ASU Becomes Site for Final Stage of Competitions in Mathematics & Cryptography

The interregional annual competition for secondary school students has been arranged by the Russian Federation Cryptography Academy and by the Institute of Cryptography, Telecommunications and Computer Science of the Academy of the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB). To arrange the regional stage in Astrakhan, the organizing committee was formed; it included specialists of Astrakhan State University and the Regional School Technopark.

The competition has been held since 1991; it became interregional in 2007. Nowadays it is held in 37 Russian cities; about 2, 000 secondary school students take part in it. The competition held in Astrakhan for the first time have proved that such a complicated and important science as Cryptography attracts young people. We outstripped many other Russian regions in the number of participants; 36 young people reached the final stage.

On May 05, the official closing ceremony took place at Astrakhan State University. The event was dedicated to cryptographers’ professional holiday. This very day the government decreed to establish the national cryptographic service in 1921.

Dr. Iskandar Azhmukhamedov, Head of the Chair of Information Security of ASU, told about the prospects for those young people who would choose Cryptography and information security as their future profession, as well as about special advantages for winners and awardees of the competition in their further admission to ASU. They may be entitled for enrolment without having to take entrance examinations or granted the maximal scores in the discipline relevant to the competition profile.

According to Mr. Vladimir Lim, who teaches at the Regional School Technopark, “the competition attracted students of the 9th, 8th, 7th, and even 6th grades; the young people showed good results. Information security is necessary everywhere – for law enforcement authorities, for banks, for corporations, etc. A highly qualified specialist in information security gets a high salary and is highly demanded in any country”.

“If you wish to choose information security as your future profession, this competition is a real chance for you to get enrolled to most prestigious educational institutions”, Dr. Ilya Voevodin, Deputy Director of the Regional School Technopark, pointed out.

At the end of the closing ceremony, the winners of the selection stage and the awardee of the final stage were granted their diplomas.

For our University’s contribution to arrangement of this competition, the Astrakhan Directorate of the Federal Security Service sent a letter of thanks to Dr. Konstantin Markelov, our Acting Rector.