University-wide optional courses

Dear students!

The university-wide optional courses are a set of disciplines that many of you have grown to love. Here, you can be the creator of your own studies and take on any discipline you like. And if you are a Master’s or PhD student, you can become a teacher yourself if your proposed course wins the competition!

There is no such thing as study groups at university-wide optional courses: Master's and Bachelor's students, biotechnologists and physicists, innovators and programmers, and even ITMO lecturers and staff meet here. You might even meet the head of your educational program in a course – and launch a joint project with them! We believe that such mixed-group training facilitates mutual understanding and helps to create a friendly atmosphere within ITMO University. 

So, are you ready to expand your connections within the university and meet like-minded people?

Check out the list of optional courses for this semester and choose the ones you like while you can! In the spring semester of 2026, you will be able to choose from 52 courses!

Please approach this process consciously: only enroll in a course if you really intend to complete it – after all, there are a lot of people who want to take it, and places are limited.

Now for some ground rules:

Choosing your course(s):

• You can enroll in optional courses during the corresponding period on the my.itmo.ru platform.

• You can choose no more than two courses per semester. Please note: if you have chosen a language course in Turkish, Chinese, Spanish, Italian or German, this is the only course that will be available to you, as each one is at least twice as long as any other (64 academic hours).

Dropping your course(s):

• You can withdraw from a course until the day of the second class (inclusive) without any sanctions or restrictions (please write about your decision to plus@itmo.ru or to @plus_itmo_bot on Telegram).

• If you withdraw from a course after the day of the second class, different rules apply:

  • If you drop out of a course 2 or more times – unfortunately, you will not be able to enroll in optional courses at ITMO next semester. 

  • Got 2 no-shows/2 failures or a combination of the above? Unfortunately, you will also be unable to sign up for optional courses in the next semester. 

Credits for optional courses:

• Optional courses do NOT affect scholarships and are NOT considered academic backlog. Optional courses are only included in the Diploma Supplement if requested by the student. 

• Optional courses are not mandatory. But if you choose to take one, you must fulfill all requirements announced by the instructor in order to receive the credit.

• Credit for optional courses is issued by the end of the semester and is displayed in your digital gradebook after the instructor adds it via the BARS system.

Below, you’ll find course descriptions and videos from the lecturers. Check them out to choose the course that suits you best.

The elective for the spring 2026 semester will be held on my.itmo from February 9 to 11 February.

We'd be happy to answer your questions – just email us via plus@itmo.ru or on Helpdesk.

To sign up for or leave a course, use the Telegram bot: @plus_itmo_bot