ICF ITMO - innovative magistracy

Good day, habra people.
Today, you will learn about the Master's School of the Faculty of St. Petersburg State University ITMO , as well as the personal impressions of the author as an applicant.
The problem of education in the proclaimed era of "modernization" of Russia sounds particularly acute. Some higher educational institutions still live in perestroika realities, offering students knowledge, mostly of Soviet higher education, but there are others that are striving to keep up with the times proclaimed by the state in the course and direction of the development of scientific activity.

From personal life

I connected life with ITMO for a long time - back in 1999, when the modem at 56.6 Kbps was the ultimate dream of any Internet user, I managed to take courses in HTML and JavaScript , having received the necessary knowledge to open the door to the world of web development.
A few years later I entered ITMO at the Faculty of Computer Technologies and Management . After studying four years, he decided to finish his studies as a bachelor . By that time, electrical engineering had not seen me so innovative, and it was not possible to get any serious knowledge of web development in our university, and not only, so I left for free swimming, choosing self-education as a foundation for further development. It is worth noting that the development of the Network allows not only to obtain the necessary information and be formed according to one’s own aspirations, but also somewhat blurs the line between theory and practice, which undoubtedly contributes to the earliest acquisition of experience in the chosen direction, if it comes to web development and some other IT areas.

After the institute, I had the good fortune to work at Spb Software House for some time, but I left there to fully realize myself in my own endeavors. By the way, I still keep in touch with many of the guys working there, the company is excellent.

Present tense

The last three years I have been actively engaged in free web development, in every sense of the word. I create, promote and support sites of friends and acquaintances for urgent bread, and for the soul and development I promote and improve the cogear site management system, which is free and open, like the whole of Open Source . Until recently, the project was present in my life as a hobby, but in the spring the scales began to shift towards the transformation of the hobby into a serious matter. This was facilitated by changes in personal life, as well as the formation of a community around the engine.
For any undertaking, a normal way of life is development, because the lack of development is the beginning of stagnation. I also ask you to note that not only the vector, the direction of development is important, but, in fact, the “ladder” along which the path must go up. If everything is good with the first one in Open Source (enthusiasm, support, self-realization), then with the second one it often turns out to be “not very”, which causes the death of many projects. Therefore, in the same spring, I decided to set a course for materialization, that is, the transition from abstract virtual activity to very real activity. Ideally, the best direction for development is the synergy of real (offices, people, camps, performances) and the virtual component (community, joint remote development) of the project. If you look at the projects of this kind that have reached a lot in the West, such as, for example, Drupal , then all this happens.
Turning to real meetings with members of our community (joint attendance of SPIC, RIF and other symposia), randomly (I believe in fate :-) came across a banner with an advertisement of the St. Petersburg State University ITMO (hereinafter simply “ICF”) in one well-known social network.

Meet the IFF

As is usually the case, before you make sure of something, it is something you need to learn more, it is desirable to see with your own eyes. Therefore, without fail, it was decided to attend the nearest of the Call to Action seminars conducted by the faculty for its applicants.

Frankly, the first visit to the new building of ITMO , located at the “VO Stock Exchange Line”. 16, ”led me to some kind of euphoria. The first impression plays a big role in the presentation of something, because it often turns out to be the most accurate and impartial, and the main entrance leaves the first impression of the ICF. The faculty is located in the former house of the merchant Eliseev and the interiors of the grand staircase make you think whether you came to a museum or a university :-)
')

Basics of the ICF

Go ahead, the magistracy is built on the basis of the Interuniversity student business incubator QD . In 2010, the first enrollment of students is carried out, so the atmosphere, literally, is as innovative as it may be possible.
The educational process promises to be exciting and interesting, judge for yourself - the day is divided into two parts by lunch.
The first half of the day, future masters attend lectures by leading world-class specialists . Including classes will be conducted by teachers not only from other cities, but also countries.
The second half of the day is devoted to your own business, which is your master's project. You are allocated a workplace, as well as the attention of the “mentors” of the magistracy (if in Russian, mentors), who will help you with experience, knowledge and connections to realize your goals.
If you don’t have your project when entering, it’s not a problem - you can take part in a team of comrades or choose a project from those offered by mentors and teachers of the ICF.

One of the mentors, by the way, is Sergey Kotyrev , the founder of UMI Studii and the founder of UMI.CMS .

Admission to the ICF

For admission to the ICF, you must successfully complete the following steps:

1. Preliminary interview and submission of documents.
2. Examination system analysis.
3. Interview.

The interview plays the most important role, since you yourself must clearly understand why you are going to the ICF, what role the faculty will play in your development / work, and what knowledge and experience you want to gain by becoming a master of the first edition of the ICF. Duration of training - 2 years.

Tomorrow, July 6th, the last Call to Action # 6 will take place, where you can see everything with your own eyes and learn more about the opportunities provided.
On Friday, July 9th, an entrance exam will be held, and a couple of days after it - the final interview. Hurry up, you can still have time to jump into the last car of an innovative train!
In any case, I will be glad to see tomorrow everyone at the address indicated at the beginning of the topic at 18-45.

Additional materials

As an informational support I enclose a video from the last Call to Action seminar, which I was able to attend. Do not forget to switch to HD 720p viewing mode.







And finally, the joke of humor:

Nikolai Rudolfovich Toivonen, Dean of the Faculty:
And here you can stand.
Lecture hall:
Which side?

PS
All collective blogs of educational type are closed and located in the "offtopic" zone, so I chose this blog as the most suitable one with the goal of conveying information to a wide circle of readers.