SAMSUNG IT SCHOOL Wins the “Best Social Project of Russia” Award in “Support of Gifted Children and Youth” Category

Samsung Electronics, global leader in consumer electronics and advanced information technologies, reports that its supplementary education project SAMSUNG IT SCHOOL – a basic IT and programming course for high school students – became an award winner of the “Best social projects of Russia” annual competition in the “Support of gifted children and youth” category. The competition was created within the framework of the Russian government’s focus on the consolidation of welfare based on partnership between state, society and the private sector, and is held with the support of the government in Moscow. Last year, Samsung was honored with the “Best social projects of Russia” prize in the “Education and science” category and also received the prize for realization of the social program “Education for EVERYONE” in the “Support of indefensible population groups” category.

A year-long SAMSUNG IT SCHOOL course was developed by the Samsung R&D Center in cooperation with the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, one of the top technical universities in Russia. For young people with an IT background, the course provides a focus on Java language and mobile apps development on the Android platform. Its main goal is to help with the training of future skilled IT and engineering professionals, beginning in high school. The project is aimed at increasing Russian youth`s interest in IT. It is being implemented in more than 20 of the biggest cities in Russia with the support of regional authorities and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and is designed as a five year program for more than 5000 school students.

“We appreciate that the expert council of the program highly esteemed our educational project,” said Sergey Pevnev, Director of Corporate Citizenship and Public Affairs Department at Samsung Electronics CIS HQ. “As the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, Samsung contributes to the education of future IT-professionals. In this regard, SAMSUNG IT SCHOOL is one of our strategic projects.”

In 2016, around 130 programs were included in the “best social projects of Russia” program. More than 70 of them took prizes of the leading Russian and international companies that lay emphasis on corporate social responsibility as an essential part of their missions. The best 17 projects, including Samsung, were selected to be presented at the awards conference as examples of best practices. Projects submitted for the competition were evaluated in the following categories: “Culture, art and religion,” “Ecological projects and initiatives,” “Support of sport and healthy lifestyle,” “Education and science,” “Support of gifted children and youth,” “Support of indefensible population groups,” “Social marketing,” “Social projects focused on Russian Federation population`s financial literacy in the area of insurance,” “Corporate projects,” “Projects for improvement of housing and utility conditions,” “Development of international collaboration,” “Socially responsible media,” “Charity,” “Medical-social projects,” and “Sponsorship of social projects.”

The program is aimed at collecting and systematizing the best practices and realization of social projects in Russia, reviewing social marketing projects and the popularization of best social projects. The finalists and winners were defined by the expert council, made up of 13 specialists from public, state and educational institutions.