"IT business" steals the talent of the technological university "Electronic Systems"

22.01.2021

Students of TUTS present projects at the International Forum for Computer Arts Computer Space 2020 to the Mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova. The project “Education 4.0” by the newspaper “24 Chasa” and VIVACOM, which started in 2018, brought the topic of classroom transformation in sync with the revolution in digital technologies. As part of the initiative, the use of cloud platforms for training and sharing resources, creating tests and evaluating them online and remotely, using an electronic diary, multimedia platforms for educational content such as video lessons and other ways for a more effective learning process were promoted. The benefits and advantages of digitalization were proven in practice during the state of emergency. We continue to tell about good examples of using technologies in Bulgarian education. Due to the pandemic, Bulgarian education has been catapulted into the 21st century in the last year. Schools have handled the switch to online learning excellently. There are almost no children whose education suffers due to teachers' inability to be helpful in an electronic environment. What is now being done en masse in schools has been happening for 10 years at the Technological School "Electronic Systems," which is a unit of the Technical University of Sofia. The school was established in 1988 and recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. It marked the occasion with a scientific conference "Hand in Hand with Business." The conference was dedicated to the exceptionally effective educational model. At the core of this model is the close cooperation between the secondary school, the university, and business. Representatives from TU-Sofia and all IT sector business partners participated in the conference, asst. prof. Dr. Stela Stefanova, who has been leading the school for 10 years and previously served as its deputy director for 17 years, knowing the entire development process, told "24 Chasa." She primarily teaches automation of design in electronics and everything related to network technologies. She also leads the school's CISCO academy. The foundation of the connection with business is formed mainly with the help of graduates who form the backbone of the IT industry in Bulgaria; they manage companies and are leading specialists. Having graduated from the elite school, they find great meaning in coming back to teach the latest technologies and solutions with a practice-oriented approach. And they remain connected to the school - they sponsor, supervise diploma projects. Five years ago, they created the Association of TUES Graduates. This organization supports communication with business. Mass initiatives are undertaken for students' extracurricular training. Teachers at the Technological School "Electronic Systems" happily notice the trend that the children of graduates want to follow in their parents' footsteps. At TUES, there is already a second generation of students - children of those who graduated there years ago. Students, acquiring professional education, take state qualification exams in practice of the specialty in the form of a diploma project, which takes at least 3 months. Commissions of people from the IT industry participate in the defense of diploma projects. Diploma projects are actually created within the companies themselves. Student internships are at a specific workplace. 100% of the students they are doing their thesis projects in companies of our partners and defending them in front of them, explained Assoc. Prof. Stela Stefanova. This is turning into a sort of model for job interviews. A large part of the students from the school bench start working directly, while simultaneously studying. “We are training software specialists and IT specialists in the field of communications, network technologies, information security. In recent years, we have been organizing the so-called school hackathon. This is a competition in which students write software code for several days with unique developments. There are mentors, a jury, rankings. This is one of the most popular and extremely attractive events. Over 200 students gather and an incredible euphoria is created,” the director explained further. The last hackathon was held in an online format due to the coronavirus. Only the award ceremony was in person. In March, there will also be an online software hackathon. In recent years, the specialty “System Programmer” has enjoyed great interest. On the days of open doors at TUES, they welcome future students and show them projects in the field of artificial intelligence, software technologies, or information security. When admission days were held in person, over 1500 people passed through the school building. For 18 years, TUES has been winning the national computer networks competition; there is no competition in Bulgaria. This ensures that graduates have exam-free entry to Sofia University and to the Technical University of Sofia. The school has more than 50 state and international awards. The last one was in 2020 - the award of the Bulgarian Association for Information Technologies for special contribution to the development of technologies in Bulgaria. Students have software awards in the USA. “In modern conditions, IT specialists are in the vanguard positions of society. It is impossible without internet connectivity, it is impossible without software technologies. The modern world cannot do without cloud technologies, visualization, artificial intelligence,” Assoc. Prof. Stela Stefanova is categorical.

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24chasa.bg, 22.01.2021