MAI Digital Department: IT-competencies for Engineers

It is important for modern experts to acquire interdisciplinary knowledge, get comprehensive training and an arsenal of practical skills, especially when it comes to experts in aerospace, engineering, IT. This increases the chances at the labor market, makes work even more interesting, and career growth faster. And MAI, more than anywhere else, understands this and does everything so that students acquire not only theoretical knowledge, but also practical skills during their studies, and after graduation they come to the employer with a profound CV. Therefore, in the autumn of 2022, in accordance with the MAI development model, a new project was launched within the framework of the Priority 2030 program – the "Digital Department". We talked about achievements, programs, partners and students with the head of the "Digital Department" of MAI Maria Bulakina and her deputy Svetlana Lyapina.

– Please tell us how the "Digital Department" project was created and what it is.

Maria: "Digital Department" is a project that is included in the federal program "Priority—2030". It was initiated by two ministries – science and higher education, as well as digital development, communications and mass communications – in order to replenish personnel in the IT industry. MAI was among the best universities entrusted with the implementation of this project.

Last year, about 1.5 thousand students enrolled to the "Digital Department" at MAI. These are students from all fields of study: IT, engineering, humanities. And this is exactly the main goal: to enable students studying at different MAI institutes to acquire competencies in the field of IT development, artificial intelligence, working with big data and machine learning models, creating import-substituting software, etc.

The training at the department lasts nine months and ends with the issuance of a diploma of professional retraining, which gives the right to work in IT. This is the second specialty that can be obtained absolutely free of charge – at the expense of funds from the federal budget.

Three MAI departments became the internal partners, the basis for the implementation of digital competence acquisition programs: 101 "Design and Certification of Aircraft", 307 "Digital Technologies and Information Systems" and 806 "Computational Mathematics and Programming".

– Are the guys who are completing their studies at the "Digital Department" this year your first graduation?

Maria: Yes, we are now preparing for the first graduates, they will appear at the end of June. About 1400 students will come out to defend team projects as their final certification works.

– Are you planning to enroll for the next academic year?

Maria: Of course. Now we have an admission campaign going on, and we are doing our best to inform students about it: we have doors open days, we advertise in student communities. In the new academic year, a window of opportunities for studying at the department is opened for 2.5 thousand students of MAI and other universities. And, again, absolutely free.

– What are the admission conditions?

Maria: Of course, there is a test. It is simple and aimed at ensuring that students themselves can assess their strong sides and make a choice, since the programs offered have different levels of complexity. This testing helps us to adjust the curriculum within the framework of a particular program. This year there were six programs at the department, next academic year there will be seven.

– What courses can students enroll in?

Maria: Students of bachelor's degree, starting from the second year, specialty, starting from the third year, master's degree in non-digital areas of the second year of study are allowed to enroll.

After passing the internal selection at MAI, students get to the entrance assessment on the platform of Innopolis University, which is the moderator of all training programs at the "Digital Department". And if a student does not pass the entrance assessment, he is not admitted to the program.

Svetlana: Assessment is an external independent check of the level of competence development. And it takes place in three stages: upon admission, intermediate and final testing. We give knowledge, and how well they are assimilated is checked by an external validator – Innopolis.

– What areas are you developing? And which of them are the most popular and in demand?

Svetlana: The most popular program (almost 500 students study there) is "Digital modeling and supercomputer technologies". It is clear why this is happening: the very concept of a "supercomputer" has a certain digital romance. And this is a very interesting program: it gives universal competencies that can be applied both in engineering and in the humanities. Graduates have the skills to calculate "heavy" mathematical models and process Big Data. This is a very good assistance for everyone.

Quite popular is the direction called "Machine learning technologies and big data analysis in business" (more than 400 students). This program is universal – there are many students who study in the humanities.

The direction "Intelligent and technical systems" is popular among future engineers, which is associated with Industry 4.0, digital production, automation, smart systems, and the program "Applied systems of engineering calculations", which allows to remove routine from engineering work and make it more meaningful and creative.

Maria: At the "Applied systems of engineering calculations" students master the competencies of constructing and calculating digital doubles, build mathematical models. It is very interesting.

Svetlana: Another program preferred by IT students who already have a basic level of digital competencies is "Artificial intelligence methods for remote sensing". The students are given additional competencies in the field of computer vision and neural network models: during the entire training period, using special software, they study satellite images, make markings, predict processes and phenomena.

The program "Artificial Intelligence methods and predictive analytics in flaw detection" equips IT specialists with advanced competencies in making algorithms, the necessary mathematical apparatus and machine learning models for solving engineering problems. And this is very important, here the guys begin to understand why they write programs, where and how they are used in practice. Believe me, there are a lot of IT specialists, but those who understand that are few. There are more than 200 students studying here.

– Does it happen so that students of humanities and engineering study in the same program?

Svetlana: This is exactly what we strive for – to form mixed teams. That's why we have project training, where there are different roles, different functionality and everyone has his own place. For example, someone has to prepare an analytical report, but IT specialists are not writers at all. And then humanities students get down to business: realizing the full power of digital technologies, they are able to reveal the result of teamwork in a competent technical language.

The guys solve interesting scientific and applied scientific problems, do research, defend their projects. All tasks are formulated by our partners: companies with which agreements have been signed, with which we organize practical training to solve these tasks.

– Which companies are among your partners?

Maria: There are about 30 companies in total. There are IT companies, for example VK, Cloud, Friflex, RDL by RMR, SR Data and others, telecom companies – MTS, Rostelecom-IT, industry partners: RZD IT, Sheremetyevo Airport, State Research Institute of Aviation Systems, Irkut Corporation, Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after Professor N.E. Zhukovsky, Sukhoi Company, A. Lyulka Design Bureau and many others. As you can see, there are giants, but there are also small startups.

We note with interest and pleasure that students, when choosing a company where they would like to go for practical training, are guided not by the brand or fame, but by the task and how interesting it is and whether it will allow them to develop competencies and gain experience.

Svetlana: The partnership is not limited to setting the task, but also includes teaching. Often, it is not academic professors who come to the audience, but practical teachers, representatives of a partner company. We have workshops, regular lectures and seminars. As a result, students receive knowledge that meets the needs of real business.

– Do MAI professors conduct classes?

Svetlana: Yes, of course. And there is also a competition among them, all of them have a rich professional practical experience, and they have something to share with the students.

Maria: MAI professors have extensive work experience either in IT or in the aerospace industry. Since the project is declared as applied, we tried to find those who are well acquainted with the work at enterprises and companies and understand the requirements that the industry imposes.

– What, in your opinion, motivates the guys: cool teachers, the existence of serious partners, interesting projects, communication?

Maria: All together, of course. But I would note that studying at the "Digital Department" is an additional opportunity for students. Both for self-development, acquisition of new competencies, and to replenish the portfolio with a completed real project. After all, usually the second education is paid, and here you can get a sought-after specialty at the expense of the federal budget.

And the main advantage is the opportunity to carry out a real project and add it to your portfolio, which, undoubtedly, will be an advantage for employment.

Svetlana: A student who graduated from one of our programs presents not only a diploma, but also a completed project, thereby confirming his competence.

Maria: In some cases, students of engineering faculties in the curriculum of the main educational program, the number of hours allocated to IT is insufficient. And there are guys who are interested in how to solve engineering problems using IT technologies. Training at the department gives them additional competence and increases their position in the labor market. It is interesting for students to get acquainted with companies, to receive topics from them - this is a kind of networking with both students and employers.

MAI created an infrastructure for this project: new laboratories, computer classes, a supercomputer on which the guys create mathematical models, work with large data arrays. Everything is in order for digital competencies to be taught in a digital environment.

– Do the guys understand well how important it is to be an interdisciplinary expert?

Maria: Even before the implementation of the "Digital Department" project, Mikhail Pogosyan, Rector of MAI, promoted a strategy for training interdisciplinary and complex specialists: engineers should have IT competencies, and IT specialists should understand approaches in engineering. And we had such groundwork, master's degree programs were opened, for example, "Technology of supercomputer modeling of complex technical systems", where students come from both engineering and IT areas. They study in the same group and carry out common projects. In my opinion, this idea is very correct. Modern realities are such that an economist, engineer, financier without IT competencies loses in the labor market.

Generative neural networks are currently developing actively. And the guys who study advertising specialties, journalism, should be able to work with such a set of technologies. And that's why we opened the seventh program, which is called "Digital technologies in the social and humanitarian sphere", so that students of the Faculties of Economics and Humanities could master industrial engineering, understand how to use neural networks to solve their production tasks. We try to keep up with the times, and even be a little ahead of the curve.

– And what projects could you highlight?

Maria: The project from S7 TechLab: with the help of a neural network approach, students learn to predict the failure of aircraft engine parts. Another project from the same partner: using neural network technologies, students diagnose the emotional coloring of consultants' and clients' dialogues, and then prepare scripts based on diagnostics to improve the quality of service.

There is another interesting project from the company RDL by RMR, which deals with predictive analytics systems: using digital technologies, students identify anomalies and hidden defects in the composition of metallurgical powders.

There is an IT case from ABK Consulting for the development of an intelligent voice assistant for various situations. An interesting task from the SR Data startup related to the processing of satellite images using AI: the results of this work are used to tax forests, detect people in sparsely populated areas, etc.

– What are the plans for the development of the department?