A trilateral agreement was signed in Moscow between the government of the Murmansk Region, Murmansk Arctic University and the mining and metallurgical company Areal. The document envisaging a strategic partnership between the region and business in educational and research activities was signed by Andrey Chibis, Governor of the Murmansk Region, Vladislav Sviblov, CEO of Areal, and Ekaterina Kalachikova, Vice Rector for Strategic Development at UIA.
Among the key objectives of the agreement are to provide early career guidance through practice–oriented training and to create transparent career paths for talented young people. The main areas of cooperation include a comprehensive upgrade of the educational infrastructure and systematic staff training on the end–to-end educational track "secondary vocational education - university – company". UIA Areal will invest 200 million rubles in the development.
"For the Murmansk region, the development of youth competencies in the field of IT is a priority task, fixed in our strategic plan "To live in the North!". We are creating a modern educational ecosystem in the region, focused on the needs of key industries, including mining. Partnership with business allows us to build training of specialists not abstractly, but for specific production tasks of the region. This means jobs, sustainable development of enterprises, and increased opportunities for the self—realization of Arctic youth," said Andrey Chibis.
"In the current market conditions, our group is actively developing its own mining and geological information systems, digital services, and process automation systems. These areas require both IT expertise and deep immersion in the specifics of the mining business. Therefore, we invest in personnel training in advance and join educational programs at leading universities in the country, provide mentors, scholarships, places for internships and internships. Everything is done so that talented developers can get to know the company during their training and further realize their potential as part of working on our complex and interesting production cases," said Vladislav Sviblov, CEO and shareholder of the Areal Group.
Ekaterina Kalachikova, Vice—Rector for Strategic Development at UIA, emphasized that the partnership with the Areal Group is an important step in implementing the university's digital transformation strategy.
"We are consistently developing areas of artificial intelligence, data analysis, digital modeling and automation, integrating them into all levels of education — from college to master's degree and research projects. It is fundamentally important for us that students work with real industrial tasks and modern technologies already in the learning process. Such interaction enhances the practical component of educational programs and forms graduates' competencies that are in demand in the economy of the future," Ekaterina Kalachikova said.
The funds allocated by the Areal Group will also be used to upgrade the material and technical base of the Murmansk Arctic University College. The classrooms where classes on the Information Systems and Programming and Power Supply programs will be held will be repaired and equipped with modern technological equipment. Educational materials on programming, computer science and computer engineering are updated with the participation of experts from a mining and metallurgical company, taking into account their applied experience and knowledge.
/ Ministry of Information Policy of the Murmansk Region /