Higher education, production and IT: stages and directions of long-term cooperation (experience of ZYFRA Group)

The paper discusses the key stages and strategic directions of mutually beneficial cooperation between an IT-company and higher education institutions based on the experience of the ZYFRA Group. Criteria for selecting partner Universities and the following specific steps (activities) are proposed for establishing long-term effective cooperation with higher education institutions: opening a digital laboratory; launching the educational process; joint research and development; attracting University personnel to participate in the company's projects. The expediency of attracting industrial partners and customers of the IT-company to work in the digital laboratory is justified in order to organize the educational process using real data and practices of industrial companies to improve the quality of engineering personnel training. It is shown that strategic partnership with universities contributes to strengthening the reputation of the IT-company in the industry and expanding the company's customer base, as well as forming a pool of talents and business growth. The general approaches for organizing interaction between the ZYFRA Group and Universities that are defined in the article can serve as methodological recommendations for building partnerships between large IT-companies and the research and education communities.