As part of the Educated Country programme, the VTB Group aims to improve the quality of financial and economic education and develop educational infrastructure, scientific potential, and high technology.
Pursuing the objectives set by the Education and Science national projects, VTB Bank provides long-term financial support to Russia’s leading universities to ensure their educational and scientific programmes cater to societal demands and the Russian economy’s long-term development goals. In 2019, universities such as the Higher School of Economics, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences, MGIMO University, and Far Eastern Federal University received financial support from VTB. VTB Bank supported a total of 124 educational institutions in 2019.
In 2019, VTB and 28 leading Russian universities launched campus projects, issuing over 100,000 campus cards. Campus cards are used to pay student stipends and salaries and gain access to university premises and IT systems.
Strategic cooperation with St. Petersburg University’s Graduate School of Management
St. Petersburg University’s Graduate School of Management is Russia’s leading business school. It holds a unique set of accreditations, enjoying steadily high international rankings. Since 2012, the school has been headed by Andrey Kostin, VTB’s President and Chairman of the Management Board. The period saw the school enter the ratings of Financial Times and The Economist, an achievement unprecedented in Russia’s business education system. In 2013 the school’s Master in Management programme was ranked #65 worldwide on the FT Masters in Management ranking. In the years that followed, the school moved up in the rankings, making it to #23 in 2018.
In 2019, Olga Dergunova, VTB’s Deputy President and Chairman of the Management Board, was appointed the school’s director. The reporting period saw a record-high acceptance rate for the school. The numbers of the school’s academic awards, research grants, and research papers published in high-ranking journals are on the increase. Together with corporate partners, the school completed several unique projects, such as the <5G_Dream_Lab> project with MegaFon and a boot camp with Severstal. In late 2019, the school began updating its development strategy for 2025. VTB’s expert team is actively involved in shaping the vision of the school’s future and in developing educational programmes using modern technology.
Olga Dergunova Deputy President and Chairman of the Management Board, VTB Bank Director of the Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg University
Support for the education sector is becoming an integral part of the current corporate sustainability model for Russia’s economic leaders. VTB’s active involvement in the activities of Russia’s universities is in line with international best practices in CSR. In particular, our cooperation with the Graduate School of Management seeks to ensure that Russia’s business education matches the highest international standards.
The Educated Nation programme also includes projects improving financial literacy, supporting startups, and finding talented students through professional contests and grant and scholarship programmes.
As part of the programme, the VTB Group strives to improve the financial literacy of the public. For that purpose, the Bank joined forces with Russia’s other leading banks to set up the Financial Literacy Development Association. The association is working on educational campaigns together with Russian governmental agencies such as the Department of Education and Science, the Healthcare Department, and the Ministry of Defence.
VTB Group companies not only train adults and students but also strive to teach finance to children of preschool and primaryschool age. Since learning through play is the best way for children those ages to learn, VTB Bank continues to support Kidburg Career City’s bank theme spaces. The Bank’s game library is available at Kidburg’s ten locations in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, and Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, and Yaroslavl regions.
I Am a Professional
In 2019, the 2018–2019 season continued for I Am a Professional, an olympiad for students in engineering, humanities, and the natural sciences. VTB Bank has been the olympiad’s principal partner and organiser since day one.
Olympiad finalists had the opportunity to enrol in Winter School, a series of educational forums set up by VTB Bank together with the Higher School of Economics. For VTB Bank, Winter School forums focusing on economic fields are an effective tool for promoting employers’ brands, allowing the Bank to attract smart and motivated interns. The project’s purpose is to provide upward social mobility for talented children.
The Business Information Science forum was attended by 144 olympiad finalists. The event included team games and case studies as well as clinics by VTB and HSE experts. The Finance and Lending forum brought together 139 students from 30 regions and 48 universities across Russia. Presentations by Winter School experts, including HSE teachers and VTB top managers, discussed a variety of topics such as the value of higher economic education, machine learning technology in banking, nuances and trends of the financial world, and the major problems faced by the digital economy.
In just two seasons, more than 70 prize-takers and winners from 40 Russian regions got internships at VTB, some of those ending up in full-time employment. Season 3 winners will also be invited to VTB’s internship programme.
2019 olympiad: season 2 results
54 disciplines
More than 520K applications
Almost 3.5K award winners
190 bronze medals
139 silver medals
106 gold medals
To improve employees’ competence, VTB Bank took part in the 2019 Changellenge Cup Moscow case competition. A case competition is an event where participants familiarise themselves with a company’s operations and work to solve associated problems. The Changellenge Case Study League is a large-scale system of case competitions aiming to prepare participants for a career through a practice-oriented approach. Every year, Changellenge organises more than 200 projects, and over 500 students with outstanding performance are selected on the online stage to take part in the competitions.
In addition to supporting professional science, the VTB Group encourages initiatives that promote learning and education through games and entertainment. In 2019, VTB Bank continued to sponsor What? Where? When?, a one-of-a-kind national intellectual game show the Bank has supported since 2011.
