1.

Introducing Ekaterinburg
Ekaterinburg is located on the eastern slopes of the Ural
Mountains (approximately 1600 km or a 2 hour flight
east of Moscow). The Ural Ridge is a natural boundary
between Europe and Asia which stretches from the
Arctic shores in the north to the Steppes of Kazakhstan
in the south. With the population of more than 2 million
people, the agglomeration of Ekaterinburg ranks third in
Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg. Ekaterinburg is
the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Region.
In general, Ural region has more than 15 million of
population, with Ekaterinburg as the leading center of
industry, finances, culture and education. With its vast
deposits of oil, gas, ore and different valuable minerals,
Ural is a modern and well developed region of Russia
and also a comfortable and friendly place for living.

How
to
spell
correctly:
Ekaterinburg
or
Yekaterinburg? However you want it, but Ekaterinburg
is more friendly to Internet, as most Ekaterinburg websites prefer to save space in their domain names by
disposing of 'Y'.

A view of 18th century Kharitonov palace and a temple, erected in 2003

A night view of Ekaterinburg, with a celebration fireworks over the City

Pond

2. Ekaterinburg: logistics and

hospitality
As Ekaterinburg is located on the border of Europe and
Asia, so the official slogan of the city is the following:
Borderless Opportunities. There are several reasons
making Ekaterinburg an important business and cultural
center in Russia:
Logistics. Lots of national and international
(Lufthansa, Air China, Turkish Airlines, Finnair,
Czech Airlines, Fly Dubai, Air Arabian) companies
are carrying out scheduled flights. Koltsovo
International Airport is the 3rd largest airport in
Russia and, perhaps, the most comfortable of
them.
Hospitality. There are 99 hotels in the city ready to
serve 7876 potential visitors, including the
facilities of international hotel operators (Park Inn,
Hyatt, Ramada, Angelo, Novotel). According to the
federal statistics, Ekaterinburg is the 4th largest
Russian tourist center in terms of accommodation
facilities.
Safety, Comfort and Infrastructure. Ekaterinburg

Hyatt Regency Ekaterinburg, a place where BRICS and SCO

meetings were held in 2009

3. Ekaterinburg: experience in
organizing events
Every year, more the 300 conferences and congresses
and more than 200 exhibition events are being held in
Ekaterinburg. Among them, the following are of greatest
importance:
The BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China,
South Africa) and Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) summit, 2009
Russian German summit with the participation of
the heads of the two states, 2003 and 2010
INNOPROM, an international fair of industry and
innovations (organized each year since 2010)
Ural Industrial Biennale, a major forum of modern
art (since 2010)
Ekaterinburg is one of the Russian cities which will host
games at the 2018 FIFA World Cup; also the city is the
Russias candidate to host the international exhibition
Expo-2020.

Russian German summit in Ekaterinburg, 2010. A

session in the Grand Hall of the Ural Federal University.

Russian German summit in Ekaterinburg, 2010. A

session at UrFU.
Left to right: Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany;
Alexandr Misharin, Governor of Sverdlovsk Region; Viktor
Koksharov, Rector of Ural University; Dmitry Medvedev,

4. Ekaterinburg: territory of
safety
Ekaterinburg is known for the high level of safety even
in the days of mass events and festival, being a true
territory of safety.
These are the most recent examples of the events
which we in Ekaterinburg handled successfully and safe.
Russias Football Cup Finals, held on May 9th,
2012, with the appreciation from both the football
officials and media;
Vesna UPI festival held in UrFU in April May,
with dozens of events and a closing ceremony with
several thousand student participants on the same
May, 9th

Closing ceremony of the 22nd International Student Festival Vesna

UPI on May, 9th, 2012
UrFU Square

5. Ekaterinburg: cultural
background
Going to Ekaterinburg, you dont have to just stay inside
the hotel. Our city is one of the most beautiful places in
Russia. The key reasons for visiting Ekaterinburg are
summarized below:
unique blend of architecture styles, including
18th
century
baroque
and
constructivist
experiments of the Soviet era;
the dramatic aura of a place where the last Russian
czar, Nicholas II and his family were executed;
the oldest wooden sculpture in the world, the
9000-years-old Shigir Idol;
the geographical border of Europe and Asia;
the wonderful nature of Ural in the vicinity of
Ekaterinburg

6. Ural University: one of

Russias
leading
high schools
The Ural Federal University (UrFU) is one of

the top
ranked scientific centers in Russia, carrying out research
in natural, technical, and social sciences, the
humanities, and economics. It was set up as a merger of
Ural State University (USU) and Ural State Technical
University (USTU) in the summer of 2011.
Do not be surprised! Ural Federal University =
Ural State University
The total budget of UrFU is about $ 200 mln. The
number of students is more than 40 000 people. The
federal status entitles Ural University to a special
support from the federal government.
According to the QS World University Ranking in
2012 UrFU is among the top 500 Universities in
the world.

The main building of Ural University on September, 1st, 2012. The academ

7. IT education at UrFU
UrFU offers 46 Bachelors and Masters degree programs
connected with IT. The total number of students studying at
these programs is more than 6 thousand; more than 500
specialists are involved in teaching. Its the size of a whole
independent IT university!
There are three centers of principal importance:
Institute of Mathematics and Computer Sciences (IMCS);
Institute of Radioelectronics and Information Technologies;
Institute of Physics and Technology.
There are also different centers and offices of the worlds
IT companies
at UrFU:
leading
Microsoft
Center of Innovations
(in 2012 recognized as the
best of 11 Microsoft centers in Russian universities)
Cisco Academy
ZyXel
Intel
National Instruments

Members of UrFU teams participated in ACM-ICPC World

Finals before 2010 and the UrFU bronze age

8. Institute of Mathematics
and Computer Sciences
The Institute of Mathematics and Computer Sciences
(UrFU IMCS) is the pioneer of computer science training in
Russia. In 1998 the IMCS specialists developed the Federal
Educational Standard in computer science on request from the
Russian Ministry of Education and Science. IMCS was the first in
Russia to start a Masters Degree program in computer science.
The specific features of IT education at IMCS:
system of gifted youth support and training, based upon the
work of UrFU Lyceum;
integration with one of Russias best research group in
mathematics;
students involvement into numerous programming contests
and tournaments;
comfortable and democratic environment;
strong connections with Ural IT industry (Ural IT Cluster) and
leading Russian IT companies.

9. UrFU Lyceum
Ekaterinburg is the leading center of IT education attracting lots
of gifted young people from the vast territory of Ural. In 2011,
Ural Olympiad in Programming for Secondary Schools
brought to Ekaterinburg more than 100 teams from all over Ural
a record number of participants!
The contests, competitions and olympiads allow us to find the
gifted youngsters. Many of them are enrolling our University
Lyceum which provides the high-quality pre-university training.
Education at the Lyceum is characterized by more in-depth
study; the students learn the skills of independent research
exploration. There are only three similar schools in Russia: in
Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Novosibirsk. Last year, Lyceum
students won Russian Olympiad in informatics and different
international competitions.
Each year, several Lyceum students are awarded the
Presidential Award for gifted youth. Almost every UrFU team
participating in ACM-ICPC World Finals includes graduates of
UrFU Lyceum. Moreover, Lyceum graduates are entering other
universities, always achieving considerable successes in
mathematics, physics and programming.

10. UrFU Training System in

Action:
Nikita Shamgunov
Some
Personal Examples

Leonid Volkov

Alexey Samsonov

Vladislav Isenbaev

Evgeniy Kurpilyanskiy

Olga Soboleva

11. Research and Education at

IMCS

UrFU IMCS places great emphasis on bringing research and

education together in order to guarantee high level of teaching and
learning:
Ural Mathematical School. IMCS is home for one of the best
Russian research schools in mathematics (represented among
others by President of Russian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Yuri
Osipov). UrFU is collaborating with Russian Academy of
Sciences in the field of fundamental mathematics.

Research and Education Center Intellectual Systems and

information Security. Spheres of activity: intellectual
systems, robotics, operation systems, languages and
automats, information protection. In 2007 the center hosted
international CSR (Computer Science in Russia) conference
and will host it again in 2013.

Laboratory of Combinatory Algebra. In 2012, we will open a

new laboratory to support IMCS in their work with the gifted
youth specialized in programming. That would provide the

UrFU Team in ACM-ICPC World Finals 2010. Left to right: William

Poucher, Alexey Samsonov (coach), Evgeniy Kurpilyanskiy, Denis
Dublennykh, Nikita Burmistrov, Alexandr Ipatov (coach), Magaz
Asanov. ACM-ICPC archive photo.

12. Ural IT Cluster

UrFU is Urals leading center of IT education and research, so the
university has been collaborating quite productively with the local IT
companies. The IT industry in the region is on the rise. The Ural IT
Cluster, a non-profit partnership, unites 65 leading Ural
companies with a combined turnover of about $ 330 million.
According to the prognosis for 2016, the turnover will increase fivefold. The Ural IT cluster is supported by the Government of
Sverdlovsk Region.
We thank our partners from the IT business for sharing our vision of
IT training tasks for Ural region and supporting us in accomplishing
these tasks. Due to such support, the education services we provide
correspond perfectly to the needs of regional economics and allow
our graduates to build a successful career in their professional field.
Our most important partners in Ural are the participants of the IT
cluster: SKB Kontur, Naumen and others. We also collaborate with
the firms from other cities and international companies like Yandex,
Google, Microsoft, and ABBYY.

The Keyboard Monument, a funny IT-themed art-installation in

Ekaterinburg

13. IT contests at UrFU

The Ural University organizes a lot of IT contests and tournaments
for universities and secondary schools. We put an emphasis on
providing each and every student with the support and equal
opportunity to participate in a contest.
Contests organized by IMCS:

ACM-ICPC NEERC Quarterfinals

Open UrFU Championship (team and personal standings)
Open Ural Championship
Ural Olympiad in Programming for Secondary Schools
RuCTF (the first Russian contest in information protection under
the Capture the Flag international rules)

Contests organized by other UrFU institutes:

IT-Planet Programming Contest (Institute of Radioelectronics and
Information Technologies)
Russian Mathematical and IT Olympiad for High School Students
(Institute of Physics and Technology)

14. IT contests at UrFU: the

importance

Why do we put such an emphasis upon our

students participations in programming
contests? Here's the answer

As you participate in the programming

contests, you produce a new kind of
thinking an algorithmic one. You start to
evaluate time with precision and find
optimal ways to solve the problems. So
you can write a correct code really fast,
and even if something goes wrong, you still
can fix the mistakes quickly
Denis Dublennykh, UrFU IMCS student,
bronze medalist of ACM-ICPC World Finals2010 and 2011, specialist of SKB Kontur
IT company

ACM-ICPC World Finals 2010. UrFU team at work.

15. ACM-ICPC NEERC

Quarterfinals
The first major Ural contest in ACM rules,
the Open Ural Championship, was held
in 1997 by UrFU IMCS. It was one of the
very first Russian contests held under
the international rules.
In 1998, the Open Ural Championship
acquired the status of ACM-ICPC NEERC
Quarterfinals. Thus, one of the first ACMICPC Quarterfinals in the world (and
definitely the first in Russia) was held in
Ekaterinburg.
The author of this idea was the director
of IMCS Department of Mathematics,
Mechanics and Computers Sciences, Dr.
Magaz
Asanov.
Following
the
experience of UrFU, the quarterfinals
were introduced in the other regions.
In 2005, Dr. Asanov received
Presidential
Award
for
the
contribution in IT education in

16. Open Ural Championship

In 2006, the Open Ural Championship and the ACM-ICPC
NEERC Quarterfinals were parted due to the change of
ACM-ICPC rules. Thus, 2 contests emerged instead of
just one:
the Open Ural Championship (April)
ACM-ICPC NEERC Quarterfinals (October)
Since 2006, Open Ural Championship is an independent
competition with the permanently increasing number of
participants. Open Ural Championship-2012 was
held at UrFU IMCS on April, 28-30 with the participation
of 41 teams from 19 universities (from Moscow and
St.Petersburg to Novosibirsk). The tournament was
supported by SKB Kontur, Yandex, Naumen, JetBrains,
ABBYY and others.
6 Russian teams which qualified for ACM-ICPC World
Finals in Warsaw participate in the competition.
Moreover, since 2000 UrFU IMCS organizes the Open
UrFU Championship where UrFUs own teams are

Open Ural Championship-2012

17. Timus Online Judge

The unique UrFU web resource is ACM Timus Online
Judge (acm.timus.ru), which is supported by the
students and specialists of IMCS. This resource allows us
to:
organize international programming contests
online;

introduce the contests problems into educational

process (as students register and try to solve the
problems by themselves);

operate Russias largest archive of problems and

solutions collected from different contests;

interact with the global audience of more than

60000 registered visitors.

ACM Timus Online Judge screenshot

18. UrFU Participation in ACMICPC

In 2012 UrFU will participate in its 11th ACM-ICPC World Finals. This is
World
Finals
the 4th result
in Russia, as only Moscow University, Saint-Petersburg
University and Saint-Petersburg University ITMO participated in World
Finals more times.
UrFU Participation in ACM-ICPC World Finals

Three times (in 2001, 2010, and 2011) UrFU IMCS team won bronze
medals of ACM-ICPC World Finals. Today, the UrFU finalists are
successful IT specialists who contribute greatly into the development
of programming contests in Ural.

UrFU Team in ACM-ICPC World Finals 2011. Left to right: Michael

Karasick, Douglas Heintzmann, Alexey Samsonov, Mikhail Rubinchik,
Evgeniy Kurpilyanskiy, Denis Dublennykh, Don Gaitros, William

19. What do we expect from

the ACM-ICPC World Finals?
The ACM-ICPC World Finals in Ekaterinburg would be a great benefit
for IT popularization across the central Eurasia. The World
Finals have never been held so deep into Eurasian continent, and a
huge social impact and promotional effect for IT industry, research
and education are guaranteed. For the vast region of Ural, it is a
great chance to open itself to the global IT community.
In particular, ACM-ICPC World Finals would help us to ensure the
global recognition of Urals growing IT industry. UrFUs striving
for the leadership in the sphere of IT and computer science
corresponds to the needs of regional business community. The
student programming contests make up the core of collaboration
between university and community.
The universitys purpose is to achieve a new level of quality in
education. The practical aims in this context are:
reputational (ensuring the leadership in IT education, stimulation
of the community interest to IT);
investment (a possibility to increase investments in IT research
and education from the government and business);
social and cultural (consolidating potential of the ACM-ICPC World