TOMSK, Jul 11 - RIA Tomsk, Elena
Taylasheva. The Russia's first master's
program in virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) open in September at Tomsk State University (TSU), it was developed with the Rubius company. What really
stands behind fashionable words and why should IT specialist go to the
magistracy if he even with bachelor’s degree earns a good money, - in the
material of RIA Tomsk.
Real world technology
Virtual reality will penetrate deeper into the
material world. How far - one can fantasize infinitely, but now VR applications
are used in quite practical things - designing of industrial facilities,
training civilians and military specialists.
Tomsk IT companies in this topic are
"foremost" - their special software is bought all over the world. And
Rubius - is one of them. It is clear that in such a specific and young topic as
VR, the company is experiencing an acute personnel shortage. And If the
mountain will not come to Muhammad...
“Last summer TSU and Rubius began to create the
country's first multi-disciplinary VR/AR laboratory for students and teachers.
And in September (2019), a master's degree program will be opened where they
will prepare specialized specialists. And this is a unique experience not only
in scales of Russia”, - says the director of the TSU Institute of Applied
Mathematics and Computer Science (IAMCS) Alexander Zamyatin.
And explains:
“In the winter, I was at a meeting in Brussels, where
European universities discussed education in the sphere of VR/AR. Such giants
as MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) or Technical University of
Munich, have just started profile training, and most of the leading European
universities are only discussing launching of such programs. So TSU - is one of
the leaders in this direction".
Special disciplines
Special disciplines of the new master degree program
sound so far uncommonly (and some even exotic) - “Machine learning in AR/VR”,
“Effective data processing in the software-hardware environment”, “Audio
accompaniment in AR/VR”, “Man-machine interaction”, ” Socio-psychological and
ethical aspects of working in AR/VR environments".
Specialists with such competencies are very much
needed to the IT market, and the need for them will only grow. Therefore, it
was the market, represented by Rubius, that formed for the program the
technical assignment for graduates.
“We actively participated in the creation of a
master’s program in virtual and augmented reality at TSU. Our staff will also
teach individual blocks as part of the program and participate in the
evaluation of course and diploma projects”, - says the company's technical
director Anton Kudinov.
© предоставлено компанией Rubius
Programmers even with a bachelor’s degree can earn
well, but Kudinov believes that two years in the master’s program will give
exactly the education necessary to get a job in a modern IT company:
"The master's program provides more specialized knowledge, allows to be
focused on working out specific skills. After a bachelor degree, a graduate is
- quite junior, in the master's program there is an opportunity to grow up and
get closer to the middle level, to work with advanced equipment".
The manager of the TSU IAMCS master programs Olga
Marukhina adds: this master programs first of all is practice-oriented.
"For the practice has been assigned the maximum number
of credits, which the local regulatory act of the university allows. The
student now is demanding. He will not "buy" a bubble program
consisting of some beautiful and fashionable words. He needs to understand what
he will be able to do after graduation. Anyone
can get theoretical knowledge from open courses on the Internet, that's why
practice is needed, and this is associated with science”, - she says.
Investments to the university
From September of this year another promising master
program start at the TSU Institute of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science
(IAMCS) - “Artificial Intelligence and Applications”, here will be trained
specialists in the field of developing and implementing artificial intelligence
systems (AI). Director of the Institute, Alexander Zamyatin, emphasizes that
it, like all advanced programs, has a strategic partner:
"Atomic Soft - a software developer for
automating technological processes and control systems help us to implement
programs related to AI and industrial analytics. Anothe our promising
specialization "Technical Vision and Video Analytics" - supports the
Research and Production Company "Tekhnika dela" ("Technique of
Business") which has created one of the best facial recognition technology.
To financial information technologies helps to teach the "Center for
Financial Technologies".
© сайт Томского государственного университета
96% of graduates of the "Intellectual Analysis of Big Data" program are getting a job according specialty. Topics of diplomas are purely practical: medical data processing, building an intelligent system for detecting asphalt thickness, analyzing industrial data for predicting equipment breakdown.
Moreover, according to Zamyatin, industrial partners
are ready not only to participate in the educational process, but also to
support the program financially:
"This is not only, for example, about
scholarships to the best students. Often, the financial relationship between
business and education is structured so that the company essentially hires
students and teachers who solve the company's problems. In our case, the
partners are ready to invest in the university. And we allocate this resource
for infrastructure maintenance, incentive surcharges, and so on".
This year 50 people will be enrolled in the IT
master's program of TSU. Reception of documents ends on August 12.