Russia popularizing biometric technologies in domestic universities

The Russian government will start more active popularization of biometric technologies among young people by signing of a serious of cooperation agreements between the country’s biometrics operator Center for Biometric Technologies (CBT) and some leading universities of Russia.

An example is an agreement, signed on December 5th, by the South Ural State University,  one of leading higher education institutions in Russia, based in the Urals region and CBT. The agreement is aimed at developing educational and scientific projects in the field of biometrics and information technology and involves training young specialists in biometric systems and information security.

Under the terms of the agreement, the partners plans to organize practices, internships, joint research and competitive events that will be dedicated to biometrics and various technologies, based on it.

According to  Vladislav Povolotsky, CEO of CBT, the Center already cooperate with more than 40 universities across the country, conducting various courses dedicated to the issues of biometrics.

In September, the CBT already launched a course of educational lectures for students on biometrics. The project was presented at the Technoprom forum, one of Russia’s leading events in the field of technologies, held in Novosibirsk. It will cover more than 40 universities including MIPT, RANEPA, Polytechnic University, Tomsk Polytechnic University, Synergy University, Novosibirsk State University, MAI and others.

Alexander Stepanov, Deputy General Director of JSC CBT, comments:

“The development of biometric technologies requires highly qualified specialists, who are not yet being trained in Russian universities. We see the direction in which the industry is developing and are working ahead of the trend.  Together with universities, we are planning to start training specialists that will be in high demand in the domestic biometrics sector already in the short-term».

Biometric technologies are already used by Russian universities. For example, earlier this year the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the Center for Biometric Technologies (CBT) completed the development of a roadmap for identifying students using biometrics to conduct distance exams.

In fact, an experiment on using biometrics to identify students during exams was already conducted in Russian universities in 2022 and received positive feedback. As a result of this experiment, the Ministry of Digital Development proposed using biometrics in distance learning on a permanent basis.

According to a spokesman of CBT, verification using biometrics for remote final and midterm assessment ensures clear identification, eliminating the possibility of falsifying the results of the exam. He expects that the service will be useful not only for out-of-town students, but also for students with disabilities. At the same time, the use of the service is completely voluntary.

As a representative of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), one of Russia’s leading higher education institutions in the field of physics, told in an interview with the Russian Vedomosti business paper, identification by biometric data is becoming more and more widespread in Russian universities,  as it is important when each examiner know and recognized their student.

In the meantime, a similar position is shared by the head of the research center for systems of assessment and management of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy Boris Ilyukhin, according to which, many universities have already developed their own proctoring systems, also based on biometrics, which include not only identifying students, but also monitoring their computer screens, blocking the use of the Internet and much more.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Center for Biometric Technologies  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  Russia  |  video surveillance