‘Not an Ordinary Educational Programme, but a Whole Specialised Forum’
Financial Technologies and Data Analysis (FinTech), a joint Master’s programme from HSE University’s Faculty of Computer Science and Sberbank, will have its fifth graduation this summer. The programme opened in 2017 and has become a major educational project for both the university and Sberbank. Students, partners, and teachers of FinTech explained what the programme is and why it is worth enrolling in.
The programme has two important features: 30 places are fully funded by Sber, and the teaching staff largely consists of Sber experts who share their knowledge and real practical cases with students during training.
The FinTech programme attracts graduates of bachelor’s degrees in both technical and economic fields. The collaboration between people with different backgrounds allows students to gain knowledge not only from teachers during classes, but also from their classmates, which improves the qualifications of graduates in the fields of data analysis, artificial intelligence, and financial technologies.
The programme grows more and more popular every year, and in 2021, the Joint Department with Sberbank ‘Financial Technologies and Data Analysis’ was opened.
Andrey Ocheretny, Executive Director, Head of the Academic Partnerships Centre, Sber
The main principle of the programme is that courses with an interdisciplinary component are taught by Sber employees who work with data, risk management, and the creation and implementation of generative models every day.
We are glad that our programme is developing and has already become a driver of HSE University’s new projects for Sber and the country.
Meir Roketlishvili, 2023 graduate
After completing my undergraduate studies at HSE University’s Faculty of Economics, my classmate and I decided to try our luck with the Faculty of Computer Science and both got accepted. And now, two years later, we have received FinTech diplomas. It was a very cool two years—fun, reckless, busy, and wonderful. And that is because of the magic of the people around us: our teachers, classmates, employees of the study office, and everyone involved. I want to say ‘bolshoe spasibo’, ‘merci beaucoup’, ‘muchas gracias’, ‘didi madloba’, and ‘teşekkürler’ to everyone who taught, studied, and helped. FinTech is a large and friendly community. Everyone is welcome at FinTech—you won’t regret it!
Anna Zhimerikina, guest lecturer, Sber
Being a teacher at FinTech is something I am truly proud of in life. Alexey Masyutin and his team were able to assemble a unique teaching staff for the programme, of which I am happy to be a part. In the classroom, we are equals with the students, without any hierarchy. We can teach each other something, argue, agree, discover the truth. Every time I leave the classroom after a lecture, I feel great warmth in my heart from such communication.
As I write this, it brings back warm memories of all the wonderful students whom I met on this programme. Thank you for the community you are creating! Without you students, the programme would not exist, and we teachers would not be needed.
If I were to choose a master’s programme for myself now, I would undoubtedly choose FinTech.
Kirill Bykov, 2023 graduate
When I was choosing a master’s programme, I thought that FinTech could teach me something new. However, I could not even imagine that everything would turn out to be so exciting. The courses are interesting and with a high degree of practicality, which is not surprising, since they are taught only by practitioners (who also regularly offer vacancies and opportunities for development in any branch of data analysis). There is a huge number of events and career opportunities. FinTech turned out to be not an ordinary educational programme, but a whole specialised forum where you feel like a part of something big and interesting.
Alexander Toptunov, 2022 graduate
After my bachelor’s degree, I chose FinTech because it is a lively, practice-oriented programme. For two years, I never doubted my choice: I was able to immediately apply the knowledge gained in most disciplines in my work.
Besides, the programme has a very special atmosphere, largely thanks to the Academic Supervisor Alexey Masyutin and Manager Ilona Yakovleva. You can always find a common language with the teachers, and if there is any misunderstanding, everything is resolved very quickly. Different generations of the programme’s students and alumni communicate and create a community.
Diana Kotereva, 2022 graduate
I want to thank the entire teaching staff, and especially Evgeny Sokolovsky and Armen Beklaryan. Armen infects everyone with his excellent presentation and sparkling humour, while Evgeny’s restraint and strict approach keep the students on their toes. I would also like to mention Alexey Ozerin’s classes on deep learning. I still use the work that I did on his course. It seems that this is the main indicator of the practicality of the knowledge gained!
Gleb Borisenko, 2021 graduate
After graduating from my bachelor’s degree, I did not want to continue along the path of just a developer, so I chose a master’s programme related to coding, but still different. I liked higher math, and that led me to data analysis. At the same time, I also wanted something unusual, with a touch of economics. FinTech fit perfectly.
I did not have any machine learning base, so I had no expectations of the course. But as early as in the first semester, I began to wildly enjoy studying. There are cool teachers, a huge amount of interesting and varied information and materials, and a lot of practice that is as close as possible to potential work tasks. You are surrounded by wonderful people—both teachers and management and students.
I was extremely pleased with FinTech. So much so that a year after the end of the programme, I became a teacher of the course on deployment and putting models into production. The programme changed the direction of my professional activities and brought a lot of new and interesting things to my life!