Russia (bbabo.net), - In order to increase the demand for graduates in the labor market, universities are launching project-based learning in their areas of study. This is teamwork: during the semester, students develop a project for a specific business request - they invent a technology, promote a brand, or write a security code. For example, UrFU does more than two thousand projects a year, which are supervised by about 200 partner companies. The correspondent asked how it is beneficial for them to participate in such a process.
- This is necessary for business for several reasons. First, the organization wants to know what place it occupies in the minds of the younger generation. Secondly, she often needs to look at internal processes from the consumer's point of view. And thirdly, to increase the awareness of your own brand, - says marketer Yulia Pomortseva, who has been conducting workshops at the Ural Federal University and the Ural Institute of Management of the RANEPA for ten years.
Faculties for IT specialists and engineers were the first to introduce project-based learning, but now it is being successfully implemented in the humanities as well
She launched several advertising projects with students. So, for the Professorskaya ophthalmic surgery clinic, the teams studied the audience of users in social networks, interviewed doctors, and at the end arranged a drawing of laser vision correction for a thousand people. According to Pomortseva, the implementation of projects increases the chances of employment of young professionals.
It turned out to be important for the residents of the special economic zone (SEZ) "Titanium Valley" to think over the brand's PR strategy. According to the SEZ project manager Maria Kiseleva, in May last year, UrFU students participated in the Titanium Valley hackathon, where they solved the company's management tasks. But the participants did not stop there: in the fall, their ideas were included in the project-based learning module to bring them to practical implementation.
- One of the tasks was to prevent the outflow of the able-bodied population and increase the personnel potential of the Verkhnyaya Salda urban district. To promote the Titanium Valley brand, the students used game practices, for example, they held a quest for schoolchildren in grades 8-9 to get acquainted with the goals and residents of the SEZ. Some of the guys get into our personnel reserve, having an internship in the company, - Kiselyova explains.
In addition to promoting and hiring employers, I also care about how relevant knowledge is provided at the university. Thus, the experts of the IT-company "Kontur" launched a whole course on the basics of project activities in the bachelor's program of their program "Fundamental Informatics and Information Technologies" at UrFU. In the third year of study, his students work on projects under the mentorship of customers.
- They create them, including for the needs of the university. For example, together with our curators, groups are developing a service that will schedule classes - now this is done manually, although the process can be automated. Every year we also give students of mathematics and radio faculty topics for term papers and theses, - says Dmitry Mramorov, chairman of the board of directors of the SKB Kontur group of companies.
The faculties for IT specialists and engineers of Ural Federal University were among the first to introduce project-based learning, but now it is being successfully implemented in the humanities as well. Since September, Media Communications projects have been introduced for first-year students: instead of printed newspapers, the guys create multimedia content - longreads, which are published in online publications. This can be counted as an industrial practice.
- In 2018, the university launched eight programs with an eye to such work, as a result, it became a strategic project. We have implemented the Project-Based Learning digital service, now 96 of our programs and more than 180 partners are connected to it - in 2021 their number has doubled. Among them are large and medium-sized businesses, NGOs, - says UrFU Deputy Vice-Rector for the Development of Educational Activities Valentina Ovchinnikova.
In 2023, students from half of all areas of study at UrFU will participate in project-based learning. With the participation of employers, educational laboratories and new courses are being opened at the university, while business representatives believe that such a partnership is beneficial for them: students help enterprises develop, because the creativity and innovative thinking of young people today is valued above all else.
Meanwhile
According to the national award in the field of information technology "Digital Peaks", the "Project-Based Learning" service has become the best IT solution for higher education. Experts highly appreciated it, since it is integrated into the virtual environment of UrFU, in particular, it includes a partner's personal account, where any company can leave an application for a project. The Ural development was among 64 finalists of the competition from 23 regions.
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