On December 1, 1992, the Computing and Analytical Center of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus began, which was formed as a result of the combination of the Information and Computing Center (ITC) of the Ministry of Education and the Computing Computer Center for Collective Use (VTsKP) of the Ministry of Higher Education. In 2001, in accordance with the new Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus, the center was renamed the institution “Main Information and Analytical Center of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus”.
The structure created had two main tasks that remain relevant today:
1. Fulfillment of the functions of the head organization of the industry on the development and implementation of information technologies in the education system of Belarus, coordination of all activities in the above direction, fulfillment of the functions of the customer during the development of informatization of the education system, etc .;
2. Information and analytical support for the activities of the education system, including the conduct of state and industry statistical reporting, automation of the processes of collecting and processing information, the formation and maintenance of databases and data banks, the formation of analytical materials based on the processed information.
From the beginning of its existence, the SIAC of the Ministry of Education has been at the forefront of only the processes of informatization that were emerging in Belarus. Employees of the research sector of the SIAC of the Ministry of Education became the pioneers of the Belarusian Internet: already in 1994 they connected the first IP-line from which the UNIBEL network began to work (until that time only email was available for Belarusian users). On the basis of this network, in 1995 the first international online conference “Internet in Belarus” took place.
The main objective of the UNIBEL network can be formulated as ensuring the most efficient use of information resources of global computer networks:
overcoming the disunity of universities, institutes, research centers, laboratories of research groups and individual scientists, teachers and students in the use of information technologies and communications;
overcoming difficulties in the dissemination of new ideas, scientific results and publications on various problems, and first of all, on the problems of information technology;
providing access to world educational and computer networks, providing access to international information, computing and software resources;
ensuring the efficient operation of information resources of the Republic of Belarus as a whole;
pursuing a unified technical policy in the field of computer communications in education and science;
training and dissemination of information technology, dissemination of the Internet culture.
The UNIBEL network has its own autonomous system registered in the European Network Registration Service (RIPE), as well as a large pool of class C IP addresses. For a long time, the network acted as the representative of the Republic of Belarus in TERENA (Trans-European Research and Education Networking Association).
UNIBEL network participated in a number of international projects, in particular, with the support of a foreign grant, a fiber optic ring was created in Minsk with the placement of communication equipment at telephone exchanges (Internet project). This solution allowed us to solve the problem of the last mile and provide optimal conditions for connecting users, since end users only needed to connect to equipment located at the nearest telephone exchange. This fiber optic ring is still operating efficiently.
The main information and analytical center of the Ministry of Education has created and maintains a number of the most important data banks for the republic: a data bank for orphans and children without parental care; databank of children traveling for rehabilitation abroad; databank of children with special needs in psychophysical development; database of gifted youth. Transferring a huge array of “paper data” to electronic media allows you to quickly work with information, which in today's dynamic world directly affects the effectiveness of decision-making.
The most important activity of the SIAC is informational and analytical support to the work of the Ministry of Education, and more precisely, the central administration of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus. This is primarily about statistical information about the processes taking place in the educational sector of our country. It should be noted that today GIAC processes all statistical reporting on the education sector, which is more than 30 forms of centralized, decentralized, departmental reporting.
Some forms of reporting are provided not only to the Ministry of Education, but also to other leading ministries and departments, such as the Prosecutor General’s Office, the State Control Committee, the Ministry of Finance, etc.:
“4-expenses (Ministry of Education)” - information on the implementation of decree No. 18;
Forms "Applicant" - information about the progress of the opening company in educational institutions (higher, secondary special, vocational).
Based on the information collected, statistical compilations are compiled annually, information from which is incredibly in demand both in the Ministry of Education and in other government bodies of the Republic of Belarus.
With the direct participation of the SIAC of the Ministry of Education, a number of developments were carried out as part of the implementation of the following state and industry programs and projects:
1. As part of the implementation of the “Computerization of the Population” subprogram, the Presidential Program “Consumer Electronics” (1998-1999) developed:
2. When implementing the republican program “informatization of the education system” (1998-2006), the following were developed:
program-methodical complexes in support of teaching subjects of a comprehensive school - 9.
automated lists - 1.
3. Within the framework of the sectoral program “electronic textbook” on the development of electronic educational resources for the education system of the Republic of Belarus (2007-2010), the following were created:
The center’s specialists developed organizational, technical and program measures that made it possible to open a certification and registration center on the basis of the SIAC of the Ministry of Education, which made it possible to issue an electronic signature for electronic transmission of documents. The certification and registration center has received the corresponding license of the Operational and Analytical Center under the President of the Republic of Belarus.
Among the developed systems for collecting and processing information, the following can be distinguished: “E-education”, “State order for training” and some others.
The constant growth of information volumes and the emergence of new threats in the information space necessitated a rigorous systematization of data and the creation of reliable protection systems. In this regard, the SIAC of the Ministry of Education has posted its information resources on the republican platform beCloud, which operates on the basis of cloud computing, and assists organizations subordinate to the Ministry of Education in moving its resources to the platform of the republican data center.
One of the inconspicuous, but very important area of our activity is maintenance, including support for the functioning of the local network of the central office of the Ministry of Education. Directly GIAC set the task to provide high-quality video conferencing with regions, regional education departments, educational institutions located outside Minsk. This is a rather complicated technical task, since the number of participants in a video conference can be large, while the quality of communication channels with regions does not always meet the standards.
The SIAC plays an important role in collecting, processing and, most importantly, analyzing information on the activities of all educational institutions of the Republic of Belarus from the point of view of evaluating their work on the basis of approved criteria and indicators. In the future, the SIAC should ensure the construction of various ratings of educational institutions according to various criteria for their activities. This is a very important work and should be carried out by independent qualified specialists who are able to objectively evaluate the activities of educational institutions at various levels.
GIAC Ministry of Education plays a key role in the transition to the criteria and indicators used in international education statistics. The rating of the country as a whole, the possibility of attracting foreign students and foreign investment to the Republic of Belarus depends on how our educational system is presented in international structures. Currently, this work has just begun and it needs to be done very professionally, with knowledge of the features of the organization of education in our country and the specifics of our education system.
In connection with the need for up-to-date information on the processes of informatization, the SIAC of the Ministry of Education established the digital transformation scientific journal, which highlights the most important issues of the development and use of information technologies in Belarusian and international practice.
In recent years, the SIAC of the Ministry of Education took part in the implementation of such state scientific, scientific and technical programs as:
• State scientific and technical program "Information Technologies";
• National program for accelerated development of services in the field of information and communication technologies for 2011-2015;
• State program for the development of the digital economy and the information society for 2016-2020.
On October 3, 2017, the Main Information and Analytical Center of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus was accredited by the State Committee on Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus and the National Academy of Sciences and reaffirmed its status as a scientific organization, which allows it to successfully continue research in the field of natural, technical and social sciences that contribute to the active implementation of information technology in the educational process.
Employees of the SIAC of the Ministry of Education took part in research and development of a bibliometric methodology for the selection and evaluation of world scientific periodicals; methods and recommendations for the examination of software products proposed for implementation in the education system of the Republic of Belarus; the development of the terms of reference for the creation of the information system "Register of students of pre-school, general secondary, vocational, technical secondary and higher education of the Republic of Belarus"
Between 2003 and 2010, the SIAC acted as the Focal Point of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education. Together with the Institute, the SIAC participated in various studies, seminars, and conferences on education informatization, which made it possible to use valuable foreign experience to introduce information technologies in the education system of Belarus.
For many years, the institution has been the coordinator of the educational projects of the Erasmus + Program, funded by the European Union. In 2015, the SIAC of the Ministry of Education organized the Erasmus + exhibition, which presented educational programs for students, doctoral students and employees of higher educational institutions, as well as joint master's programs Erasmus Mundis.
The main information and analytical center of the Ministry of Education annually participates in the organization and conduct of scientific and technical exhibitions and conferences in the framework of TIBO congresses and international exhibitions “Perspective Technologies and Systems: Informatics, Telecommunications, Security”. At these exhibitions, the institution presented the software products Electronic Journal and Electronic Diary and other educational software, as well as the UNIBEL computer network. During 2012-2016, the SIAC of the Ministry of Education was awarded diplomas of the participant of the international specialized forum on telecommunications, information and banking technologies “TIBO”. In 2013, the TIBO-2013 Internet Prize was awarded (diploma for III place in the nomination “Culture and Art”).
The SIAC of the Ministry of Education together with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus organized the I International Specialized Scientific and Technical Exhibition-Forum "Information Technologies in Education" - ITE-2017. In Belarus, ITE-2017 was the first event of such a scale in the field of education. The partners of the event were such companies as Softline, MTC, ZTE, Velcom, beCloud, Microsoft, life, Mapsoft, Aversav, Fisikon, Inventolabs, HORIZONT, as well as the Development Bank and BSU. ITE-2017 has become the largest platform for an open dialogue of more than 3,000 participants interested in issues of informatization: representatives of educational institutions, educational authorities, and global suppliers of information technology. The ITE-2017 exhibition and forum played the role of a powerful impetus for establishing business contacts between representatives of the education system and information technology providers.
For 27 years, the SIAC of the Ministry of Education has been carrying out large-scale work on the collection and processing and analysis of statistical information in the field of education, as well as coordinating the implementation of information technologies in educational institutions. The center is engaged in state statistical and departmental reporting; the creation and maintenance of industry databases of statistical information; development of statistical collections. The SIAC of the Ministry of Education is also engaged in the development of telecommunications and information resources in the Republic of Belarus, including the design, construction, operation and provision of data transmission network services, user training. The Center conducts research and development work on the problems of information technology, telecommunication networks and systems, on the creation and updating of information resources.
Modern life is unfolding in a global competitive environment, therefore, the SIAC of the Ministry of Education has a very difficult task: to become the coordinator of the interaction of representatives of the education system and the largest manufacturers of information technologies to introduce the latest achievements of science and technology into the educational process. This will increase the competitiveness of the education system of Belarus at the international level and accelerate the process of the country's entry into the global knowledge economy.