Together for Russia: SERC Smart School Project

Access to education is a basic human right and also a vital element for a better future. We live in a world where technology is developing at a fast pace and students today are constantly surrounded by these changes. This is why we believe that introducing advanced technology in the classroom creates better learning environments and helps develop smarter and more creative individuals.

Samsung Smart School is one of Samsung’s various initiatives to improve the quality of education in many parts of the world. We’ve tailored our programs to meet the specific needs of those areas depending on the region and its current circumstance. We’ve established 327 schools in 62 countries so far including the Digital Classrooms in Europe and Smart Library in Vietnam. Today, we take a look at Russia and how smart school projects have been created to fit its needs.

According to the Russian Government, education is one of the highest national priorities with aims to train 350,000 new IT professionals within the next 4 years. With that goal in mind, Samsung has set up SERC (Samsung Electronics Rus Company) Smart School Project, supported by the Russian Ministry of Education. The project has already been launched successfully in three cities, Moscow, Kazan, and Samara, with plans to expand to up to 20 regions by September of this year.

For the project, Samsung provides 3 major types of support:

• IT & Software  Course content, developed by Samsung R&D SRR in cooperation with  MIPT University
• Smart School Solution equipment, for creation of interactive digital learning environment + Samsung Note PCs for programming
• Teachers’ trainings for IT & Programming and work compensation, providing teachers training both on-line (through Webinars) and offline (gathering in Moscow around 50 teachers from 20 regions from Russia).

Vitalia Iofa, a student in the Smart School program in Russia, says:

“Students participating in the Samsung Smart School program can learn profound IT skills, which we don’t get to in a regular school setting. The free classes are very well-equipped. We’ve learned C and JAVA programming languages and how to program mobile apps.”

Alexei Shchegoltsov, Director of Moscow Education Center, claims that the Smart School project in Russia not only improves the current education system but also provides vital information for the future of education.

“Due to the rapid development of the IT field, the Samsung Electronics’ education project is very much in demand among students and lecturers. Gaining experience in cooperating with Samsung is particularly important for us, so we can test the latest technologies in IT education for their future application.”

The future for Samsung Smart School project in Russia seems more than promising. Besides the SERC Smart School project, we are also launching Smart School “Hope for Children” project for disabled youths in Russia.

Engel Fattakhov, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan, believes that Russia is faced with the crucial task of developing its IT field.

“We have already established an IT lyceum and are planning to create an IT university. In addition, we are also preparing for a Computer Science World Cup in Tatarstan. We are very grateful to Samsung for the excellent initiative and support for Russia’s IT education.”

We hope that through these programs, students can strengthen their knowledge of IT and programing, and obtain practical skills to develop their own applications for mobile smartphones and PC. Through their skills, we hope that the students will have a successful future career in the field of IT and programming, and overall strive to help improve the IT industry in Russia. Stay tuned as we explore more on how we provide educational programs, not only in Russia, but around different parts of the world in the upcoming posts.