Russia would need 70,000 IT graduates by 2030 - ministry

MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax) - The Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Artificial Intelligence Alliance estimate Russia's demand for IT graduates at 70,000 by 2030, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Andrei Omelchuk said.

"We have a forecast of how many need to be trained on the horizon until 2030. For now, the target is 70,000 graduates," Omelchuk said at a press conference presenting the ranking of Russian higher educational establishments by quality of AI specialists' training.

It would be necessary to increase the annual number of graduates to 15,500, he said.

Earlier, Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Minister Maksut Shadayev estimated the personnel shortage in Russia's IT industry at 500,000 to 700,000. The Russian IT sector employs almost 740,000 people, he said.