A delegation of St Petersburg University attends a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Dagestan
A meeting dedicated to the establishment of cooperation between the Russian National Open Education Platform Association and the Republic of Dagestan has been held in Makhachkala. The participants included: representatives of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Ministry of Digital Development of Dagestan; rectors and vice-rectors of state universities of Dagestan; and representatives of universities — co-founders of the Russian National Open Education Platform (NOEP).
In his welcoming address, Rector of St Petersburg University Nikolay Kropachev expressed confidence that the meeting would provide a basis for fruitful future cooperation with educational organisations of the Republic of Dagestan and would enhance opportunities for the peoples of Dagestan to obtain professional qualifications for the benefit of the region.
In recent years, St Petersburg University has been rapidly developing long-distance e-learning programmes and implementing projects to create open online courses that combine both classical academic approaches and pedagogical innovations. St Petersburg University is a co-founder and first representative of Russia in the Global Alliance for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), as well as one of the founding universities and an active member of the Russian National Open Education Platform Association. To date, over 900 educational products have been presented on the platform, a quarter of which were prepared by St Petersburg University teams. Currently, St Petersburg University specialists are finalising work on 100 new online courses.
The implementation of online education programmes is vital for the development and modernisation of the higher education system.
Magomed Abidov, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Dagestan
Denis Ianyshev is Chairperson of the Board of the Russian National Open Education Platform Association and Head of the Centre for Development of Electronic Educational Resources at Lomonosov Moscow State University. He presented the platform, which offers MOOCs from leading Russian universities, and spoke about the fundamental guiding principles for the NOEP action. Dr Larisa Lapidus, an expert on the strategic development of the NOEP and Professor of Lomonosov Moscow State University addressed the question of digital transformation in education in response to the new challenges, and focused on the vector of the NOEP strategic development.
Vladimir Starostenko, Director of the Centre of E-Learning Development at St Petersburg University, spoke about practical applications of the NOEP resources and the platform capabilities in terms of achieving successful outcomes for students, teachers, universities, and regions.
The meeting discussed effective ways to implement information technologies in higher education in Dagestan through online courses and specialisations and the prospects of inter-university network cooperation for the universities of the republic.
A question was also raised concerning the development of educational content to meet specific needs of educational institutions, particularly in the priority areas of artificial intelligence technologies and digital business transformation. The meeting also considered the possibility of creating online courses and specialisations by the universities of Dagestan for the National Open Education Platform.
During the meeting, a cooperation agreement was drafted between the Republic of Dagestan and the Russian National Open Education Platform Association. The official signing of the agreement is due to take place at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. The Forum will be held from 15 to 19 June 2022 with the participation of heads of state and government, senior executives of major corporations, and world-renowned experts from academia and civil society.