Focusing on the development and application of contemporary machine learning tools, the Deep Learning and Generative AI was launched in 2022. The program’s first graduates have already entered the job market, working as ML engineers and researchers at science-intensive companies and their R&D departments. Two years ago, AI Alliance certified two more programs offered at ITMO: the Master’s program Big Data and Machine Learning and the continuous education program Big Data and Machine Learning for Qualified Client Service. In 2023, ITMO was ranked A+ in the AI Alliance’s ranking of universities, topping the list of St. Petersburg-based universities.
“Since 2021, ITMO has been coordinating its training of AI specialists with the Research Center “Strong AI in Industry” – a format described in the President’s instruction to the Russian government issued in July 2023. According to the list of instructions, programs in generative AI (GenAI) have to be implemented on the basis of leading research centers, thus ensuring a higher quality of educational programs, as proven by this certification by AI Alliance,” says Alexander Boukhanovsky, the head of ITMO’s School of Translational Information Technologies.
The evaluation committee included representatives of the country’s tech leaders, including Yandex, Sberbank, VK, and Gazprom Neft. In order to be included in the registry, a program has to meet several criteria, including the involvement of employers in the program’s development and implementation, lecturers’ relevant publications and work experience in AI, availability of computational resources, and compliance of graduates’ competencies to the industry’s professional standards. In total, the registry (in Russian) includes 14 programs delivered by ITMO, Higher School of Economics, Ural Federal University, St. Petersburg State University, and Ufa State Petroleum Technological University.
“An educational program is not just a set of courses with complicated names – it’s a system that is supposed to equip future professionals with the right combination of knowledge and skills. Over the certification, the AI Alliance’s experts deeply analyzed the contents of our program’s courses, checking that they meet the modern trends in GenAI. They paid special attention to large language models, while also looking into the generation of video, images, and other forms of content. Moreover, experts evaluated the overall structure of the program: the way different courses are connected, the knowledge needed at every stage, and the prerequisites to be met by the program’s applicants. Our colleagues from ITMO have taken into account the Alliance’s comments, significantly improving the program as a result. We can now confidently say that this program has become a gold standard in the field of generative AI and can be successfully implemented on a national scale,” adds Ilya Dementiev, the head of the working group Higher Education at the AI Alliance.
AI Alliance is an association that brings together Russia’s leading tech companies to promote AI development; the list of members includes Yandex, Sberbank, Gazprom Neft, VK, Samolet, Uralchem, Rusagro, Sibur, Severstal, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and others.
