HSE University Leads the AI Alliance Ranking
The AI Alliance Russia has released a new ranking of Russian universities based on the quality of education in the field of AI. Similar to last year, HSE University has joined the leaders in A+ group alongside MIPT and ITMO. A total of 207 universities from 69 Russian regions participated in the ranking. In 2024, over 35,000 students were enrolled in AI-related programmes at these universities.
This second edition of the ranking focuses on the development of AI expertise among regional universities, highlighting individual examples of leading institutions by the end of the year. The key criteria for evaluating universities was the salary of prospective specialists within a year of completing their studies. At the top universities of the ranking, graduates' average salaries exceed 200,000 roubles.
The university ranking was created by the AI Alliance Russia and was first published last year. It was based on both open and specially collected data about the quality of education at universities. This year the AI Alliance conducted three studies: an extended survey of employers (more than 170 companies from 12 different industries), a survey of students, and a survey of universities. Only universities with bachelor's and/or specialist programmes in the field of AI were considered for the ranking.
The AI Alliance unites technology companies in Russia that are focused on developing artificial intelligence and helping the country lead the global market in this area. Members of the alliance include SBER, Gazprom Neft, Yandex, VK, Russian Direct Investment Fund, Sibur, Uralchem, Rusagro, Severstal, and Samolet.
Alexey Masyutin, Director of the AI and Digital Science Institute, HSE University
‘Speaking about various factors that are taken into account in the ranking, I would like to emphasize the importance of A* publications of university lecturers, as well as the number of joint educational programmes with companies. The first indicator is extremely important. If there are no leading researchers among the programme teachers, students will inevitably lack the skills to apply and develop technologies. And without the involvement of companies, it will be difficult to create products and services based on those technologies. HSE University pays great attention to both of these factors.’
Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank
‘Together with our partners at the AI Alliance, we published a new university ranking on the quality of AI specialist training, which includes 207 universities. This ranking serves as a tool for the government for assessing the current situation in the field of AI training.’
Alexander Krainov, Director of AI Technologies development, Yandex
‘This year, the ranking underwent several modifications. The number of scientific publications considered has increased, and we started analysing which universities students are applying for the best master’s programmes in AI. Next year, we plan to continue developing and improving the ranking.’
See also:
AI for Doctors: HSE Faculty of Computer Science Delivers Course for Russian University of Medicine Students
In June 2026, the HSE Faculty of Computer Science (FCS) completed a course on the use of artificial intelligence in medicine for first-year Paediatrics students at the Russian University of Medicine. The course was delivered with support from a grant awarded to HSE University under the Artificial Intelligence federal project, part of the national project ‘Data Economy and the Digital Transformation of the State.’
HSE University to Launch New AI Supercomputer
HSE University is preparing to launch its second supercomputer. The new cluster will be primarily dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) workloads and will complement the existing cHARISMa supercomputer. It is scheduled to become operational by the end of 2026.
HSE & VK Engineering and Mathematics School Showcases 13 Projects at 10th Demo Day
The 10th Demo Day of the Joint HSE & VK Engineering and Mathematics School was held at the VK Moscow office. Students of the three workshops presented the results of 13 projects in the fields of artificial intelligence, information security, and digital platforms. Students worked on the development of recommendation services, systems for psycholinguistic text analysis and speech processing, methods for identifying celebrities in videos, algorithms for determining the toxicity of memes, security mechanisms for AI systems, and approaches to improving the effectiveness of neural network models.
Tabular Data Anonymisation Solution for Safe Use in AI Systems Developed at HSE University
The AI and Digital Science Institute at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science has developed a tabular data anonymisation service designed to prepare corporate datasets for use in analytics and AI applications. The solution can identify personal data in structured datasets, apply consistent and reproducible anonymisation rules, and generate the artifacts required for quality control, auditing, and subsequent use of data in secure environments.
HSE Scientists Develop Method to Compress Large Language Models Without Losing Quality
Researchers from the AI and Digital Science Institute at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science have developed a new compression method for large language models such as GPT and LLaMA that reduces their size by 25–36% without additional training or significant loss of accuracy. This is the first approach to use mathematical transformations—specifically, rotations of model weights—to make models more amenable to compression with structured matrices. The study results have been published in ACL Findings 2025. The code is available on GitHub.
HSE University Tops Forbes Employer Reputation Ranking Once Again
Forbes Education has published its ranking of the top 20 Russian universities with the strongest reputations among employers. As in recent years, HSE University secured first place with a reputation index of 98 points. In addition, 67.2% of employers stated that they trust the quality of education provided by HSE University, an increase of three percentage points compared with last year.
HSE Scientists Train Neural Network to 'Hear' Faults in Electric Motors
Researchers at the AI and Digital Science Institute of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science have developed a new method—the Signature-Guided Data Augmentation (SGDA) framework—that achieves 99% accuracy in motor fault detection and 86% accuracy in fault classification. The application of this approach can reduce industrial equipment repair costs, minimise downtime, and improve production safety. The study results have been published in Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence.
HSE Graduate’s AI Project Wins at TECH & AI Awards
Daria Davydova, graduate of the HSE Graduate School of Business and Head of the AI Implementation Unit at the Artificial Intelligence Department of Alfa-Bank, received a prize at the TECH & AI Awards. She was awarded for the best AI solution for optimising business processes. The winners were determined as part of the VII Russian Summit and Awards on Digital Transformation (CDO/CDTO Summit & Awards).
New Neural Network for Science and Innovation Being Developed at HSE University
HSE researchers are training large language models (LLMs) to understand Russian-language scientific terminology while improving their energy efficiency. The adapted model runs 2.7 times faster and requires 73% less memory than the original open model, allowing it to operate on more affordable hardware. The programme has passed state registration.
HSE FCS Researchers Showcase AI and Bioinformatics Breakthroughs at ICLR 2026
Researchers from the AI and Digital Science Institute at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, along with students from the AI360: Artificial Intelligence Engineering track of the Applied Mathematics and Information Science bachelor’s programme, took part in ICLR, one of the world’s most prestigious international conferences on machine learning and representation learning. This year’s event was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.