Russia’s first Summer Internet Governance School, organized by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, with support from St. Petersburg State University School of International Relations and Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics, closed on September 30 (). The school is part of the global Schools on Internet Governance (SIG).
Of the 68 people who had registered for the course, 53 have completed the school’s first stage where they received basic knowledge about the internet governance ecosystem. The curriculum of the second stage included in-depth discussions on specialized subjects, non-standard tasks and teamwork skills. The teaching staff comprised members of the academic community, technical experts and representatives of international organizations, who provided interesting material.
“We designed the Summer Internet Governance School as an in-person project whose participants were to work on a project as a team. But the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to move online. On the positive side, this meant that not only students from Russia but also from Kazakhstan, Belarus, Moldova and other countries could participate. As many as 38 students have graduated from the course and will receive extended education diplomas from St. Petersburg State University. This is a very good result, especially for such a specific area like internet governance,” Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ Andrey Vorobyev noted.
Importantly, the graduates can continue to interact with the organizers, future education and discussion projects, and chat with other graduates on Facebook or Telegram. Other large international forums that offer a large youth agenda include the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG). Many Russian and international events in this area were held online this year, which means that everyone interested could take part in them. Students, postgraduates and young professionals are invited to attend the First Youth Russian Internet Governance Forum (Youth RIGF), which will be held in 2021.
The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ plans to hold a second summer internet governance school in 2021. Please check our announcements for updates.
