The Ministry of Education and Science named the number of university graduates with startups

The Startup as Diploma program operates in 73 regions, and more than 5,000 students have graduated by completing their final qualifying work in this format. The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation told Izvestia about this.

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The ministry explained that universities independently establish specific forms of state final certification (GIA) in accordance with the requirements of educational standards, including the type of final qualifying work (WRC) and its requirements.

"In order to develop a practice-oriented approach, the Ministry of Education and Science developed a new WRC format in 2022, implemented within the framework of the Startup as a Diploma program. The purpose of the program is to create conditions for the development of student startups and to present their results as evidence of the competencies they have developed within the framework of the GIA," the ministry noted.

On the basis of methodological recommendations developed by the Ministry of Education and Science, ecosystems are being formed in Russian universities to develop student support practices in the preparation and defense of research projects in the startup format.

"By the end of 2025, the program was implemented at 204 universities in 73 regions, 5,180 students defended 3,260 research papers in the Startup—as-a-Diploma format," the ministry said.

In addition, since 2024, the annual All-Russian research competition has been held in the "Startup as a Diploma" format. In 2026, 1,222 applications were submitted by students from 189 universities from 65 regions of Russia.

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