What Yandex School of Data Analysis does

Yandex School of Data Analysis (YSDA) is an educational institution that has operated since 2007 as part of the Yandex ecosystem, delivering an advanced two-year Master's program in computer science and data analysis alongside short-term online courses. Its curriculum is explicitly built around AI and machine learning, spanning AI in natural sciences, applied AI, data science, big data infrastructure, and machine learning engineering, supported by 60+ courses and a faculty of PhD researchers drawn from Yandex Research, ETH Zurich, Meta AI, MSU, HSE University, and KAUST.

YSDA's core technology is its curriculum and applied research pipeline rather than a commercial product. Short-term courses cover agents, LLM training and scaling, and computer vision; flagship community research projects — Clean Shore (drone-based coastal litter detection), Spina Bifida (first-trimester ultrasound anomaly detection), and IRBIS (snow leopard identification in camera-trap video) — are built and deployed in collaboration with Yandex Cloud's Center for Technologies and Society, with outputs released as open-source tools. Course materials and code are published on the yandexdataschool GitHub repository for global access.

The business model is non-commercial: all programs are free of charge, with competitive selection for the two-year Master's and open global registration for short-term courses. Distribution occurs through a self-serve admission portal (lk.yandexdataschool.ru), open online enrollment, and regional university partnerships — notably ML School Uzbekistan with New Uzbekistan University and the AI Engineering MS at METU in Türkiye. The legal entity is ТОО «Y. Izdeu men Jarnama» in Kazakhstan, with the website operating under dataschool.yandex.com. The institution functions as a Yandex-funded talent pipeline and brand-building asset rather than a revenue-generating business, with no disclosed tuition, sponsorship, or licensing revenue.

Name

Yandex School of Data Analysis

Legal name

ТОО «Y. Izdeu men Jarnama»

Website

https://yandexdataschool.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Yandex School of Data Analysis is a Yandex-funded educational institution offering a free, selective two-year Master's program and free short-term online courses in AI, machine learning, and data science, serving aspiring ML engineers and AI researchers globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Yandex School of Data Analysis (YSDA) is an educational institution offering a free advanced two-year Master's program in AI, Machine Learning, Data Science, and Big Data infrastructure, along with short-term 1-2 week online courses (Agents Week, LLM Scaling, CV Week). Programs are delivered globally through direct online admission and university partnerships, with course materials publicly available on GitHub.

Product overview

Yandex School of Data Analysis (YSDA) is an educational institution offering an advanced two-year Master's program in data science and machine learning, alongside short-term online courses (Agents Week, LLM Scaling, CV Week). The institution provides free programs across AI in natural sciences, applied fields, data science, big data infrastructure, and machine learning engineering, with over 60 courses and 2000+ graduates. YSDA contributes to open-source through GitHub course materials and conducts community research projects (Clean Shore, Spina Bifida, IRBIS) in collaboration with Yandex Cloud. The institution also extends its curriculum globally through visiting lecturer programs and partnerships with universities in Uzbekistan and Türkiye.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• YSDA Master's Program An advanced two-year Master's program at the intersection of academia and industry expertise, covering AI in natural sciences, AI in applied fields, Data Science, Big Data infrastructure, and Machine Learning engineering. Over 60 courses are offered across computer science fields. All programs are free of charge, with long-term tracks requiring competitive selection. Designed for aspiring ML engineers and AI researchers.
• Short-term Online Courses One to two week online courses focused on key ML and AI topics, open for registration worldwide at no cost. Includes Agents Week (creating ML agents from scratch), LLM Scaling (LLM training on large GPU clusters, scaling and acceleration techniques), and CV Week (generative and visual models in modern imaging systems).
• ML School Uzbekistan A year-long program focused on machine learning fundamentals for aspiring ML engineers, created in collaboration with New Uzbekistan University. Designed to extend YSDA's curriculum into Central Asia.
• METU AI Engineering MS Program AI Engineering Master's Program at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Türkiye, powered by the Yandex School of Data Analysis curriculum and expertise. Extends YSDA's graduate-level AI engineering curriculum into the Middle East region.

Quantifiable outcome

• 2000+ graduates from the AI Master's program

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability12 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered regional and core.

• New Uzbekistan UniversityregionalStrategic or Co-development PartnerYSDA students collaborate with New Uzbekistan University to deliver ML School Uzbekistan - a year-long program focused on machine learning fundamentals for aspiring ML engineers.
• Middle East Technical University (METU)regionalStrategic or Co-development PartnerYSDA powers the AI Engineering MS Program at METU in Türkiye, providing curriculum and expertise for the graduate program.
• Center for Technologies and Society Yandex CloudcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYSDA students work with Yandex Cloud's Center for Technologies and Society on multiple research projects including Clean Shore (coastal litter detection), Spina Bifida (early ultrasound detection), and IRBIS (snow leopard identification). These are flagship community research initiatives combining AI with real-world impact.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Udacity: Udacity pioneered industry-aligned "Nanodegree" programs in AI, machine learning, and data science. It is comparable to YSDA as a practitioner-focused AI education provider, though Udacity operates as a commercial, paid incumbent while YSDA is free.
• Coursera: Coursera is a leading online education platform offering AI/ML specializations from top universities (Stanford, DeepLearning.AI, Imperial). It competes with YSDA in distributing AI education content to global learners, though as a broader incumbent rather than a single-institution program.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): MIT offers graduate programs in EECS and AI, and free course materials via MIT OpenCourseWare. It is comparable to YSDA in delivering advanced CS/AI education grounded in mathematical foundations, though as a much larger accredited incumbent.
• Stanford University (CS / AI programs): Stanford offers MS and PhD programs in Computer Science and AI, plus free online AI courses through Stanford Online. It is a comparable institution offering advanced computer science education with strong industry ties, though as a broader incumbent.

Regional players

• Higher School of Economics (HSE University): HSE University is a Russian university offering strong applied mathematics, CS, and data science programs with faculty who also teach at YSDA (e.g., Kirill Khrylchenko). It is comparable as a regional Russian-language academic peer producing data science talent.
• Moscow State University (MSU / Lomonosov MSU): MSU Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics and Mechanics and Mathematics provide foundational CS/AI education with researchers (e.g., Roman Isachenko) who lecture at YSDA. It is a regional peer in advanced Russian CS/AI academic training.

Emerging players

• Hugging Face (Education): Hugging Face offers free courses on LLMs, transformers, and applied AI through its learning platform and community resources. It overlaps with YSDA's free short-form AI content (Agents Week, LLM Scaling) but operates as a community/company-led program rather than a degree-bearing school.

Direct peers

• DataCamp: DataCamp is a subscription-based platform offering interactive courses in data science, Python, R, and machine learning aimed at working professionals. It is a direct peer to YSDA in the data science/data analysis practitioner education category.
• DeepLearning.AI: Founded by Andrew Ng, DeepLearning.AI offers AI/ML specialization courses and short-form educational content to a global audience. It is one of the most direct competitors to YSDA in providing industry-aligned, practitioner-focused AI education.
• fast.ai: fast.ai provides free, top-down deep learning courses built around practical coding and modern architectures (e.g., stable diffusion, LLM fine-tuning). It is a direct peer to YSDA's free, practitioner-focused ML/AI short courses like Agents Week and CV Week.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/yandexdataschool
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/school/the-yandex-school-of-data-analysis/posts/?feedView=all

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Yandex School of Data Analysis