Yandex, HSE, and MIPT launch embedded AI master's program for hardware engineers
A new master's program in Russia targets hardware development for smart devices, focusing on deploying ML models on resource-constrained systems from microcontrollers to IoT platforms.
Yandex partnered with Moscow's Higher School of Economics and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology to open enrollment for a master's degree in embedded smart-device development. The program trains engineers to build AI-powered hardware systems that run on limited compute — microcontrollers, edge devices, and industrial automation platforms.
The curriculum covers firmware development, ML model integration on constrained hardware, and control systems for IoT and robotics. Yandex engineers co-designed the coursework alongside university faculty, emphasizing industry-ready skills over academic theory. Students work with real embedded toolchains and learn to optimize inference for devices that lack the memory and power budgets of cloud servers.
Industrial focus
The program explicitly targets the robotics, industrial automation, and IoT sectors — areas where Russia has domestic manufacturing capacity but faces a shortage of engineers who understand both hardware constraints and modern ML pipelines. Graduates are expected to work on factory automation, smart-city infrastructure, and consumer devices that embed on-device intelligence.
Enrollment begins fall 2026 at HSE's Faculty of Computer Science in Moscow and MIPT's Phystech School of Applied Mathematics and Informatics in Dolgoprudny.
