The Rector of SFedU told reporters about the key parameters of the admission campaign. Thus, according to her, the total volume of budget admission at the university remains at a high level and amounts to about 5,500 places, which is comparable with last year's figures. At the same time, the number of paid places decreased by 4% to 3,741 places, due to federal restrictions in a number of humanitarian areas. At the same time, for the first time, recruitment has been opened for a new direction "Medical Biochemistry" (15 paid places), and there has also been a slight increase in paid places for engineering specialties.

Inna Shevchenko paid special attention to the support of certain categories of citizens. For the admission campaign of the 2026-2027 academic year, 367 budget places have been allocated within a separate quota for children of participants in the military education system, veterans of military operations and other categories stipulated in the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation".

SFedU applicants can still count on additional points for individual achievements: 10 points for a certificate or diploma of vocational education with honors, prizes in Olympiads and military service; 5 points for a TRP badge; 1 point for volunteering, confirmed on the DOBRO.RF platform.

Speaking about the innovations of 2026, the rector noted that SFedU, among 11 universities, joined a pilot project to improve the higher education system. Starting from September 1, instead of the usual bachelor's and specialist's degrees, the programs of "basic higher education" (for a period of 4 to 6 years) and "specialized higher education" (for a period of 1 to 3 years) will be introduced. The main goal of the pilot is to improve the quality of graduate training and their relevance in the labor market by strengthening the practical component and ensuring that programs meet the real needs of the economy. The order of enrollment and the list of entrance tests do not change: the competition is based on the results of the Unified State Exam or internal exams, documents are accepted through the Gosuslugi portal.

"When switching to the updated higher education system, SFedU is guided by three principles: fundamental, practice-oriented and flexible. In each case, the duration of study varies from four to six years. For example, in engineering, this is due to the expansion of fundamental disciplines, practical training, the introduction of special programs and internships. Internships should not be confused with practical training — these are two different things. We are talking about attracting partners directly into the educational process and transferring part of it to our partners' sites. This is probably a key change, both normative and substantive," emphasized the rector of the Law School.

Inna Konstantinovna explained each principle in more detail. So, fundamentality is what has always been the strength of the country's higher education: fundamental knowledge, fundamental science. Technology is changing fast — even the ways of holding press conferences have changed a lot. And a person's career lasts fifty to sixty years. Our goal is to provide such a fundamental foundation for the profession and mindset that graduates will be able to adapt to changes throughout their lives. Practice orientation: It is important to reduce the gap between learning and work. The student should receive not only fundamental, but also applied knowledge. This requires a new approach to interacting with the industry and the industry. For example, with Rostec, we are developing programs on radio electronics, control, navigation and communications based on the industrial and educational standard. We recently signed an agreement on the introduction of modules on artificial intelligence, additive technologies and information security. The main thing is to establish cooperation with employers and prepare students for real tasks.

Flexibility. Today, students have their own educational needs and should be able to solve problems both during and after their studies. We offer them a variety of formats and the opportunity to create individual trajectories. New roles are emerging in the programs, such as mentors and tutors who accompany students. This requires new solutions, which can be discussed in September and October.

In addition, Inna Konstantinovna spoke about the programs implemented jointly with industrial partners. The university has established a network of six professional schools, the academic councils of which include up to 40% of representatives of industry leaders: GC Rostec, Rosatom, PJSC SIBUR Holding, GC Titan, Sbera, Roscosmos companies and institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

A striking example is the program with GC "Titan" on microfluidic synthesis, where students bring laboratory developments to an industrial design right in the learning process. At the Advanced Engineering School of the Southern Federal University, individual modules are fully conducted by employees of Rostec Group of Companies.

Special attention is paid to programs in the field of artificial intelligence. Since 2025, the federal Artificial Intelligence project has been recruiting for bachelor's degree programs in this field. The University offers two tracks: "Advanced research and AI of the future" and "Development and adaptation of AI systems". Among the directions are "Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Engineering", "Software Engineering of artificial Intelligence systems" and "Artificial Intelligence for Cybersecurity". The main difference from the classical IT directions is that the study is immediately integrated into the real industry. More than 20% of the classes are taught by industry experts – leading developers, engineers, and researchers. Since the first year, students have been working in the project teams of leading AI companies and have internships there: they teach computer vision models, create recommendation systems, work with generative models and big data for real business tasks. Students don't just solve learning cases — they get involved in solving the problems of leading AI companies. The programs were developed jointly with our key partners, including MTS, Center-invest, HeadHunter, Magnit, Serchinform, Gazprombank, institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Artificial Intelligence of the SBERA. These programs also include measures to support talented children.

"There are also measures to support talented children. This year we launched a program: 100,000 rubles for 100-point students when applying to AI grant programs, and for those who enrolled in other universities last year, or for paid tuition, but scored high on the Unified State Exam and are winners of Olympiads, and want to transfer to these programs at SFedU, we announce the competition — up to 10 winners will have the opportunity to study for free," Inna Shevchenko explained.

According to the rector, IT areas, programs in the field of artificial intelligence, socio-humanitarian disciplines, chemistry and biology traditionally remain the most in demand among applicants. Last year, there was a noticeable increase in interest in engineering specialties – this trend continues, as engineering competencies become the basis of technological sovereignty.

The rector also noted that the geography of applicants to SFedU annually covers about 80 regions of Russia, while there is consistently high interest from applicants from Donbass and Novorossiya, with which the university has established partnerships with a number of schools.

There are 3,134 foreign citizens from 89 countries studying at SFedU – 11.6% of the total contingent. The University plans to accept 1,500-2,000 foreign citizens at all educational levels. The geography of recruitment is traditional: Africa (Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Central Asia), the Middle East (Syria, Iraq), Latin America (Ecuador, Colombia), South Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh), Central Asia (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan).

The number of international undergraduates has increased by 24%, and this figure will continue to grow in 2026. The most effective promotion channels are the Olympiad of Federal Universities for foreign citizens, the winners of which receive the right to free tuition at the expense of the quota of the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as a portfolio competition for applicants to the master's program. The most sought-after areas among foreign citizens are IT programs, management, teacher education, applied mathematics, tourism, economics, international relations and design.

For reference: The SFedU Admissions Office will begin work on June 20 at 9:00 a.m. You can apply remotely through the Gosuslugi portal or the applicant's personal account on the website. sfedu.ru . Face-to-face reception is conducted in Rostov-on-Don (148 Pushkinskaya St., Y.A. Zhdanov Zonal Scientific Library) and in Taganrog (44 Nekrasovsky Lane, building "D", office D113). The commission is open on weekdays from 09:00 to 16:00, on Saturdays from 09:00 to 13:00. The day off is Sunday.