The First Year Results of HSE University and VK Engineering and Mathematics School

© HSE University

Students from the Engineering and Mathematics School, a joint educational programme of HSE University and VK, defended their projects at the VK Moscow office. The students presented technology for generating animated 3D characters, a framework for the PHP language, an open service for creating neural networks and several other innovative IT solutions.

Over two semesters, 40 students have developed projects in four workshops in popular IT areas, including artificial intelligence hardware, applied AI, virtual platform solutions, as well as compilers and high-load systems. Three workshops in Moscow operate as part of HSE MIEM, while the workshop on virtual platform solutions is organised together with the St Petersburg School of Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science. Students received a monthly scholarship from VK, with a total amount in the 2022/23 academic year of 9.7 million roubles.

Students studied without interrupting their project work, since the activities in the workshop laboratories are divided into two parallel processes: working on the project together with VK curators and HSE researchers, and courses from VK teachers. The first format focuses on practice, the second on theory. Courses from the VK experts could be transferred or added to the curriculum as optional choices. Following the results of the first year of the School of Engineering and Mathematics, seven courses from VK teachers in current IT areas were opened, and from September 2023, three more will be launched.

‘I would like to highlight the C++ course— it covers everything you need to know about this programming language,’ said Dmitry Abramov, 3^rd year student of the Information Security programme.

Dmitry is taking part in the workshop on compilers and high-load systems, which during the academic year worked on creating a framework for the PHP programming language, as well as on optimizing the compiler — KPHP. The backend code of VKontakte was written with KPHP. Initially, the project had another focus, but at the first meeting with the curator, the students decided to scale it.

‘We planned to create a PHP framework that can be compiled in C++ for use in Open Source and wanted to improve the KPHP compiler itself. We managed to achieve these results. Next year we will refactor the framework and add new modules,’ says Dmitry Abramov.

The team from HSE University in St Peresburg has been developing an open low-code machine learning platform. Ekaterina Shelukhina, 4th-year student at the St Petersburg School of Physics, Mathematics and Computer Sciences, says that during her work in the workshop, the main scenarios of similar services, such as Google AutoML, were implemented.

Participants of the workshop on hardware and software complex for artificial intelligence developed some popular neural network models. In addition, another project was launched in the workshop in March.

 ‘From the very beginning we focused on studying the subject area and approaches to solving the problem. After that we started to develop the project. Our next goal was to launch neural network models on domestic processors,’ says Lev Babintsev, 2^nd year student of the Information and Communication Technologies and Systems programme.

One of the projects of the workshop on applied AI aimed at developing a technology that would create a 3D model of a person from a photograph.

‘Starting with domain research we developed a fully functioning system. To develop the finished product, it was necessary to clearly understand how the polygonal grid, 3D modelling and animation work,’ says Nikita Shevtsov, graduate of the programme in Information Science and Computation Technology.

Fedor Ivanov

‘The concept of the Engineering and Mathematics School is a symbiosis of educational, research and practical activities,’ says Fyodor Ivanov, Director of the Project Centre for the Advanced Engineering and Mathematics School. ‘When creating it, we understood that a comprehensive IT education would be more effective if students had the opportunity to try solving real cases from industry leaders. The experience of the project proved that deep immersion in practice has a great future. Students have learned a lot, understood new subject areas and will soon grow into professional, multidisciplinary specialists. I am sure that next year we will see even more significant results, and within two years masters of the Engineering and Mathematics School, will be ready to solve the most complex industry cases.’

Georgy Shchelkanov

‘The format of the Engineering and Mathematics School has shown how effective the interaction between universities and business can be,’ says Georgy Shchelkanov, Head of the VK Engineering Schools. ‘The educational programme organically combined the strong fundamental basis provided by HSE University with work on real technological cases that VK IT specialists face every day. Our primary task when partnering with universities is to provide students interested in technology with the opportunity to obtain the skills necessary to work in IT during their studies at the university. This is particularly important at the start of a young professional’s career, allowing them to adapt to the current needs of employers.’

Irina Martusevich

‘Creating the Engineering and Mathematical School together with VK has brought significant results not only in terms of products product, but also in the educational sense. HSE students have gained valuable experience and skills that will help them be in demand in the labour market. This shows how interaction between the university and industry can develop young professionals,’ says Irina Martusevich, HSE University Vice Rector.

Since September 2023, two master's courses have been opened at the school: ‘Hardware and software complexes of artificial intelligence’ and ‘Applied AI models’. Admissions are open since June 19.

In the next academic year, the workshops of the Engineering and Mathematics School will keep on working. Admissions to the school programmes will open in September 2023.