Mail.Ru Group, a major Russian Internet company, has announced an investment in GeekBrains, a Russian-language online learning platform for developers. The LSE-listed group has acquired a controlling interest in GeekBrains, with the founders keeping a stake and still running the platform.
GeekBrains claims more than 1 million participants (up from from 200,000 one year ago) with a monthly audience of 500,000 users. The most popular free course, ‘Programming Basics,’ has been attended by more than 470,000 people so far.
GeekBrains helps beginners study the basics while more advanced programmers may expand their knowledge. The platform offers more than 50 online courses using video lectures, webinars, assignments, and discussions. A variety of topics are covered, from web development, to mobile and game development, to design, to SEO.
Mover than 7,000 students have graduated from GeekBrains so far. While GeekBrains graduates may apply for internships in IT companies, some of them work on a startup project at an internal IT incubator.
“Our main goal is to modernize learning so that it would be more fitting for the XXI century. IT education today has to be based around practice, working in teams on real projects; employers should be included in the process as commissioners for the whole course,” said GeekBrains co-founder Alexander Nikitin.
Programming for schoolchildren
Almost simultaneously Yandex, another Russian Internet giant, announced an educational project intended for schoolchildren. The ‘Yandex Lyceum‘ will start activities in October in Kaluga, Penza, Saratov and Tambov, and further on in other large Russian cities. Courses will take place twice a week in existing universities or other educational organizations.
The Lyceum’s curriculum includes both theory and practical tasks, setting for graduates the goal of “acquiring basic programming skills.”
Mail.ru Group and Yandex have been active in the field of IT education for years. Mail.ru Group already runs practice-oriented learning centers on its own, such as ‘VK University’ and ‘Technopolis,’ as well as in collaboration with leading Russian universities, including Moscow State University, the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT or Phystech) and the National Research Nuclear University (MEPhI).
On its side, Yandex has a popular Data School. The Internet search company has also developed cooperations with the Higher School of Economics — they opened jointly a faculty of computer science in 2014, — the MIPT and St. Petersburg State University.
