Innopolis is now featuring the third place in Russia for quality of incoming students, according to the final grades of school state examination. The early days were different; how was this progress achieved? What has been the process?

1 Educational Model of Innopolis University

Innopolis University follows a model according to which all students are allowed to free education as long as they pass the selection process. At the time of writing, IU has a bachelor program in Computer Science and Engineering and four master programs:

  • Software Engineering

  • System and Network Engineering

  • Data Science

  • Robotics

From the academic year 2022–2023, the structure of the programs will be extended, and a growing number of admitted students are expected.

The first two of these programs were transferred, respectively, from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

Both of them are quite unusual for typical Russian master’s programs and designed for students with initial industrial experience. One of the main peculiarities is the so-called industrial project integrated in study plans. In the case of the master’s program in Software Engineering (SE), students work for two semesters on a team project supervised by mentors from IU and industry. This practice was borrowed from Carnegie Mellon University, and the project presents real-industry tasks. In the project, students have the possibility to apply the knowledge obtained during the regular courses.

The master program in System and Network Engineering has a similar approach transferred from the University of Amsterdam. In the frame of these programs, students have to work also on industrial projects, but different from the SE program, the length of the projects is just 2 months.

2 The Recruitment Strategy

IU had to perform its recruitment of national and international students always with a limited budget. Despite this, students showed an increasing interest for the university, both nationally and internationally.

The key elements that the university has adopted in terms of recruiting strategies could be summarized as follows:

  • Use of major and capillary Internet channels;

  • Word by mouth of satisfied current students;

  • Incentives to current students to invite their talented friends;

  • Recruiting campaigns in foreign countries (e.g., Italy in 2017);

  • Program of visiting professors from abroad;

  • Program of international internships;

  • Student exchange (inbound and outbound);

  • Erasmus+  with countries such Italy, France, the UK, Ireland, Turkey, Luxembourg, Denmark, etc.;

  • Competitions and olympiads for students and schoolchildren.

Typically, the largest amount of students is coming from Asia and the Middle East. Only a small part is actually coming from America and Europe. This is due to the lack of awareness about IU in these continents. Dissemination activities from PR offices have been indeed still limited in these geographical areas.

The countries offering a large amount of students to the university are typically CIS countries, Egypt, and Pakistan. However, recent years have seen students enrolled also from Italy, Spain, and Latin America.

Figure 5.1 shows a moment of the selection of students.

Fig. 5.1
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Student selection

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3 Student Exchange

The exchange students and the international internships played an important role in placing Innopolis in the world academic map. In the framework of international programs, students of Innopolis University have a chance to visit world’s leading university in the Computer Science sphere: National University of Singapore, KAIST, Seoul National University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Polytechnic University of Milan, University La Sapienza in Rome, University of Luxembourg, etc. Student exchange brings to the University, and to the participating individuals, several benefits, such as:

  • An opportunity for students to extend their academic curriculum attending courses given in partner universities;

  • International experience is a significant advantage from the employment perspectives;

  • Experience of working in an international environment and new projects;

  • Significantly increasing language skills;

  • Broadening horizons and improving inter-cultural understanding.

On the way of setting up a completely new exchange network, IU faced several obstacles both on the inbound and outbound fronts. For what concerns outbound students, the difference in study plans and the technical recognition of received courses is a problem. To avoid this problem, since the beginning, IU looked for exchange cooperation only with universities that have a strong IT background and relevant degree programs focusing on IT, Computer Science, Data Science, Robotics, AI, Software Engineering, and Cyber Security. Additionally, IU helped to build up an appropriate individual study plan for each exchange student in order to make recognition as smooth as possible. Finally, all exchange partners provide English-taught courses at least at the MS level, so that students do not need to learn a new language to participate in the program.

On the inbound front, the major problem was related the young age of the university, which led to a limited international recognition by foreign students. That is why the university implemented several moves to change the situation:

  • Each participant in an exchange was then used as an ambassador of IU to maximize recognition of the university in partner organizations;

  • IU organized webinars for potential exchange students to learn more about the institution;

  • Exchange coordinators disseminated various materials to partners;

  • Starting from 2018, IU defined a scholarship for incoming students that covers transportation and accommodation.

In terms of financial support of mobility, IU was also involved in Erasmus+  scheme with partners from Turkey, the UK, Ireland, France, Luxembourg, Denmark, and Italy. This scheme provides funding for supporting not just student exchange but also staff mobility. Outgoing students have not faced serious financial problems, since they receive a monthly scholarship from IU on top of the Erasmus funding.

The fact that IU is an English-speaking university eases things in developing exchange programs: incoming students do not need to know Russian language and outgoing students already have a solid knowledge of English. Students at work are presented in Fig. 5.2.

Fig. 5.2
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Students at work

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4 Olympiads and Competitions

Olympiads and competitions have an important role in IU internationalization and student recruitment. For instance, in 2014, the university became a national partner of the World Robot Olympiad, which allowed to host the Russian stage of the event. This still brings hundreds of schoolchildren every year and provided a strong support for the training of the Russian national team.

By training the national team, IU was determinant in the achievement of top results. In 2018, the national team was first in the World Robot Olympiad and won 1/3 of all medals: 5 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals. Such results have positive influence on potential students, especially in the field of Robotics, and affect the choice of their future place of study.

5 Support for Students

Recruiting excellent students, placing them in competitions, and nurturing them are essential for the success of Innopolis. In order to continuously support the intellectual and emotional development of our most precious resources, the Students Affair Office is regularly organizing gathering, some sport-related, some entertainment-related, and others more academic-related, without any particular preference and unbalance in the assortment. An event organized to inform and support those considering a career in science is depicted in Fig. 5.3.

Fig. 5.3
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An event to guide students to a career in science

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