Master of Data Science

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Recently ranked first place in Forbes' "Universities for the Future Elite: 100 Best Russian Universities According to Forbes – 2020" ranking, National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University) is a leading university for multidisciplinary research, international cooperation, and digital education in Russia. A dynamic institution serving more than 40,000 students at campuses in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Perm, HSE University is a leader in combining Russia’s education traditions with the best international practices in teaching and research.

HSE’s Master of Data Science is the first fully English-taught online data science Master’s from a Russian university. Unlike many online degrees in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, this degree has no on-campus requirements. All meetings, coursework, and live class sessions are taught in English and replicate the practitioner’s work environment of real data scientists using Python, Github, and modern apps like Slack and Zoom.

HSE has partnerships with some of Russia’s largest and most impressive technology companies, such as Yandex. HSE’s Yandex partnership is a deep collaboration, with several faculty members working concurrently at Yandex and HSE. In this degree, you will complete applied projects designed with HSE in collaboration with its industrial partners.

This degree is designed for students with or without prior coding experience. HSE provides a career-relevant curriculum for analysts, data and computer scientists, software engineers, academic researchers, or machine learning engineers by utilizing three distinct tracks: Data Scientist, Machine Learning Engineer, and Researcher in Data Science.

Throughout the degree, students are paired with faculty member advisors and industry experts as they work through their final project, which involves solving a real-world problem with techniques taught in the program. Students benefit by making connections with faculty members and learning from some of the most impressive technology companies in Russia and beyond. In addition, they are encouraged to connect with faculty during live class sessions and weekly office hours with tools like Slack and Zoom.

The program curriculum consists of 21 courses divided into four blocks: a mathematics block, a programming block, a professional block, and a project block. Students begin their first semester with courses in the mathematics and programming blocks. Each course is typically 5 credits, while a project is 10 credits. In order to successfully complete the program, students must earn 120 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) credits in total. 10 credits will come from the final project presentation.

Every course includes at least one live session with a faculty member through tools like Slack and Zoom, weekly office hours, one assignment graded personally by a faculty member, and one hands-on project.

To graduate, each student will complete a final project, which will involve solving a problem with a real-world dataset. For this project, students are assigned their own advisor that provides feedback and guidance. In the last two weeks of the program, students get the opportunity to present their project to a committee of academic supervisors and industry professionals via Zoom. The presentation will be approximately 10-15 minutes, followed by Q&A and scoring by the panel. All coursework must be completed prior to the final presentation.

Upon successful completion of the degree program, students will receive a Master of Data Science degree from HSE University.

Featuring participation from industry partner, Yandex

Established in 1997, Yandex is one of Russia's leading technology companies in search, on-demand transportation services, and other mobile applications used by millions of consumers around the world. Yandex is an industry partner of HSE's online Master of Data Science program. Through this partnership, Yandex lends its expertise in data science by developing some of the program's courses. Representatives from Yandex will also participate in the final project presentations, as well as conduct mock interviews for the program’s top-achieving students.