On December 21, 2012, the new information technology school being constructed within the Innopolis research and development center in the Russian republic of Tatarstan entered into an agreement with the iCarnegie Learning University in the United States. The signing ceremony included an address by the President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. Gil Taran, program director at the Carnegie University, and the director of Tatarstan’s IT university Dmitry Kondratiev inked the memorandum of understanding.

The President of Tatarstan said that the republic’s newest IT school has already identified what it wants to gain from cooperation. The Kazan IT university will begin enrolling students starting in 2013.

According to Mr. Taran, the researchers at Carnegie University performed extensive research in the field of information technology education and training. The results of that research will be helpful in shaping the curriculum at the Kazan University.

According to Roman Shaikhutdinov, who serves as the Communication Minister of the republic of Tatarstan, Russia’s goal of doubling the country’s GDP by the year 2020 is to be achieved in large measure as a result of expansion in the field of high technology. In that regard, the Kazan IT university will do its part to train qualified specialists to fuel the economic expansion.

According to Mr. Taran, the Russian high technologies sector is confronting a shortfall of qualified personnel.

According to Minister Shaikhutdinov, American experts will be involved in formulating the strategy for the new university. Officials of large Russian companies have also agreed to send their representatives to the new school in the capacity of advisors.

The Innopolis school, which is situated at a site 40 kilometers away from Kazan, will have an IT-university for 5,000 students, a technological park for 10,000 specialists in the field of information technology, and provide nearly 15,000 service-sector jobs. Altogether, the research and development center will be a home to 150,000 residents.