On July 8, within the framework of the international conference Machines Can See, an agreement was signed between MTS AI and ITMO University on creating a trial MA program.
Students will learn AI technologies through practice
MTS AI and ITMO University have been collaborating on AI development since 2018. In the interim, two research projects were implemented on the automation of speech recognition systems and data markup, the specialization “Conversational Intelligence Technologies” of the master’s program at the University was opened, and a joint AI lab was launched.
Now, the partners are expanding the agreement: MTS AI mentors will engage students in projects and teach AI tech through practice. The ML Department’s experts will offer students real-world challenges to immerse them in the specialization and the work of the AI industry in general.
A customized degree course will be developed for each student, allowing the student to try out the different roles on a team. Mentors will give the master’s students assignments in different tech-application areas and help them assimilate their new knowledge.
To enroll in the trial MA course, the students will need to pass a selection examination, show their background in software engineering, and be interviewed by a mentor from a partner company. The training will be free for students – admission applications can be submitted on the by selecting one of the MTS AI projects.
The first admissions to the trial MA course will take place this fall.
Aleksandr Khanin, CEO of MTS AI, commented as follows: “By expanding our partnership with ITMO University, we’re contributing to the development of a new generation of professionals with modern competencies in the AI field that will be in high market demand. Today, one of the industry’s primary challenges isn’t the development of new algorithms but rather the lack of competent personnel – people with a new way of thinking capable of taking an unorthodox approach to solving tasks and working successfully on the global market. These are the people we’ll be training together with ITMO University. Taking this approach benefits all process participants: the students, who receive not only academic knowledge but also practical skills, the university, which produces highly-demanded specialists, and the company, which develops the labor market and recruits talented young employees”.
