion was the geographical characteristic. Leading universities of Europe, Asia, and America were singled out to separate groups. The final, but no less important criteri­on, was the introduction of innovative educational models. AU above mentioned allowed authors to determine the best practices for the implementation of advanced educational products. The detailed sample of foreign universities is presented in Table 1.

The following characteristics are considered:

• educational programs at the bachelor's, master's and PhD levels corresponding to the current trends in the IT industry and radio electronics;
• models of the educational process organization;
• research agenda and portfolio of research projects relevant to the areas of educational activity, the availability and ca­pabilities of specialized research centers (laboratories);
• general indicators of the university: the number of students, the availability of programs in English, the budget of the university, the cost of the programs.

The sample for the comparative analysis of Russian univer­sities included 11 universities represented in the subject ratings of QS computer Science & Information Systems and Engineer­ing Electrical & Electronic (Table 2). The content characteris­tics of the master's programs were taken into account during the selection.

КЕУ WORLD TRENDS IN SCIENCE AND EDUCATION FOR IT SPHERES

Analysis of the best practices of foreign universities allows us to state that the research agenda plays a decisive role in the development of educational products. A combination of research and project approaches. The future Oxford student first of all chooses the field of research, and then a specific program.For ex­ample, the research agenda of the Department of Computer Sci­ence of Oxford University includes 10 broad areas: algorithms and complex systems, artificial intelligence and machine learn­ing, automatic verification, computational biology and medical informatics, cyberphysical systems, structures and quantum the­ory, human-computer interaction systems, information systems, programming languages, security.

The design of the department's website is characterized by simple navigation and orientation towards the end user (Figure 2).

Programs have simple and specific names that cover a wide field of knowledge in order to show clear correspondence of science and education in many universities. Every student has an opportunity to define more specifically specialization in the future.

For example, at the Technical University of Munich, stu­dents can obtain a master's degree in electrical engineering and information technology, in the field of communication technolo­gy or energetics. Students can choose one of the following areas of engineering (and, correspondingly, master programs): infor­mation technology, information systems, nano-electronics, bio­engineering in the National University of Singapore. The con­struction of a standard bachelor's degree program in the field of computer science in Oxford is presented (Table 3) as an example of the educational processorganization. So in the first year, stu­dents study general professional disciplines, for the second year, disciplines will be added in accordance with individual interests; for the third year students starttheir own project and study only disciplines that interesting for them. The fourth year is devoted to work on the project and study of more complex subjects that are required for work on a final project containing elements of scientific research.

The university welcomes, if the selected research theme pro- jectwill receive a logical continuation in master’s project.Sam­pling of Cambridge programs shows that 86 out of 179 master's programs are fully research, 67 are half-research programs and only 26 applied, although even they contain some areas of information technology are often have some elements of research work (Figure 3).

Priority of interdisciplinary approach. The interdisciplinary approach is a priority for the formulation of educational pro­grams and research agenda. This trend is particularly evident in Asian universities, where interdisciplinary programs are in separate university structures with separate management (for example, the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Education at the Tokyo University, the Institute of Interdiscipli­nary Information Sciences at Tsinghua University).

Similar structures are created not only in the sphere of IT education. Students of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Sciences, University of Texas should choose one basic and two related sciences.There are six directions: computer science, arts and hu­manities, behavioral science, economics and political science, management, natural sciences and mathematics.

Students can select individual modules and crea­tive projects within each direction.

The program "Energy management and sustaina­bility" of the University of Lausanne was created at the intersection of energetics, IT, economics, technology, management.The university presents this program as a scientific and educational platform for training special­ists to work in intelligent energy and industrial systems.

The program consists of five modules: "Bioprocess en­gineering", "Ecosystem engineering", "Environmental modeling", "Technological features of new energy", "Technology management", also offers a wide range (more than 20) of individual courses that the student chooses, depending on his preferences in the 3rd and 4th semesters. Management programs at the intersec­tion of management and art becomemoreandmorepopular. For example, the program "Strategic Leadership and De­sign" (University of Indianapolis) combines in the curriculum such modules as : "Theory of Leadership and Design-Thinking", "Cognitive Systems and Learning Organizations", "Intellectual Capital Development", "Information Management and Produc­tion Technologies", " Management Mathematics ».In Russia, ITMO University implements this model in the framework of the Master's program "Art and Science", which is a synthesis of engineering, management and art education.

The master's program "Interdisciplinary Creative Practices" of the University of Edinburgh is successfully implemented at the intersection of IT, science, media, sociology and manage­ment.

Graduates work in innovative small companies in IT sphere, software and computer support, media market (TV and film in­dustry), design, architecture, materials science, and create their own start-ups. The program pays attention to the research unit, particularly such topics as the augmented reality of the visual analytics.

Examples of such interdisciplinary structures or educational products demonstrate the opportunity to develop interesting in­terdisciplinary programs and researches on the basis of IT and to involve experts from various fields of knowledge.

Interdisciplinaryresearchesareaimedatbreakthroughtechnol- ogies.Hong Kong University has a portfolio of 12 major scien­tific projects: ecotronics, smart eco-friendly buildings, digital world formation, functional nanostructures, photonic wireless applications, wave and material properties management, hu­man-machine interfaces for future production, biological data analysis, knowledge-based entrepreneurship. AU of them form a summons defining the long-term global leadership and sus­tainable development of the university. The topics of promising researches are necessarily integrated into educational content. Leading Universities of the world want to be first in the devel­opment of one or another technology, which creates new reality.

Table 4 shows the distribution of different universities spe­cializations in the framework of scientific research.Universities work active and create large consortiums, and in some cases, global technology platforms. So universities play a leading role in these platforms, and in spite of their classic status of suppliers of innovative solutions [Tech Trends Report,2017;Gitelmann D., Sandler D., Kozhevnikov M., and others.,2015 ;TechTrends,2017;chataway- J.,ParksS.,SmithE., 2017].

Also, more universal trends that are not directly re­lated to the integration of education and research activ­ities will be considered.

Packaging of educational programs of different lev­els. Some universities (mainly European ones) started to combine bachelor’s and master's programs (or mas­ter's and PhD). The key advantages are saving time and cost of education. At the same time, universities "cut off' applicants who want to master only one education­al level: for example, in Cambridge, absolute priority is given to applicants who had previously completed their bachelor' straining. Such a relatively aggressive strate­gy helps to conduct a hard "screening-out" of persons who are not interested in conducting high quality scien­tific researches. Education for education is unprofitable for leading universities, because it does not give the university any benefits, except for short-term financial.

Increased attention to foreign students. Internation­alization is not a new trend, but by attracting interna­tional students (and teachers), universities gain access to new knowledges, markets, companies and create a variety of centers of excellence or platforms in order to leadsustainably in science and education.For example, in Oxford, the share of foreign students is about 30%, in Cambridge and the Swiss Fed­eral Institute of Technology in Zurichmore than 35%, at Peking University - 22% (Figure 4).

PECULIARITIES OF RUSSIAN IT EDUCATION

The analysis of educational productsmarket in the Russian Federation shows that few interdisciplinary analog programs are offered. The number of master's programs devoted to the prob­lems of intelligent control systems and system software engi­neering is increasing (up to 20%), but about half of all programs have traditional contentA selective analysis of the curricula of such programs showed that specialized subjects do not receive more than 30% of the study time.

The organization of the educational process for the IT indus- tryspecialiststraining has its own characteristics.Leading Rus­sian universities prefer a smaller number of IT trainingareas and more programs within each direction. Quite conventional this trend can be called a specialization. Thereare three programs for one direction on average, (Fig. 5). Only five areas of training are priority for universities,, where the largest number of mas­ter's programs is concentrated. There is a gap between education and science. Specialized courses in many universities are taught without reference to specific sectoral tasks, curricula are formed with an orientation toward the interests of teaching collectives, students are weakly involved in research activities. A number of higher educational institutions have attempted to change the organization of the scientific and educational process in order to solve this problem. So, since 2017 MIPT and Novosibirsk State Technical University started a reception in the areas of prepara­tion for the Master's program in competitive groups.Groups can be supervised by departments or individual scientific and edu­cational groups, which must have research projects, scientific works, issued textbooks and other developments in line with the educational program. This experience can be considered as an attempt to approach the Western model.

In 2013, the University of Innagolis was established in the Republic of Tatarstan in order to train modern staff for the IT industry. The university has 13 research laboratories and 3 re­search centers (Table 5), which conduct research and provide a platform for the practice of students entering the training, imple­ment consulting and educational business projects for existing customers. This university uses an original educational model. For example, the programs "Managing software development" and "Developing safe systems and networks" spend first year for theoretical and practical studies, and during second year stu­dents participate in the industrial project of the IT company. So such applicants are subject to stringent selection criteria: rigid criteria for selection : at least 1.5 years of work experience, good knowledge of English, knowledge of the basic programming languages, protocols and architecture of computer networks, experience in writing technical documentation.The cost of mas­ter’s program is in 5-10 times higher than the average market (1400 thousand rubles per year), but the candidates who have been selected receive a grant that covers the costs of training.

For comparison: the year of study at the MSU is 300,000, in MIPT-250,000, at the Tomsk State University- 170,000, at St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University-150,000, at the Novosi­birsk State University-100,000. The special attention is paid to a limited set of master's programs, graduates of which receive a double diploma. In the represented universities the most remark­able examples are the programs:

• Verification and testing of hardware and software modules of telecommunication systems (Tomsk State University + National Taiwan University);
• Intellectual systems (St. Petersburg State Polytechnic Uni­versity + City University London + University of Flano- ver);computer networks and telecommunications(Tomsk Polytechnic University + Technical University of Munich).

WHICH SPECIALISTS ARE IN NEED FOR IT-INDUSTRIES?

According to the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, in order to solve problems in the field of technological innovation and import substitution, at least 350 thousand qualified specialists will be required by 2020 in the field of information technology. It is also expedient to con­sider expert opinions on related issues within the framework of this work.

• What are the main trends of the personnel market for the IT industry?
• What are the current requirements of employers for IT pro­fessionals? Do graduates of Russian universities meet these requirements?
• Are there any changes in Russian universities in order to ensure better compliance with the demands of IT compa­nies for staff?

Let's start with the trends of the IT market specialties. Ac­cording to experts from Yandex, at present they are following: the demand for specialists in the field of data science is continu­ously growing in all developed countries ;

• According to the Glassdoor rating, in 2016 the position of an expert in analytical data is the best work in America. The evaluation was conducted on the basis of three key factors: the number of vacancies, wages and the rating of career op­portunities. Also in the top 10 of the best vacancies were: a specialist in software architecture development, a specialist in mobile applications and a software engineer;
• In Russia, concurrently with the growing demand, the pro­spective professions are still in demand for traditional IT specialties: developer Java, PHP, с / с ++, с #, 1C, Python. The popularity of Swift and Unity3D is growing. At the same time, fewer experts on Objectivec are required. In general, the directions of IT-preparation remain one of the most popular among university entrants in Russia.One of the main reasons is the wages of IT specialization gradu­ates: according to the latest Superjob rating, IT graduates receive the most competitive salary in the labor market [Rating, 2017]. The universities in the rating are presented in Table 6. In comparison with most foreign universities, these figures look very modest (Tig. 6), however, for the Russian Federation the proportions between the cost of higher education and annual salary of a graduate are ap­proximately the same.
• According to the data presented in Table 6 and Figure 6, several comments should be made. Comparison of the graduates average salary is not fully objective and correct: firstly, because of its averaging and aggregation, and sec­ondly, because of the significant socio-economic conditions difference between regions.

Despite the really high demand for the IT industry as a medium for career development, more than half of the working specialists in some and related industries (for example, in radio electronics) are representatives of the older age group (over 45 years).

The preferences analysis of the master's degree graduates in IT specialties in the areas of professional development is pre­sented in Fig. 7. Approximately two-thirds of the respondents would prefer the engineering direction of IT-processes, and one third-managerial. These are the conclusions of the survey con­ducted in 2015. Almost 2,000 students and IT specialties gradu­ates studying in the Russian universities took part in this survey [Zhilyaev A., OleinikA., 2015].

Taking into account the requests of domestic employers, 4 most promising profiles of the magistracy are singled out:

- data science: methods of extracting knowledge from data, mathematical methods of modeling and forecasting, modem software systems and programming methods for data analysis;

• system and software engineering: industrial production, software, creation of information and communication tech­nologies, systems for various purposes;
• mathematical methods of optimization and stochastics: modem applied mathematics and mathematical modeling, stochastic analysis and discrete mathematics, optimization methods with emphasis on convex optimization methods in high-dimensional problems;
• data analysis in biology and medicine: interdisciplinary ed­ucation for the analysis of specific medical and biological data through the latest information systems and software packages.

As our analysis of Russian universities has shown, the first two profiles are reflected in one form or another in the master’s degree programs. Unfortunately, very few are proposed in other areas. The content of most leading universities master's programs also does not fully correspond to the new types of professional activity of IT specialists, which will be in demand for the next 3-5 years.Experts of the RussianAssociation of Electronic Com­munications made a perspective portrait of the professions of the future IT industry. So,FlR-directors mention among the new professions in the IT sphere, Internet and digital technologies that will appear in the next 3-5 years, new specialties related to BigData: generation and storage to analysis, modeling and vis­ualization; professions related to artificial intelligence systems (including the processing of natural languages).

The emergence of both "serving" specialties (operators, en­gineers), yet "creative" (direct development, creation of devic­es) is expecting in the field of mobile technologies and robotics. [Fuchsw. ,2012 ;FloresN.H. ,PaivaA.c.R. ,LetraP. ,2016;Mohd-Yusof Kh.,HelmiS.A.,PhangF.A.Etal.,2015].

We can identify the following key areas that will be particu­larly in demand in the IT industry according to the outlook for next 3-5 years:

• computer linguistics and artificial intelligence;
• robotics and robot software;
• 3D-design and printing;
• augmented and virtual reality;
• cloudtechnologies;
• IT in education and consulting
• "smart cities";
• bioinformatics and IT in medicine;
• data science;
• Internetofthings

Today only 13% of graduates can say that they have enough knowledge for their work [Zhilyaev A., OleynikA., 2015] .Only half of all graduates are satisfied by process of studying at the university, which is associated with a significant disparity be­tween theoretical and practical occupations (not in favor of the latter), as well as a lack of interaction in the process of studying with IT enterprises.

This conclusion is closely correlated with the requirements of leading IT companies (Google, Yandex, Microsoft, Sberbank MTS, Beeline, Megafon, Rostelecom, Lukoil) toyoung staff:

• High motivation to work;
• Ability to self-study, independence, enthusiasm, focus on personal growth, active life position;
• knowledge of English is obligatory;
• sociability, diligence, responsibility in solving problems with high uncertainty.

Among these requirements, there is essentially no demand for specialized skills. As a rule, large employers consider univer­sities as a tool for transferring knowledge, but not as a platform for professional development and begin to create their own uni­versities for programmers (this approach is now implemented by Mail. RuGroup). Another mechanism is the creation of basic departments in universities by the forces of industry leaders, while the educational process is reoriented to involve students and course participants in projects that are performed on exam­ples of real companies.

The survey of the head of the enterprise in the field of in­formation technology, telecommunications and radio electron­ics, generalization of expert opinions, open sources, shows that fundamental problem of the gap between training in the sphere of IT and employing employers is the absolute loss of life-cycle products for modern technologies.

On average, designing and launching an educational program in Russian universities takes a year, bachelor's degree study is four years, master's degree two more. IT sector can survive a few mini-revolutions during 7 years, in response to which the uni­versity does not respond by promptly updating the content and teaching methods.Unfortunately, the curricula approved on the first year actually do not have operational flexibility, therefore, it is necessary to revise the models of the educational process for training both IT specialists and personnel for other dynamic sectors of the economy.

Perhaps the situation could be changed by the organization of the continuous training of IT specialists, starting even with the high school classes (Fig. 8);increase the number of programs created on the basis of their own educational standards, pilot im­plementation of adaptive programs, when in the control points (for example, the completion of the academic year) the custom­er, teachers and students jointly determine the results and trajec­tories of training, a set of relevant training courses and practices of the next stage.

EXPERIENCE OF THE URAL FEDERAL UNIVERSITY

The abovementioned global and domestic IT trends in the development of IT education are reflected in several new educa­tional products of the Institute of Radioelectronics and Informa­tion Technologies of the Ural Federal University (Ural Federal University), designed on the basis of the analysis carried out by the authors. In particular, due to this study has been developed master's programs "leadership in engineering, management, IT business, "Intellectual Robotics", "Intelligent Information Sys­tems and Technologies for Functional Diagnostics and Neurore- habilitation", "Adaptive DataAnalysis", "Large DataAnalytics and Video Analysis Methods".

The concept of programs assumes that they will become points of growth in both the scientific sphere and in education, generating a variety of additional products for different groups of customers. For example, the program "leadership in engineer­ing, management, IT business" was prepared as a joint project of the Institute and the Fligher School of Economics and Man­agement of the UFU. The program is aimed at training special­ists in demand in the most promising and dynamically develop­ing sectors of the economy: artificial intelligence and machine learning, bioengineering, IT consulting, cybersecurity, additive technologies. The project was developed in accordance with the UFU standard of training for energetics and high-tech industries - with the federal standard of higher education in the direction of "Management", which makes it possible to organize more flex­ible of the educational process in comparison with the federal standard of higher education.

The program is implemented as a set of modules, grouped as follows:

• unified modules, mandatory for the direction of training;
• specialized modules that are mandatory for the training profile;
• variable modules - selected when forming an individual learning plan.

Each module is a logically completed by content, methodi­cal provision of an independent educational unit, focused on the formation of a group of interrelated competencies that determine the specific results of training.The program organically com­bines managerial and engineering disciplines, the mastering of which allows specialists to navigate quickly in IT innovations, to create their own technology start-ups, and to work successfully in large IT companies (Table 7).

The program "Intelligent Information Systems and Tech­nologies for Functional Diagnostics and Neurorehabilitation" combines IT, medicine and neuroscience and was implemented jointly with the Ural State Medical Academy, the Interuniversity Scientific Center for Bioengi­neering, the corporation Triton Electronics, the New University of Lisbon (Portugal) and the University of Wisconsin (USA) take part in the development of the research infrastructure of the program. There is a classical engineering module "Digital processing of signals and images", and several interdisciplinary modules ("Devices and Information Technologies for Medi­cine", "Sections of science on the brain and the autonomic nerv­ous system", "Mathematical modeling and analysis of data in medicine and biology ") and two design and research modules ("Methods of modeling and research in engineering", "Profes­sional Communications").

Master's program "Analytics of BigData and methods of video analysis" provides the study of modem mathematical methods and software for solving problems associated with the problems of Big Data. It focuses on the research and practical implementation of DataMining and BigData concepts in key in­dustrial sectors such as metallurgy (optimization of production processes), rail transport (innovative methods of modeling and optimization of technological processes of transportation), etc. These projects are done with the help of mathematical meth­ods, which include in-depth data research, graph optimization algorithms, video analytics, including digital image processing, which serves as a rationale for choosing one of the newest Data Discovery-Teradata Aster platforms.

CONCLUSION

Summarizing master's programs analysis results and edu­cational models of leading universities, the expert opinions of IT companies chiefs, we made recommendations that may have practical value for Russian universities in the design of brand­ed educational products that support the implementation of the leadership.

Creation and promotion of new interdisciplinary educational programs. Universities of the Russian Federation have a short­age of training programs, demanded in the most promising and dynamically developing branches of economy: artificial intelli­gence and machine learning, bioengineering, IT-consulting, cy­ber security, additive technologies.

The global trend-program is a the master's program at the intersection intersection of biology, IT and neuroscience. More­over, There is a demand for programs at the intersection of en­gineering, Art management. It is expedient to prefer short-term programs (pilot projects) for the preparation of students both engineering and humanitarian specialties.

The focused programs for training specialists for specific professions and functions are more familiar for our country. Nevertheless, in the next five years, demand for interdiscipli­nary Professionals in the IT sphere will grow. According to the dynamics, this growth can be quite unexpected and rapid.

In addition, it is necessary to strengthen interaction between institutes (departments), departments, laboratories, scientific and educational centers inside and outside the university, and also to enter into network partnerships with a knowledge-inten­sive business. This will help to update the research agenda, to create educational products that are of interest for the market, primarily commercial ones. Radical increase of the scientific component in the magistracy.

In order to enter the TOP-100 QS ratings, it is necessary to intensify scientific and publishing activities. One of the tools is the involvement of undergraduates in research projects. Presum­ably, this will increase the number of publications by 20-30%.

An additional point is that the combination of training on the basis of Project-based and Research-based models will contrib­ute to the formation of a unique brand of programs. There is no necessity to make all master’s degree programs research ones, it is necessary to identify priority products, in the first place, promising for promotion in the global market.

Developed programs. The acting in the Institute of Radi­oelectronics and Information Technologies, Ural Federal Uni­versity “leadership in engineering, management, IT business", "Intellectual robotics", "Intellectual information systems and technologies for functional diagnostics and neuro-rehabilita­tion" are designed taking into account world trends in IT edu­cation, are interdisciplinary and have the potential not only to become points of growth of the university, but also to form a sci­entific and educational ecosystem that integrates academic and corporate partners, support promising scientific developments in the field of IT and related technologies.