St Petersburg University offers programmes in artificial intelligence for students and academic staff at universities across Russia
As part of the grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, St Petersburg University and partner universities have developed six bachelor’s and master’s programmes. You can apply to St Petersburg University or partner universities to study these programmes. Additionally, four advanced training programmes were developed under the grant of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
St Petersburg University won the grant contest of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in 2021. The grant was set to develop bachelor’s and master’s programmes in the field of artificial intelligence and advanced training programmes for university lecturers. A total of 24 Russian universities were allowed to participate in the selection. St Petersburg University scored 84.5 points out of 100 and entered the top. The top five universities, apart from St Petersburg University, included Lomonosov Moscow State University, ITMO University, MIREA — Russian Technological University, and South Ural State University.
The grant was announced by the Russia’s Government as part of the implementation of the federal project "Artificial Intelligence" of the national programme "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation".
From the very beginning, the work under the grant was assessed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and the AI Alliance as the main expert organisation. The University started to cooperate with specialists in the field of AI at a very early stage of the project and therefore involve them in improving other academic programmes. Following the suggestion of colleagues from the AI Alliance, the University applied for and received a professional public accreditation from the AI Alliance of the master’s programme ‘Software and Administration of Information Systems’. In turn, St Petersburg University experts had an opportunity to develop criteria for ranking universities that prepare specialists in the field of artificial intelligence. As a result, St Petersburg University was recognised as one of the Russia’s five leading universities in the field of AI.
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education set two goals for the winners of the contest. They are the following: to develop academic programmes in the field of AI; to transfer them to regional partner universities and to admit students; and to develop advanced training programmes for university lecturers.
As part of the grant, the partners of St Petersburg University were six universities: Belgorod State University; Yugra State University; Sevastopol State University; Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University; Udmurt State University; and Nizhnevartovsk State University.
In an interview, St Petersburg University experts talk about how new programmes are being developed in the field of artificial intelligence and data science.
To date, six new academic programmes in the field of AI have been developed as part of the grant. In 2021, four master’s programmes were developed: "Mathematical Robotics and Artificial Intelligence" (the partner is Yugra State University); "Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Technologies" (Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University, Udmurt State University); "Artificial Intelligence and Data Science" (Belgorod State University, Sevastopol State University); and "Artificial Intelligence in Speech Technologies" (Nizhnevartovsk State University). The universities first admitted students to study these programmes in 2022. In total, 200 students were enrolled. St Petersburg University admitted 109 students, while partner universities admitted 91 students. In 2023, the admission plan was exceeded by 28 students.
In 2022, two bachelor’s programmes were developed. The first programme is "Big Data and Blockchain Digital Platform". These programmes are implemented jointly with Udmurt State University and Belgorod State University. In 2023, St Petersburg University and partner universities admitted 119 students. The second bachelor’s programme is ‘Artificial Intelligence and Data Science’. The first enrolment in this programme is scheduled for this year.
The academic programmes were developed jointly with industrial partners. Among them are: VKontakte, Engineering Company "Neotek Marine", Tazmar IT Solutions, and Sberbank of Russia. The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna and St Petersburg Federal Research Centre at the Russian Academy of Sciences were also engaged in the development of the programmes.
St Petersburg University developed four advanced training programmes for academic staff at St Petersburg University and partner universities. Among these programmes are the following: "Artificial Intelligence and Speech Technologies"; "Artificial Intelligence" (modules ‘Methodology for organising the teaching and learning process in the academic programme "Big Data and Blockchain Digital Platform"’ and "Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Technologies"); and "Fundamentals of Practical Robotics and Artificial Intelligence".
In 2022, advanced training programmes were successfully completed by 120 members of the academic staff at St Petersburg University and partner universities. Among them were 57 members of the academic staff from St Petersburg University and 63 members of the academic staff from the regional partner organisations. In 2023, 108 members of the academic staff from St Petersburg University and partner universities pursued advanced training programmes. Among them were 64 members of the academic staff from St Petersburg University and 44 members of the academic staff from the partner universities.
In 2023, following the results of cooperation during the implementation of the grant, St Petersburg University and Sberbank signed an agreement on the implementation of the master’s programme "Artificial Intelligence and Data Science" in a network format. They presented a Telegram bot developed jointly by Sberbank and St Petersburg University. It is based on the large language model GigaChat, which can answer students’ questions related to the University life.
Agreements on the network implementation of academic programmes were also signed with Sevastopol State University, Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University, Udmurt State University and St Petersburg Federal Research Centre at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Work on the grant is currently ongoing. The project team includes more than 200 lecturers from St Petersburg University. They represent the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes, the Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty, the Faculty of Philology, the Centre for Robotics at St Petersburg University, and various administrating departments and services at the University. The project also involves more than 300 representatives of business and partner universities of St Petersburg University. The planned completion date of the project is December 2024.