Metropolis: 30 CASE-IN participants have joined the company's staff in three seasons

Since 2023, Metropolis has been the initiator and strategic partner of the Student League. "Architecture, design, construction and housing and communal services" The International Engineering CASE-IN Championship. The project is being implemented with the support of the presidential platform "Russia — the land of Opportunities". Over three seasons, more than 1,100 students from 20+ universities have passed through the league, 40 of them have completed internships, 30 have joined the company's staff, and 14 continue to work today. The marketing director of Metropolis and the curator of the project talks in an interview about why a business should invest in student competitions, what skills the participants acquire and why architecture is "frozen music". Alla Seregina.

What are your expectations for the new season of the championship? What are your goals for the CASE-IN for 2026?

In 2023, Metropolis became the initiator and strategic partner of the Architecture, Construction and Design direction. Back then, we looked at the project more broadly than as a tool for solving our practical tasks — attracting talented young people to the company. Speaking of strategic goals, we have been contributing to the development of the architectural and construction design industry for several years. This year, we are identifying several more strategic areas that the championship helps us solve.:

• to create a steady stream of young professionals for the construction industry who are already familiar with the realities of business,
• identify professional standards for working in a modern design company,
• multiply the scale of the search, attraction and retention of talented students in the profession of creative and engineering specialties in construction.

In particular, the development of the student league gives us the opportunity to support the country's leading industry universities, reduce the gap between academic education and the real needs of business, and offer a career start to the best and most active students.

The Metropolis Social Initiative combines the company's business goals with socially significant tasks and successfully synchronizes this with its overall strategy. The project corresponds to the mission of the business and helps to solve a problem that is relevant for the architectural and construction design industry in the whole country.

Can you tell us about the case assignment for the participants in your field? What is its special feature and significance for the company and the industry?

Every year, before announcing the case topic, we analyze incoming requests from our customers, identifying the most relevant market trends. In previous seasons, the teams have designed a hotel, a full-fledged tourist complex and a multifunctional business center. This season, we have formed a technical specification for the design of a residential multifunctional complex of the comfort class. In our opinion, this is the type of facility that is relevant not only for the market as a whole, but also for many design organizations. Almost every design company has residential construction facilities in its portfolio, which means that the design experience that students will gain during the Championship will be relevant regardless of which company they start their career in.

What skills and competencies will students be able to acquire by participating in the field of Architecture, Design, Construction and Housing and Communal Services?

One of the league's most important goals is to reduce the gap between academic education and business needs. The main skill that can be acquired by solving a case is cross-functional communication. As a rule, this is exactly what university graduates lack. Every architect, designer, or engineer cannot work independently. It is communication and teamwork, where everyone is responsible for their own section of design, that is the link between the competencies of each individual specialist. By solving the case, the guys not only practice technical skills, which are certainly important in themselves, but also soft skills, without which the success of the project is impossible.

And, of course, it is important to note the skill of presenting your solutions — this is a prototype of protecting a project in front of a customer, preceded by an analysis and a product approach. All this is now very important for the successful implementation of the project in the market.

Share the latest figures: how many students and universities have become participants in your CASE-IN referral over the years? How many of them have you hired?

In 3 years, the league has gained high popularity among specialized universities. In the debut year, students from 7 specialized universities tried their hand at the new direction of the championship, and in 2024, students from 17 universities in Russia and Belarus. In 2025, the direction expanded its boundaries, covering more than 20 branch universities from 17 Russian cities from Kaliningrad to Khabarovsk. During this time, 1,110 students got a chance to make themselves known.

In 2026, more than 30 industry universities have already announced their desire to participate in the league. We are pleased that every year the number of universities and teams willing to participate in the competition is growing.

During the championship, more than 40 people have completed internships or internships, about 30 have been employed, 14 of them currently continue to work for the company.

Continued on The Company's RBC website.