YDL – The Best Data Analysis School in Kazakhstan
The Yessenov Data Lab (YDL) intensive educational Program for Data Analysts was held in Almaty for the seventh time. The Summer School was initiated by Kazakh businessman and philanthropist Galimzhan Yessenov, and organized by the Shakhmardan Yessenov Science and Education Foundation in partnership with AlmaU. 19 competition winners, selected out of 159 applicants from all over Kazakhstan, spent four weeks studying both the theory and practice of vibe coding, machine learning, large language models, NLP and AI agent development.
YDL students worked with cutting-edge tools, including GPT, Claude, and Jupyter Notebook. They studied both the theory and practice of data analysis, built projects based on real data, and developed their own AI agents. During the first two weeks, classes were held online and taught by renowned Kazakhstani Professors Dr. Kuanysh Abeshev and Dr. Timur Bakibayev, who also developed the YDL training curriculum. The final two weeks took place offline at AlmaU, featuring guest expert lecturers Carl Illustrisimo (USA) and Saed Hussain (UK).
Grigoriy Lee, Program Manager at the Yessenov Foundation, noted that, as always, the Foundation fully covered the students’ travel expenses, training, accommodation, and meals, and also organized team-building activities in the mountains of Almaty for all participants and instructors.
Galimzhan Yessenov, Founder of the Shakhmardan Yessenov Foundation, shared his thoughts on the outcomes of the seventh YDL Summer School.
“Every graduate from previous years has already proven their ability to think broader and work more effectively. The new graduates are keeping that pace. Having completed their training at YDL, they became NOT those who look for jobs, but those whom jobs will look for. For our Foundation, for them, and for the country, this is a step forward.”
- 19 new data analysis specialists joined the YDL alumni community, which now totals more than 130 Kazakhstanis.
- The Program winners include students and young researchers representing over 30 academic majors from 28 universities across various cities in Kazakhstan.
- This year’s School curriculum helped participants develop skills in big data analysis, machine learning, and working with language models, as well as learn how to build AI agents.
What do the students of Yessenov Data Lab think about the School?
Izbasar Orynbasar, a master’s student in Software Engineering at Kh. Dosmukhamedov Atyrau State University, shared his experience.
“I will use the technologies I learned at the School, specifically computer vision, in the SmartCity project where I’m currently part of the team. Having studied large language models, RAG systems, and AI agent building, I can already optimize my work and make it more effective. I gained fundamental experience at YDL.”
Zinat Abdukarimova, an undergraduate student majoring in Economics at the American University of Sharjah, said:
“I’ve already had a few turning points in my life, and YDL is definitely one of them. The School has completely changed the trajectory of my future career. I came from a totally different field – economics. But here, I was learning so much every single day that it sometimes felt like my head was about to explode. Right now, I’m planning a very ambitious project where I want to integrate machine learning. The goal is to track economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa using satellite imagery.”
Roza Kenzhebekova, a researcher at the Institute of Plant Biology and Biotechnology, noted:
“The School organized by the Shakhmardan Yessenov Foundation gave me in-depth knowledge in the fields of data science, machine learning, and LLMs. It was highly practical – we were constantly reinforcing the theory we learned. We spent entire days programming models and studying how neural networks function from the inside out. As a biologist, I can now apply machine learning models to analyze biological data. I believe this will drive significant growth in my academic career.”
Thus, by graduating another 19 data analysis specialists this year, YDL – held by the Yessenov Foundation since 2018 – has once again confirmed its status as one of Kazakhstan’s key educational platforms in the field of Data Science and machine learning.
Seen by: 4