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Ukraine’s IT sector is booming – and ORT is making sure that its students have the skills to take full advantage of it.

A new survey shows that IT services and software R&D are the country’s third biggest export earner, worth $2.5 billion last year. The sector is enjoying double-digit growth annually with Cisco, Oracle, Rakuten and Samsung among thousands of companies in the US and around the world using Ukrainian expertise.

To meet overseas demand, particularly from the United States, Ukraine’s IT engineering work force is expected to double to over 200,000 by 2020, according to the Ukraine Digital News survey reported by IT Outsourcing News.

Don’t be surprised if ORT alumni are disproportionately represented!

A decade ago only our older students did computer studies. Now, ORT pupils study it from the first year. Over the same period our schools have prioritised the development of robotics as well as increasing the time spent on IT

David Benish

Head of World ORT’s Representative Office for the CIS, Central Asia, Caucasian States and Baltic States.

Not only do all ORT Ukraine students study IT they also have some of the country’s best teachers in the subject – like Igor and Olga Kot (picture above). This husband and wife team teach computer science and technology at ORT Odessa and recently won top honours for their pedagogical skills at the International Forum of Educational Technologies.

“School administrations have introduced a range of optional IT courses in response to student demand and they’re so popular that we have entire classes taking them,” Mr Benish said. “Our reputation for high quality teaching in these subjects is now a major reason why many students choose to enroll with us.”

It’s also a reason why over the past two years more than one-third of ORT Ukraine students have gone on to study IT-related subjects at university. They have a bright future ahead of them.