Why by 2035 will be in demand not professions, but skills, how Russian engineers will break into the international market, what kind of students a modern university should prepare, and why the rector should change into Darth Vader, said the site, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Rector of ITMO University Vladimir Vasiliev.

ITMO University oversees the Nanosystems and Nanoengineering profile of the NTI Olympiad. Can you predict what profile members will be doing by 2035?

It is worth noting that we supervise the Nanosystems and Nanoengineering profile of the NTI Olympiad together with Moscow State University, since physics and chemistry are closely intertwined in this profile. MSU is in charge of the chemical block, and we approach from the point of view of physics.

Now it is difficult to say about specific things that the participants of this profile will be engaged in in 2035, but we can try to identify those areas that, in my opinion, will be most interesting and where developments in the field of nanoengineering will be in wide demand.

First of all, these are information technologies - the creation of quantum computers, quantum simulators, devices for the implementation of quantum communication systems.

The second area is related to biology and medicine. These are various nanosensors and nanoinstruments, with the help of which one can determine, diagnose certain elements in the biological world and in the human body, as well as innovative tools for the prevention and treatment of serious diseases, allowing to intervene in a particular non-standard situation and correct at the nanoscale disruptions in organism.

The third area in which the advances in nanotechnology and nanoengineering will also be actively used is pharmaceuticals. Here we are talking not only about the creation of new, more effective molecules of drugs, but also about the design of special matrices for targeted drug delivery, which will simultaneously diagnose the disease and treat it by targeted drug delivery and targeted action on the affected organs, tissues, blood vessels. This approach, in which a pharmaceutical product functions as both a diagnostic tool and a therapeutic agent, is called theranostics.

In addition, developments in the field of nanoengineering will certainly be in demand in the field of creating new materials for technical solutions, use in everyday life, and so on.

- What professions will be in demand by 2035?

I think that in 2035 those professions that do not exist today will be popular. Therefore, now, perhaps, we need to talk about competenciesthat will be in demand.

It is already obvious that by that time artificial intelligence technologies and robotization will be widely developed. A significant part of the routine work in manufacturing and in the service sector, in which many people are involved today, can and should be taken over by artificial intelligence.

Accordingly, there will be a demand for specialists whose activities are related to the creation and use of cyber-physical systems, ensuring the security of these systems, integrating them with humans; with robotics and artificial intelligence. At the same time, the competences of these specialists will shift from a logical, deterministic area to a heuristic one - one where creativity will be at the forefront, and technologies will support it. How it will be called and where to join is still hard to say, but the emphasis, I think, will still shift directly to the person, to his development. It is difficult to name specific professions now. However, it is clear that there is not a single profession from the existing ones that will be included in the top ten most in demand in 2035.

ITMO University took part in the development of the Digital Economy program. In this regard, the question is: what place will the winners of the NTI Olympiad take in the digital economy after a while?

In my opinion, the winners of the Olympics fit well into the evolving end-to-end technologies - the same artificial intelligence, big data, information security, quantum technologies. End-to-end technologies permeate all NTI markets. These are AutoNet, MariNet, NeuroNet, and others. As you know, in the field of IT, products and technologies do not last long, from one to three years. Therefore, it is important that the guys have the ability to quickly change, be flexible, and be able to adapt. I am confident that enterprises, research organizations and universities in the future will gladly welcome today's Olympic winners.

- What does a Russian engineer or engineering team need to be in demand on the global market?

In addition to professional, as well as supra-subject competencies (what is called soft skills), it is necessary to develop the formulation of critical, rational, systemic thinking. An engineer must not only see the solution to a specific problem, but also be able to predict how this will affect the environment, humans, other technical systems, and so on. What is needed is a systematic approach, new thinking. When making this or that technical decision, the specialist must constantly ask himself the question: "What will follow this?"

After all, an engineer introduces into specific technical products, into this or that technology or design what has been done by scientists - the results of fundamental or applied research. In order to use all this and, as they say, not harm, but get positive effect, you need to understand what changes your decision will entail and how they will relate to other areas. In Bradbury's story "And the Thunder Rocked" described the "butterfly effect": one small detail can affect what will happen in the whole world. It is also extremely important for an engineer to understand this.

ITMO University has joined the edX distance learning platform. What place do you think distance learning formats will take, say, in the same 2035? Why do you need a university if you have the Internet?

First, of course, distance learning and distance technologies will develop, and there is no doubt that more and more people, especially those who decide to retrain or improve their qualifications, will use distance learning.

Secondly, for obvious reasons, and we all know this, higher education is geographically unevenly distributed in terms of quality. Not only in Russia, but all over the world. Therefore, in order to slightly equalize the level of training, it is important that people who do not have the opportunity to study full-time at certain universities can receive the missing modules, competencies, knowledge from the best teams and teachers geographically distant from them. This is also relevant for Russia, because it is no secret to anyone that both the level of teaching and the level of scientific research in our country differs from region to region.

Of course, we have recognized schools of thought and great teachers, which is why it is so important to provide access to best practices using distance formats. Especially in the context of rapidly developing technologies and society as a whole. We are talking about the concept of "Education throughout life". This is our reality today. It is necessary to constantly acquire additional knowledge and skills that can be studied in modules and immediately used in practice. And this role of distance learning will increase.

And the university is needed because it provides fundamental training, fundamental education and full-time teamwork skills face-to-facesolving a problem in a team. In addition, higher education lays not only a fundamental base, but also a special way of thinking. Therefore, there is no escape from the university. Another question is that with the development of artificial intelligence and robotization, the university will change. For example, artificially intelligent Internet assistants like a bot will appear: a tutor-bot, a bot-teacher. But the fundamentality can be given only with full-time work. And despite the fact that we ourselves are actively involved in the development of distance courses, the university will be needed.

In the future, the distance learning format will involve not only the use of online communication, but also the remote use of laboratories. Some answers to questions will not come from a specific teacher, but from an electronic tutor bot. As for the place that will be occupied by remote formats, if we are talking about a combination of full-time and distance learning, everything here depends on the form of training. If it is an additional and not a basic educational program, distance components can be up to 100%. If we are talking about the main program that provides fundamental knowledge, the formulation of thinking, then, in my estimate, in this case, distance courses will be used in no more than 50% of cases. The remaining 50% of the material, students will have to take full-time.

- What should a modern university be like?

Firstly, a modern university, which trains people for the future, must work ahead of schedule, which means that it must understand, predict, preferably ten years ahead, what will happen to society, the world around it and technologies, and choose those areas of training, which will be in demand on the horizon for at least ten years.

Moreover, the university itself should become a mirror of the transformations taking place in the world. Thus, we understand that information technologies are fundamentally changing our lives, they are changing the approach to higher education, and there is no getting away from this. Our physical, real world is becoming more closely connected with the virtual one. This combination, the balance between reality and virtuality, should be presented in a modern university as well.

Secondly, it is clear that no university can be "omnivorous", equally competent in all areas: humanitarian, creative, technical, natural science. The university must choose a specific focus on which it will focus all its attention and resources: human resources, teaching and laboratory facilities, and so on. To do this, you need a university program, a common vision that is created by the university staff. To create such a program, it is important to have a vision of a 10-year and even 20-year university image. And for this you need to clearly understand the mission of the university, the strategy, goals and objectives that it faces.

This is what a modern university should be different - the ability to predict the future, react to the changes that occur, determine its place in these processes, what it solves problems, works on the global market or solves the problems of some industry, market segment, local society. This all relates to the university's mission, strategic goals and program. And if all this is determined, then it becomes clear what resources it needs to be provided to fulfill these tasks: personnel, financial, time, material base, or it is necessary to adjust the mission, strategic goal, program. This is what a modern university is, it should be flexible, mobile, but not lose sight of its purpose.

Also, of course, interdisciplinarity is extremely important, not multi-, not inter-, but inter-. We decomposed the world into physics, chemistry, and nature, life itself is not decomposed into separate components, one affects the other. Therefore, a modern university should not give a “cut” by disciplines, it should try to combine them, based on the competencies that it possesses. An example of interdisciplinarity is translational IT in various subject areas: in medicine, biology and sociology. This is one of the disciplines in which there is an organic interpenetration of competencies, and not just a situation when, for example, a sociologist and a doctor met. This is a deeply integrated work of specialists from different fields.

Finally, the university should not lose the intrinsic value of higher education. It is not enough to train pure "artisans", the university leaves and should reserve, as its mission, the development of the intellectual, creative potential that is inherent in a person.

- The ITMO University team won the ICPC ACM World Programming Championship for the seventh time this year. What victories or achievements of your students do you consider to be key?

If we talk about ACM ICPC, then, as always, of course, the first victory is best remembered. Any victory out of these seven is important, but stability is especially important: it shows the level of preparation, indicates that we set and keep a certain bar in terms of programming.

However, for me, the key ones are those victories and achievements of the student, which forced him to climb up a step, two, or even several, those thanks to which he increased and realized his potential. And it doesn't matter in what area - in studies, science, sports or creativity. Any victory over oneself is the main achievement; it is not necessary to become a world champion. For example, if a student has created his own company and is engaged in social entrepreneurship, volunteering, helping people, he develops his potential, empathy, ability to empathize with others and at the same time is engaged in a specific business, this is an achievement. And if the majority of our students, I hope, accomplish such, let's call them, micro-victories, it means that the university is working correctly, creating the environment for realizing the potential in which these victories and achievements are possible. Key achievements are those achievements that are aimed at human development.

ITMO University is engaged in accelerating student startups. What does it take to develop a tech startup in Russia?

The first component is technical: student tech startups should build on new knowledge that has been gained from research and development. Not necessarily their own, but the student needs to have a good understanding of the area in which he or she is going to engage in entrepreneurship, if we are talking specifically about high-tech entrepreneurship.

Second, you need to be able to adequately assess the possibility of realizing your idea, and this needs to be taught.

Third, it is necessary to understand the needs of the consumer: do people need the product that you bring to the market, whether it will be in demand, whether it has its own buyer.

The fourth is resistance to failure. This also needs to be taught. If you received a negative result, if for one reason or another it was not possible to enter the market, there is nothing wrong with that. This does not mean that everything has collapsed and life has failed, you still need to continue.

The above should be provided by the environment in which a student, a young technology entrepreneur works. There are a lot of tools: these are startup schools, startup accelerators, business incubators, various coworking spaces (in our time they were called "smoking rooms"). All of these tools and formats are already well established, but it is important that they are all interconnected as well.

Now it should become a common system, which should be localized for Russia. It is necessary to create an environment that allows student technology entrepreneurship to grow. Under such conditions, young people - those who have an entrepreneurial streak - will be able to realize themselves and start their own business. As you know, there are not very many such people, just as there are scientists, but nevertheless such an environment should be formed, namely a local environment. It will not work simply to transfer to Russian realities one or another experience that exists, for example, in California, Singapore and even in nearby Finland: different mentality, organization of the innovation process, mechanisms and amounts of funding, attitude to innovation, and so on.

At the same time, for Russia it is necessary that the environment for the development of such student initiatives develop precisely on the basis of universities. If we recall the experience of California, for example, then no university creates such an environment there, since Silicon Valley is located nearby, and the largest companies conduct their acceleration and incubation programs there. Therefore, Stanford University does not need to create a complete ecosystem for the development of innovation. In our country, the situation is different. In my opinion, it is impossible to create an incubator in isolation from the university, from the support it provides, in Russia. A whole chain of tools should be built, there should be an opportunity to create your own development path for each technology startup. I am deeply convinced that in Russia the university should be responsible for this as an organizer, as a kind of core of this cluster. But this does not mean that the state and business should remain on the sidelines - one cannot do without their help.

- What, apart from the USE results, should be taken into account when enrolling an applicant in a university?

The Unified State Exam is a solution to standard problems, it shows the minimum level of preparation. And we often see that many creative people who are “burning” with something, generate ideas and look ahead, do not pass the exam very well: they cannot or do not want to solve ordinary problems, but set themselves non-standard ones. It's harder to work with such people, but more interesting. These guys cannot be lost, and for this there are various competitions, Olympiads, creative tasks. You can always find an option. This year we had an applicant from Monchegorsk: he did not pass the USE on the budget, he was worried in the mathematics exam and did not get enough points. But we learned that he found a serious vulnerability on the VKontakte social network. We talked with him and realized that the boy is very talented, in some disciplines in the field information security his knowledge corresponds to the third-fourth year of the bachelor's degree. Of course, we took him - he will study at the expense of the university. The existing system should not be an obstacle to the fact that such talents study at the university that will help them to maximize their potential.

Because ITMO University is creating the future. We look ahead and do what we are sure will be in demand decades later. We see the disclosure of the student's potential as one of the main tasks. We do not seek to retrain him, but we want to reveal the talents inherent in him.

ITMO University is the first non-classical university: it sets itself non-standard tasks, tries to answer the big challenges that humanity already faces or may face, and uses non-standard methods to solve these problems. “Non-classical” means no templates, no stamps.

Finally, being in our university presupposes active interaction, joint work of people of all levels, be it an administrator, laboratory assistant, teacher, dean, or student. Our position is that everyone is responsible for the development of ITMO University, and not just receives some benefits, “educational services”. If eleventh graders see themselves as such, then ITMO University is for them. And if they come with the desire “teach me, I want to receive, but I'm not ready to invest, give and create,” then this is not an applicant or a student at ITMO University.

Two years ago, during a session, you changed into Darth Vader, ITMO University students became Jedi, and the teachers became Sith. What should freshmen prepare for this year? Starks vs. Lannisters, Ice Dragons?

Everything is very simple here: it was not me who changed my clothes, but me who changed my clothes. It is not we who prepare something for the freshmen, but the students themselves, together with young employees and teachers, come up with something new every time - something that I myself may not know about. For example, I did not know who Darth Vader was, they explained to me for a long time. And this case again refers to the definition of "non-classical". This characteristic also manifests itself in our non-standard campaigns for sessions. All this is invented and implemented by the youth, not the administration, and we, the older generation, gladly take part in this. Therefore, the question of what the next session will be is definitely not for me. And we will promote this idea and not interfere.

In October, the Far Eastern State University of Railways (FESTU) celebrates its 75th anniversary. Today the university is rightfully considered one of the most successful modern innovation and educational centers in Khabarovsk, which trains specialists of the highest level for various sectors of the economy. The jubilee of the university became a good occasion for my heart-to-heart talk with the Doctor of Technical Sciences, Honored Power Engineer of the Russian Federation, Honorary Railwayman, Rector of the Far Eastern State University of Economics Boris Evgenievich DYNKIN. I would like to thank Boris Evgenievich for finding time in his busy schedule to talk to me ...

- Boris Evgenievich, what is the anniversary of your favorite university for you personally?

The anniversary gives a good summary of the work done and think about the future. Without undue modesty, I will say that for all 75 years we have been able to maintain the quality of training at the proper level. The university is known and appreciated. This was clearly shown by the results of the 2012 admissions campaign - young people came to us actively, understanding the high educational level of FESTU. But we are not going to stop there - we have big plans for the future.

- How can you characterize the main specifics of the university today?

- One of the key words in the name of our university is “state”. And I would note that our education is based on “three pillars”: statehood, quality and discipline. We train specialists specifically for the needs of the state - and these are not big words. The strategy for the development of railway transport in Russia until 2030 assumes a large influx of highly qualified personnel in all areas of transport, and the economy as a whole. And one of the main tasks of our university is to train such personnel. We pay a lot of attention to our branches in Neryungri, Tynda, Svobodny, Ussuriysk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, because we understand that you cannot prepare human resources for the entire Far Eastern region without close interaction with the regions.

Your entire destiny is connected with one educational institution - with FESTU, you have gone from student to rector. Remember how this university first appeared in your life?

Even at school I was fond of electronic equipment, received a specialty "TV and radio master". As a final work, we had to completely assemble the TV, and so assemble it so that it also showed. And they were doing this job! Therefore, I knew from school that I would go to study in a specialty related to electricity, electrical engineering. And my choice fell on the "piece of iron": only here then there were specialties of electrical and energy profile, automation and communication. Even in graduation classes, I began to study at the KhabIIZhT in the physics and mathematics school. And then my parents advised me to carefully study the curricula of the university, in order to have a complete idea of \u200b\u200bwhat I can be taught at the institute further. According to these curricula, it turned out that most of all my "favorite electricity" was in the specialty "Power supply of railways." I chose it for myself, which I have never regretted in my life.

- How did your student life begin?

As soon as the order came out about my enrollment in the 1st year of the Khabarovsk Institute of Railway Engineers, I immediately, like all the students, found myself on the state farm fields on the Kiya River. At that time, students' life began with harvesting potatoes and cabbage. We lived in barracks, but I think it was a "golden" time. In our group, everyone very quickly became friends with each other, leaders emerged, each showed himself as best he could, and we have already started our studies as a close-knit team. I believe that then there was a correct approach in the education of students, there was a real adaptation to adult life, and human relations were improving.

Do you agree with the statement that earlier students were drawn to knowledge more, since this was a real opportunity to break out into people?

I think that during the years of my studies, and now, this statement has not lost its relevance. It is always difficult to achieve anything serious in life without a good education. After all, those guys who today first graduate from a university, then study in graduate school and defend a dissertation, very seriously raise their level of education and become more competitive.

In recent years, the education system has provided an opportunity to earn good money. Does commercialization harm the educational process?

I believe that any activity should bring not only moral satisfaction, but also material. And the fact that a decision has now been made to raise wages to the level of the regional economy is very good. Whether this decision will be supported by finances is another question. But we are ready, if we raise wages to public sector employees, increase payments to our extra-budgetary employees. And, if we take, for example, our recent victory in the competition for projects to modernize the work of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, this is not only our participation in the revival of the BAM, it is also a good addition to those who created this project. We have scientists at the university who, only thanks to their scientific achievements and projects, earn in some months more than a million rubles. And this is normal, any work should be paid with dignity!

- Are you satisfied with the cost of training students at FESTU?

Quite, since we keep it at the level of one of the lowest in the region - the annual cost of training at FESTU today is from 65 to 70 thousand rubles. Is this a lot? And you divide the amount by 365 days a year and you get only 180-190 rubles a day! That is, a student will not buy a pack of cigarettes and a couple of bottles of beer a day, but will immediately have money to study! Tuition fees at our university consisted of several indicators. First, we are well aware of our real costs. Secondly, quite recently, when we became winners of the competition of national projects in the field of education, we invested more than 500 million rubles. in the modernization of the scientific and technical base of the university (our own about 130 million rubles and about 400 million federal rubles), which means that we have the opportunity for now to "take a breath" and not spend too much on a new update. There is no need to sharply equip with something new, our updates are going on as planned. In addition to modernization, we do not forget about the social sphere: we built a new dormitory for 100 places, made a major overhaul of the clinic, club, swimming pool.

- I can't ask your opinion about the Unified State Exam ...

It is always incomprehensible to me how applicants, having passed the exam and received a certain number of points, begin to rush about, give copies of documents to several universities at once. Yes, the law allows them to do it. But in this case, it turns out that they have not decided on the choice of their future profession? So they don't care where to study? And this is wrong, this is one of the obvious disadvantages of the exam. But, on the other hand, one thing calms me down. According to our admissions committee, most of the entrants in 2012 purposefully immediately brought their documents to FESTU, they had no doubts about where to study. And this suggests that the percentage of random students in our university is extremely small and the USE is not a hindrance to us.

- How do you rate admissions campaign 2012?

Very positive! Young people went to study at FESTU, and this choice was deliberate. For the third year already, the winners and prize-winners of the All-Russian Olympiads have been exercising the right to become a university student without entrance exams. The best graduate of Khabarovsk, Aleksey Blazhnov, entered the FESUPS, the Electric Power Institute. This year, almost 11 thousand applications were submitted for full-time higher professional education alone. In general, more than 17 thousand applications were submitted for all forms and levels of education, about 4.5 thousand students were accepted.

- How do you explain such a great demand for education at FESTU?

The need for specialists in the transport, energy, and construction industries in the Far East is always high, and taking into account the more intensive use of the BAM, it will not decrease in the coming years. Do not forget also that we train specialists in those areas where today the highest salaries are: in construction, in aviation (we train specialists for work at airports at the Faculty of Air Communications), in communications, in computer technologies. And one more important factor that attracts applicants: we provide everyone with work after graduation. I can proudly say that there is even a queue for graduates in many of our specialties!

The eternal question for discussion: do students of technical universities need amateur performance? Considering that your students regularly become laureates of regional and all-Russian creative competitions, winners and prize-winners of major sports competitions, is there no reason for discussion for you?

What kind of discussion could there be? Extracurricular activities are the most vivid memories of student life! Yes, in the future they will remember the teachers and how they passed the exams, but these memories are incomparable with the memories of excitement at concerts, of supporting each other in competitions, of the joys of victory. Therefore, FESTU always pays attention to creative students and those who are really not indifferent to sports. Although we understand that this is a big financial cost. Calculate, for example, how much money was needed last year to send 8 people from our Planet Hollywood show group to Moscow for the festival, where they received the Grand Prix. But we go to such costs, but now the "Planet Hollywood" is known in the capital. Another example. This year, for the third time, we sent our student construction team to Sochi to build Olympic facilities. After all, they could not have sent, this is a costly business. But how can the guys leave without the joy of meeting new people, with new corners of our Motherland? They were eager in Sochi, there was a big show jumping selection. After all, this is how many impressions for young people! As a result, they returned - tanned, with a sea of \u200b\u200bpositive emotions, and even earned money. I always, during the parting words of construction brigades, ask only two things. The first is not to violate safety regulations. The second is not to marry local girls, our women from the Far East are wonderful too! While they listen to me ...

The prestige of a university also depends on how many foreign partners it has. What can you note in the international activities of FESTU?

We can be proud of the International Association of Transport Universities of the Asia-Pacific Region, created with our help. The main goal of the Association is to unite the efforts of transport universities in the development of directions and projects of cooperation in the field of science and education in the field of transport. Today the Association includes transport universities from Russia, Kazakhstan, China, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia and Australia. In May this year, the fifth International Symposium was held on the basis of the Kazakh Academy of Transport and Communications. The third, by the way, was hosted by our university in October 2009. One of the goals of the Association is to promote the transport corridors of Russia. And it is very symbolic that at the APEC summit in Vladivostok, the development of transport corridors was identified as the main task. And we are already actively working on this issue. And close interaction with other transport universities helps us to keep our finger on the pulse.

In the energy industry today one of the main problems is energy saving. How is it resolved directly at FESTU?

I believe that you need to save not so much energy as money. For example, we have spent significant sums on the facing of two "towers" and the laboratory building of the Far Eastern State Transport University. Previously, there were complaints: they say, it's cold. Last winter, after the completion of the facing work, they bombarded with other "complaints": it became hot. I gave instructions to our vice-rector for AHP to check who has windows open in winter. Where it is hot, we "cut in" the valves, and now you can easily shut off the radiators. This is already a real energy saving! If we speak in numbers, then only in this block of buildings we now save about 4-5 million rubles per year in heat. Today, a lot is said about energy-saving technologies from the highest tribunes, but in each case the approach to solving the problem must be individual. For example, widely promoted energy-saving light bulbs are very expensive - they are much more expensive than conventional ones. But their service life is much longer. Everything must be calculated! Energy saving is a set of measures.

Using military terminology, we can say that you have gone from a soldier (student) to a general (rector). What's next? What future prospects do you see for the benefit of serving your native university?

My very immediate plans are related to the election of the rector of the Far Eastern Transport University. They will be held on November 15, 2012. I applied for participation in these elections, as I feel that there is still much to be done and I can do. I hope that the team will support my candidacy, and with a team of like-minded people we will continue to work for the benefit of the development of the university. You understand that it is impossible to achieve much alone, you need a team. Today I am satisfied with the team. Yes, someone can reproach me that I am often too demanding. But because he is demanding, he is not indifferent to what is being done, I see the potential of the university and is aimed at its implementation.

- With what successes did FESTU come to the 75th anniversary, what was remarkable about the anniversary year?

We can proudly say that today our university is known not only in the Far East, but also in the country. We recently won a competition for projects to modernize the operation of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Also in 2012 we received the Transport Chariot. If earlier it was a national award (a similar statuette has been decorating our museum for several years), now it is international.

- What would you like to wish on these jubilee days to those who had and is related to FESTU?

For some reason, it is customary to take pride in the fact that children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren of one or another People's Artist of the country also become artists. But are they all talented as well? I would like children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren of our university graduates to go to study with us. And we will continue to try to maintain the high brand of the university of communications, created by many generations of scientists, teachers and students. Yes, yes, and students too, because they are the “face” of the university, its bright content. I sincerely congratulate all those who had and are related to FESTU on their 75th anniversary and remind you: a new enrollment of students is just around the corner! Bring your friends and relatives to study with us!

Rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics Yaroslav Kuzminov is often called the real author of reforms in Russian higher education. Kuzminov's university, which includes the Institute of Education, is actively studying this area. The rector himself regularly comes up with a variety of bold initiatives - for example, he recently proposed to force the winners of the Olympiads to take the Unified State Exam in a specialized subject when entering the university. Lenta.ru spoke with the HSE rector about the changes that took place in 2013 at the university and in Russian higher education in general.

According to Kuzminov, the main goal of higher education is to prepare a person who is successful in his career. The reforms initiated by 2020 - if successfully implemented - should minimize the sphere of "pseudo-education", increase funding for the educational process, change the structure of universities (in particular, universities of general higher education for "undecided" students should appear), reduce the number of compulsory courses, increase share of academic teachers and transfer distance education online. Arguing in an interview with "Lenta.ru" about the ongoing and future transformations, Kuzminov said that he did not consider himself a "gray cardinal" in Russian education.

"Lenta.ru": This year a new law on education came into force. What has he changed in the life of the Higher School of Economics?

Yaroslav Kuzminov: The law allowed the university to have subdivisions that implement the general (secondary) school program. A lyceum has appeared at Vyshka. These are specialized grades 10-11, in which preprofessional courses are taught by scientists from different faculties: a school for high school students, where we are trying to create preprofessional training. The new high school standard allows for up to 10-12 hours of "profile" per week, which is unusually high for pre-university training. Why all this? The goal is twofold: on the part of the state and the city - to improve the quality of high school (university teachers are on average stronger and more interesting for schoolchildren), and on the part of the university - to create a core of professionally oriented students who are interested in philosophy, psychology, and electronics. I hope that in the near future all decent universities will create lyceums, then we will have a much better high school.

The second novel is that the law excluded the provision of hostels from the scope of educational services. The consequences of this measure, in my opinion, can seriously limit the main positive effect of the Unified State Exam - the increased educational mobility of students. The share of nonresident students at HSE has grown to almost half, and we do not want to give up on this. At least this year, we have refused to raise fees for the hostel, and we will strive so that for the best students, for whom the state pays, there would be no financial obstacles to studying in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Third - you can count "someone else's" courses and "someone else's" diplomas. Our interaction with Western universities will be facilitated.

Liberal Arts, "free arts", is a model of undergraduate studies, in which the student makes his choice consistently and when entering the first year is not required to choose a narrow specialization. More about her "Lente.ru" Nikolay Grintser, Director of the School of Contemporary Humanitarian Research at the Russian Academy national economy and public service (RANEPA). Now the Liberal Arts model is being implemented at the RANEPA and at the St. Petersburg State University; Moscow State Pedagogical University is also planning to introduce it.

How do you feel about the idea of \u200b\u200ban undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts?

With sympathy. Liberal Arts is what is now called general higher education, a normal higher education for a person who is not professionally determined. It is definitely needed. Moreover, I think that for a significant part of the students this is exactly what is needed now. But I doubt that it is needed at HSE or other research universities... We are not going to introduce Liberal Arts in its pure form. Figuratively speaking, it will be too expensive for the state "free education". But we introduce the model of free choice of a third or even half of the courses. But the professional core of the program remains.

You have repeatedly said that school in Russia is shorter in duration than in other countries. Accordingly, higher education should somehow make up for this.

It not only should, it also replenishes. In our country, two-thirds of students study mainly the first or second course, while they are studying general developmental subjects, and not instrumental ones. Then they get a job. This is Liberal Arts, it's just Liberal Arts in the robes of a five-year production of a process engineer. It is actually both funny and sad. We still need to read fairy tales more often, for example, about the naked king.

You are often called the main ideologist of the reforms that are taking place in Russian education. To what extent are you personally and the Higher School of Economics in general able to influence the policy of the Ministry of Education and Science, what is happening in the country with education?

I think we are able to influence in the same way as any active people. Some of our comrades are so accustomed to sitting and doing nothing (or “surviving”, scolding their superiors) that they have become unaccustomed to normal manifestations of activity and perceive them as careerism or the role of a gray cardinal. HSE is a pioneer of new solutions in education and a collective researcher of education and science. This is really our role, our ambitions.

We did not and do not stand for anyone, not for [former Education and Science Minister Vladimir] Filippov, or [former Education and Science Minister Andrei] Fursenko, or [Education and Science Minister Dmitry] Livanov. These are independent politicians and experts. They have their own ideas, they are often close with ours, but not only with ours, by the way. But ministers always listen to a much wider range of opinions than the opinion of HSE. I am not ready to be held responsible either for other people's laurels or for other people's mistakes.

If at the same time we have a proposal on how to adjust the policy, we most often make it publicly, and not on the sidelines. We use different platforms, the Public Chamber or the Association of Leading Universities, for example.

In recent years, I have tried to state our initiatives, if they are serious, large initiatives, first publicly, and only then discuss them with the bosses. It seems to me that our educational life is ripe for the educated part of the population to be its "driver". This is far from the case in a number of other industries (for example, in healthcare), but in education it is, and this is our huge advantage.

What do you think is the ultimate goal of higher education?

Higher education should ensure a successful human career. There is such a concept - human capital. This is an estimate of a person's capitalized income, that is, how much you will earn. And higher education is just related to the concepts of career and human capital.

How much does higher education currently contribute to a career?

It promotes a career, no doubt about it. In an urban economy, you must have a college degree, otherwise you won't have any career. You can literally count the exceptions on one hand.

What should the reforms lead to (if everything works out)? What are reformers working for?

Higher education reform, if successfully implemented, could bring several important results by 2020. The first is that everyone who wants to and is able to study receives higher education, because now everyone who wants to get a piece of paper gets higher education. The second is that the basic budgetary provision per student should be doubled. Somewhere at least up to 160-200 thousand rubles a year, taking into account inflation (this, by the way, is a fairly realistic assumption, given the demography and the decree on the increase in teachers' salaries). With that kind of money, you can already teach normally.

The third, which follows from the second, is that the sphere of pseudoformation should shrink to a minimum. It must go from the level of entire institutions to the level of individual cases, when a bad teacher and a bad student find each other. There is such a thing in any country, but it is not a system. Fourth, a group of universities will emerge that will be globally competitive. There should be about 50 of them - this is the minimum for such a large country as Russia. And they should cover almost all branches of knowledge. Today, among the universities selected for entering the ratings, there is not a single medical, not a single agricultural, not a single transport.

Fifth, there should be a new structure of universities, including universities of general higher education, which are largely financed by those who study. They are there now, but they must stop mimicking. There should appear - as in other countries - "universities of applied sciences", preparing people of culture, with high self-esteem - to work with their hands, to work as qualified performers. Institutions of Applied Bachelor's Degree. And there should be classical and technical universities, which are not always research "in general" (for example, in regions where there is insufficient funding), but where some kind of movement takes place, where new ideas appear, young teams appear. Some leave, some make a career there. Such undergrowth.

The next one is the sixth, right? - there should be a new structure of educational programs, corresponding to the world one. Today we have overloaded curricula - 25-28 classroom hours a week, six to eight subjects at a time. Students can master it purely formally, but there is not enough time for independent work, for in-depth study of key things.

Then - the teacher must be a researcher. This is the hardest part. I’ll even say it neatly: at least half of university professors by 2020 should become researchers. Less than 20 percent are doing research now. And the teacher must be included in the global community, be fluent in languages \u200b\u200b- and earn as a manager.

Finally, there is the massive proliferation of online courses. I think that by 2020 in Russia, half of all courses will be MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). They should supplant the old notes, and this should completely replace, ideally, the current correspondence education. Half of our students in Russia are correspondence students.

The Higher School of Economics became one of the first Russian universities to offer its courses on Coursera, the largest (originally American) platform for MOOCs. Recently, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science have also expressed support for online education: in October, the deputy head of the department, Alexander Klimov, said that at least 20 percent of courses in universities should go online.

How should face-to-face education compare with online courses?

They should supplant between a third and half of the general courses taught in universities, even good ones. HSE will annually update the list of open courses at Western universities, which, if you have passed them, are counted as the course you attended. In two or three years, there will be the next stage of evolution, when universities will understand that this is generally a colossal resource source: you declare that you have calculus or linear algebra, economic theory and philosophy, and indicate online courses that need to be mastered, reinforce them with generalizations seminars with discussion of qualification works, individual consultations. Then you can fire some of those teachers who are scientifically unproductive, and save the budget - invest it in research, in attracting really great scientists. This will shift the university's focus to academic work and to work with senior students.

In fact, the effect is very similar to what it was when the printed book appeared. What did educated people do before? They all sat and copied. And here, since instead of a long row of monks-scribes one artisan with a printing machine appeared, the former monks-scribes began to compose something new, the church revolution began, as you know, and in general, the Renaissance began.

And what place should open lectures occupy in education?

This place is not in education, but in culture, I believe. In culture, we broaden our horizons, do not put ourselves the need to change. In culture you can relax, in education you have to focus. And these lectures open to the city that HSE conducts are an attempt by science to enter the brains of our fellow citizens through the door, which they did not open for this at all. Such education as part of cultural consumption.

This year, monitoring the effectiveness of universities has been changed and supplemented. In particular, the criterion of employment has been added. But you have repeatedly said that the most important thing is to measure the salary of graduates. Why?

Because it is an objective indicator of what the university is doing. We do not have a measurement of the quality of graduates, their human capital. We have agreed with the Federal Tax Service on a pilot project for several dozen universities, and in a year, perhaps, we will make a nationwide measurement system.

Are we the Higher School of Economics?

No, there are several participants: HSE, RANEPA, the Rectors' Union and others - all at once became interested in this matter and united their efforts. I agreed with [head of the Federal Tax Service, Mikhail] Mishustin. We give them data on graduates, for each specialty of each university - they all have an INN. The Federal Tax Service looks for them, processes them and in anonymized form transfer the data for analysis to Rosobrnadzor or the Ministry of Education and Science.

At one time, you spoke about a certain conditional university exam. What happened to this idea?

It is not being implemented directly now. I can guess why. The fact is that our share of graduates who do not even know the basics of their sciences is still too high. And as soon as it comes to implementation, people are afraid of political responsibility. If we conduct the USE for graduates of economics departments and see that they do not know the basics of statistics, do not know econometrics - at best, do they know the beginning of accounting and the initial course in economic theory ("in the pictures")? And if there are 90 percent of them? And if it is even 60 percent? This is a political problem, the state is not ready to face it.

Most likely, there will be a softer path - voluntary accreditation of educational programs, which will include measuring the residual knowledge of graduates. It will be conducted by specialized associations of leading universities.

Accreditation as it is now? Or additional?

Additional, of course. I think that at first it will be completely voluntary. Then it will also be completely voluntary, but the ministry, for example, will announce that without this budget places will not be given. And then accreditation will not be given without it. The point is to do it gradually. This can be done in seven years, and then the USE is introduced for graduates. Therefore, this is such a gradual, increasing pressure. Most citizens shouldn't feel like the sky has collapsed on them.

Another major topic for 2013 is international university rankings. In fact, the Higher School of Economics received a grant just to improve competitiveness. How objectively can these ratings assess the quality of education at a university?

I would say that the quality of education has no direct relation to global rankings. The Shanghai rating is tough, there are verifiable indicators (for example, Nobel laureates who graduated from your university). Timеs is a softer rating, there are estimates, not facts. QS is even softer, it includes assessments of the demand for graduates, the recognition of this university in the community. But what kind of negative side do they have? The fact is that it is largely an opinion rating (popularity rating). On the one hand, this is probably possible. On the other hand, this is the opinion of the members of the English-speaking educational community.

There is no question of any conspiracy. We in this community will lag behind simply because in Russia a much smaller proportion of good scientists are involved in the global community and publish their results in English-language journals. You can treat this as injustice. Or you can treat this as a task that we must solve. I prefer the second option: it is clear that being included in the global community is a plus, not a minus. Profanity can be everywhere, ratings cannot be absolutized, but they are useful. And the ratings that are unpleasant for us are doubly useful to us.

What, then, is their main benefit? In stimulating universities?

In stimulation, in violent globalization.

How can I tell you? We have been doing this for a long time. Before any ratings. Therefore, we got into the ratings. In the 1990s, we were formed on the basis of a synthesis of the European and Soviet academic traditions, so from the very beginning HSE felt itself part of not only the Russian, but also the global community. And it is quite difficult for a university, which has completely left the Soviet overcoat, to reorganize. And if you do not demand globalization, as Peter cut beards and turned out caftans, then the bad features of the domestic system will be reproduced. Firstly, this is provincialism, when people do not read anything in a non-Russian language or do not read anything except articles where they are specifically referred to. By and large, this is pseudoscience, although people may sincerely not guess about it. Secondly, this is inbreeding - when universities mostly hire their own graduates. Thirdly, excessive specialization, limiting the horizons and professional mobility. Fourth, the lack of choice, the "rut" of subjects prescribed from above - as a result, people who graduated from the university also do not know how to choose.

Are there any dangers of globalization? Will the good sides of the national tradition be lost, if any?

There is. I believe that the good side of the national tradition is unpleasant, but useful - it is a very tough training system. When Western colleagues come here, they all gasp, you know what? “What a wild dropout you have [number of expelled students]! You can't live the same way! This is inhumane! "

At the same time, it is almost impossible to fly out of humanitarian universities, even from the humanitarian faculties of Moscow State University. Including because every student is funded. It is not profitable for a university to expel students.

Livanov is trying to change this situation. He is now trying to separate the funding of the university from the number of students: you received money, and this money will be enough for you for a year or two. You will not be cut off. So far, they have not believed in this matter. And, probably, it is correct that they did not believe it. You never know what the minister says there. There are his financiers who act differently, but I think that if he is persistent enough, it will be a good signal in the system.

We talked about the good sides of national education, which can be lost with globalization ...

I told you the first one. The second is fundamentalness. We give more courses that show details. The Western, Anglo-Saxon tradition is very instrumental. It excludes things that are not directly needed. But in the Russian tradition there is a large amount of optional knowledge, let's call it that. This is what also forms the sterile Russian intellectual. And I am kind to him. I want it to be preserved.

It turns out that the Anglo-Saxon tradition is just better suited to preparing a person who is successful in his career?

Yes you are right. But he's just boring, and girls won't love him.

How does HSE make money?

We have three main sectors. Paid students, additional education, applied R&D and expert analytical work. There are almost no universities that are so harmoniously represented in all three markets as HSE. RANEPA, probably. I am well aware that this is not the answer for techies or classics.

How should financing of a university be arranged in general?

It should be the way we have it now. 40 percent money - we earn ourselves. This is the maximum that the university should earn. We now have poor earning prospects in all three markets that I have listed. And not only for HSE, but for all universities. The first is paid students: our demography is shrinking, but the number of budget places remains, this market is almost exhausted. Applied R&D in our country is monopolistically financed either by the state, or by state monopolies - out of hand. The demand from the private sector is almost zero. And additional education is also a bad market. We have one of the largest enrollments in major higher education programs in the world. And we have one of the smallest shares of students in additional programs. The reason is the same - economic stagnation, lack of serious competition in the product and labor markets. Competition is the main driver of innovation. Just like that, you live well, no one wants to change.

How do you feel about Putin's initiative to take into account the final essay in addition to the Unified State Exam when entering?

I think this initiative is more good than bad. We have previously proposed a slightly different option. The Public Chamber proposed replacing the Unified State Exam in Russian with an essay on literature or history at the choice of a person. Yes, the subjectivity of the exam returns. But the main thing is that this subjectivity is not directed, so that it is not subjectivity in someone's favor, as is often the case in school and university.

You came up with an initiative, already supported by the Ministry of Education and Science, for the winners of the Olympiads to take the Unified State Exam in a specialized subject. How do you feel about the current system of Olympiads?

This is a very important addition to the USE. We were among those who proposed the Olympiad system, and we are extremely positive about them. And my initiative consisted in the fact that we, the organizers of the Olympiads, should give some signal to society that we understand people's doubts that there are no holes in the Olympiad movement, that there is no subjectivity, that there is no help for their person. This is such an elementary protective measure.

The Olympics is one of the opportunities to work with gifted children. How, in your opinion, should work with talented children be organized at the school level?

The modern school is not designed to work with talented children. It is too focused on a universal program. It seems to me that if we develop lyceums at leading universities, this will be systematic work with talented children. The second part of working with talented children is leadership and authoring schools, although they are far from always focused on this.

It seems to me that in our country, in principle, there is a good system of working with talented children. But we have poor guarantees that a talented person from an unadapted family will have the opportunity to realize their talent: the damned capitalists have long been arranged so that any elite paid establishments necessarily have 15-20 percent of free places for Latin Americans, for immigrants, for children with a low level of education of parents. So we need to learn how to do it.

How to deal with falsification of the exam?

If we talk about the falsification of the exam, we just need to introduce a more normal system of job protection, a system of criminal liability for fraud, and form the appropriate judicial practice. We lost a year under the previous leadership of Rosobrnadzor.

Photo: Alexander Kryazhev / RIA Novosti

You also mentioned the creation of an open database of USE results.

We expect that such a base will be created in the near future. It is necessary to amend the legislation. There is a provision on the protection of personal data, and today there is an absurd situation when a person can see the number of people with equal points on the website of the university where he enters, but he cannot see how many people in Russia with such points are in general and where they have taken them documents. This, it seems to me, should be completely transparent for everyone. This has nothing to do with a person, because the database may not have a surname, but there may be an identification number.

That is, relatively speaking, a database will be created with the help of which it will be seen how many people received 100 points in history?

Yes, because while the applicant is guided not by the competition, but by the passing score, you can calculate by the last year - where it makes sense for you to enter. This year, the average score was four points higher than a year ago, and a lot of people eventually missed and ended up in paid branches not of their own free will. It is necessary to open the database of results even before admission, then it will be easier for applicants to understand which universities to submit their documents to. I do not know who is against this decision. It's just that everyone is afraid: there is a law [on the protection of personal data], how are we going to overcome this law now?

The Higher School of Economics is expanding more and more. New faculties and new institutes appear. How do you manage to monitor the quality of an educational institution?

We have several tools. First, new faculties are formed by people embedded in the international academic community and proposing new programs. Second, we conduct regular audits, form international teams of experts from the world's leading universities, who come to assess the quality of our education, the quality of scientific work. Third, we have, perhaps, the most developed student survey system in Russia. We have an in-house polling agency that regularly polls students for any details. And we have the pick of the best teacher. We are looking at how students' votes are distributed. If at some faculty only a teacher of English and philosophy is noted, that is, they do not mark their own, this is also some kind of litmus test.

We are only going to form one important tool now. It is a feedback system from employers and alumni. We will now conduct regular seminars, research on each faculty, in each direction - what competencies are lacking for students and graduates. How to change educational programwhat are the claims to our graduates, what hinders their career from those who define this career

Will anything change in the life of HSE when in April the rector's position ceases to be elective and becomes appointed? As I understand it, by law this applies to all universities that are subordinate to the government.

No, this applies to those universities that won the competition [to improve competitiveness] "5-100". The conditions for participation are the appointment of the rector, the international advisory committee and the transition to the autonomy. Of the higher educational institutions of the government, only "HSE" became part of such universities. Since we are already an autonomous institution, our changes were limited to the appointment of the rector.

So will this somehow affect the life of the university?

I think no. HSE is a huge intellectual corporation, five thousand scientists, old and young, its life has long been independent of a single person. We have learned well self-government at the level of faculties, institutes.

Headed the Russian School of Economics since 2015. Which of his achievements do you find most important?

- Professor Shlomo Weber headed the school at a time of crisis, when the school had very serious problems, both financial and organizational. His main merit is that under him the situation at NES stabilized and the university returned to the correct trajectory of development.

The school resumed its normal academic activities, including scientific seminars and conferences, and recruiting new professors. The role of the renewed International Committee of Advisers has significantly grown, which includes a number of our most successful graduates working in foreign universities. Cooperation with other universities, including foreign ones, has intensified. And most importantly, the atmosphere in the team has noticeably improved. Many thanks to him for this. My task now is to continue this development.

- From September 1, Shlomo Weber will become the President of NES, and Valery Makarov, who previously held this position, will become the Honorary President. How will the roles be distributed between the president and the rector?

- School management will remain in the hands of the rector and the board of directors. The main direction of the new president's work will be the establishment and development of partnerships - both with our colleagues at the Skolkovo hub, and with regional and foreign universities.

- Please tell us about your key tasks as a rector. What are the first three tactical and strategic steps you are planning?

- It is difficult to separate tactical from strategic steps. The most important global goal is not to lose the focus of NES on the academic component. I am sure that now we are the best economic university in Russia, but the competition is growing. This in itself is very good, as it stimulates us to work even better. Moreover, we ourselves have made a lot of efforts to help our Russian colleagues. In our business, to stay in the first place, you need to run wildly forward. And if you look up not only on the Russian, but also on the world market, then you need to run twice as fast.

Another of the main goals is ensure the financial stability of the school... The concrete steps are as follows: we need to strengthen the fundraising direction, as well as to ensure transparency in everything we do, to build a more understandable reporting system. Including in matters that relate to the management of the Endowment Fund (endowment), which was created to ensure the financial stability and independence of the school.

And the third important goal is increasing the role of graduatesin school management and in fundraising. Of course, God himself ordered me to do this, since I am the first rector to graduate from NES. I would like to make the most of the knowledge, skills and experience of graduates in managing the school, and, if possible, to attract their funds. In Western universities, graduates are often key donors. Although it is clear that in our case, their smaller financial contribution is largely due to the youth of the School and, accordingly, the graduates. But it seems to me that there is room to grow here.

- If you manage to implement all your plans, how do you see NES in a few years?

- The most important value for me is the independence of NES. Therefore, the main thing that I would like is that in a few years our university would be in a stable position, its professors and employees would be calm about the future and could concentrate on solving long-term problems. At the same time, the School remained the leader in Russian economic education and science.

- Let's not hide the fact that now is not the most favorable situation either in the economy or in international relations. Does this somehow affect NES?

- The current situation is really difficult. We exist in the legal field of Russia, and it is not very favorable for such small innovative universities like us. We have to direct a significant part of the resources (which we could, in our opinion, spend on something more important) to stay in this legal field. This situation imposes some restrictions, but we have to live with it.

The international situation also narrows our possibilities. And the point is not only that we cannot attract funds from abroad (including alumni money) without the risk of being among foreign agents, but also that difficulties arise with the development of cooperation with foreign universities. This would be a big step forward for the school, but, unfortunately, at the moment, even in the eastern direction (in China) there are restrictions. These are all technical things that show that we need to work harder.

- In February 2017 educational hub "Skolkovo" (also known as the Skolkovo educational center). It includes NES, Skoltech and the Skolkovo business school. Do you plan to develop cooperation more actively?

- All members of the hub consider cooperation very promising for themselves. For example, the Skolkovo business school has accumulated good knowledge, skills and experience in the soft skills field, while we have it in hard skills. Cooperation with Skoltech is possible on working with data - data science. Both we and they work from different sides with big data, they are more from the technical side, we are from the analytic point of view. Here, too, the potential of this cooperation is obvious.

However, it is very important for us to establish relations with partners, while maintaining complete independence. In addition, since all three members of the hub are large and diverse organizations, there are many different legal issues that need to be addressed, so the process is slow. Although the results are already there: for example, we recently reached an agreement with Skoltech that our students will be able to take courses from each other for free.

- How do you see the future of NES research centers? Will you actively discover new ones?

- We are not planning to open new centers yet, and the current ones already play a big role. For example, the Laboratory for the Study of Social Relations and Diversity of Society (LISOMO) not only conducts scientific research, but also develops our relationships with universities in the regions, which is part of the NES mission.

Of course, we would like to further strengthen the development of applied research. This is a very important area for us (for various reasons), but the efforts of our professors alone are clearly not enough for us.

- What research areas do you think are especially important to develop at NES now?

- In principle, the rector should not set a scientific direction, our professors are given complete academic freedom. My personal opinion is that now everything related to working with big data is developing very actively in economic science. The concept itself is so popular that it can be called a hype - with the only difference that there are real scientific prospects behind the big words. With that, theoretical research is still very important.

Increasingly, economists, like their natural scientists, are starting to work in laboratories. This is due to the fact that very technical requirements are growing very much, and economists often can no longer process information without the help of specialists in machine learning and working with big data. For example, a health economics project might work together with economists, medical professionals, and IT professionals.

NES is also starting to move in this direction, and an example - a project with Interfax-Lab. Our colleagues have a large array of data and qualified specialists who can process it, we have students and professors who ask meaningful questions about this data. The result is good interdisciplinary research. These are just the first steps - but this is a very promising model of cooperation.

- Well, and the question that has long been worrying all students, professors and staff: is NES planning to move to a new building?

- Here we can definitely say only that we will not move in the near future. To do this even after two years, you need to make a decision and start preparing now.

But the question is obviously on the agenda. There are different options for where we can move, and one of them is the Skoltech building. But construction is still underway there, changes in the transport infrastructure are being prepared, and we have no idea what will happen there in the end. It is difficult to make a decision when the alternatives are unclear.

In addition, the question of where the school is located very much depends on various factors: on fundraising opportunities, on the opinions of students, professors, staff, and, finally, we are limited in the choice of a building, because strict requirements are imposed on it when passing state accreditation... In general, the decision to move affects all aspects of the life of the school, so this is one of the most difficult and complex issues that have to be considered.

About personal plans

- For the last five years you have lived in Barcelona, \u200b\u200bwhere you and your wife Maria Petrova hold professorships. You work at the University of Pompeu Fabra, which is ranked 11th in the world in the prestigious international ranking of the world's "youngest" universities ... What made you return to Moscow?

- The desire to do something, to change the world. To lead the alma mater is, of course, an offer that cannot be refused.

- You graduated from the 57th school in Moscow, the physics department of Moscow State University and the master's degree in economics at NES. What did each of these formations give you?

- By the way, while studying at the Faculty of Physics, I attended classes at the evening department of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University for two more years. Such an unusual educational combination helped me a lot in life, because, in my opinion, all the most interesting in science is at the intersection of different areas.

School 57 is very strong in mathematics, it teaches you to think clearly and formally. At the Physics Department of Moscow State University I was shown how to apply this clarity and formality to the real world. At the psychology department of Moscow State University, I understood well that I am interested in people more than things - but in this area of \u200b\u200bscience everything is much worse with the formality of knowledge.

Economics, from my point of view, turned out to be the perfect combination: it has rigorous analytical methods, but it analyzes people's behavior. I am an empiricist, I am interested in data, and for me this combination cannot be better.

- After graduating from the NES master's program, you first entered the University of Michigan, and then transferred to Harvard for a PhD program. Was the transition to American universities difficult?

- It was not hard for me, because at NES the entire education system is built according to the Western model. We literally learned from the same textbooks. I could not take some PhD courses because I already knew them. In this regard, it was easy ... Besides, the general approach, the relationship between students and professors at NES is much closer to what you see at universities like Harvard.

Subsequently, of course, I had to experience a very interesting transition from studies and endless delivery of courses to independent research work. This is a completely different kind of activity, and you suddenly get so much freedom that it is difficult to digest at first. But this is a specific feature of this particular educational stage - PhD, not a university.

- With such an education and specialization, you could make a career in business or in the civil service, like most NES graduates. But you preferred the path to the academy. Why did you make this choice, and have you ever regretted it?

- Each person should do what is interesting to him. Although I was rushing about in search of the "correct" science, I never doubted that my main interest was precisely scientific research.

Part of my choice is related to the fact that I value freedom very much, and in academic environment I have managed to never have a boss. It is worth the difference in money between me and my fellow students who took a different path. So no, I never regretted, but who knows, maybe I will regret it again (laughs).

- The sphere of your scientific interests is quite wide - political economy, media economics and economics of developing countries. What determined this choice?

- Interest in the political economy and economics of the media is naturally connected with the fact that I am from Russia. Personal experience is really important in the formation of scientific interests: what problems you see around you, so you do. For example, quite often Italians, Russians, Brazilians work in political economy, who have faced big political changes in their countries and know how important it is. And Americans, for example, are more concerned with taxes. Well, when you start working with different topics, you understand that in general the economic development of countries is, in the end, the most interesting thing.

- Do you plan to continue your active scientific activity, combining it with the administrative burden? Or take a short break?

- Of course, I will have to reduce the pace of scientific work. I will have much less time, but I believe that it is very important for me to continue to understand what is happening in my area. And partly, of course, this will be the problem of my co-authors. (laughs)... Apparently, I will study science at night. Fortunately, at NES, I learned in practice to understand that time constraints are flexible, and there are a lot of hours in a day.

- Will you continue your teaching activity in the new academic year, will you conduct student research work?

- This year I will teach a course in political economics at the Master of Economics program, and together with Olga Kuzmina, I will read applied microeconometrics at the NES and HSE Joint Bachelor's program. I will also have graduate students, but, of course, I can take a limited number of students. Nevertheless, it seems to me important not to abandon both educational and research projects, because the rector needs to feel the main nerve, to understand what is happening in the school from the inside.

- You have a big family and your fourth child was recently born. How do you hope to combine the successful completion of all your work tasks with caring for the family?

- It is clear that I will have to sacrifice the time that I spend with my family. From my point of view, this is the main price that will have to be paid for the rector's office. But there is a good saying that time is like a spring, if you push it, it contracts. And you will have to appreciate much more those moments with your family that will remain.

In addition, as I noticed, most of my time (and many colleagues) is spent thinking about what needs to be done, worrying about what has not been done. The less time you have for these reflections, the more you just do.

Biography

In 2001, he graduated with honors from the Physics Department of Moscow State University. Lomonosov, and in 2002 - a master's degree at the Russian School of Economics. In 2008 he received his PhD in economics from Harvard University.

Has been working at NES since 2008, since 2013 - professor at Pompeu Fabra University (Spain). In 2012-2013. worked at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.

INTERVIEW WITH THE RECTOR

Interview with the rector

Moscow State University is the main supplier of personnel for the country. Six thousand specialists graduate from Moscow State University annually in all fields. They are trained by about 9 thousand doctors and candidates of sciences, 250 academicians and corresponding members of the Russian Academy of Sciences, therefore MSU is also a large employer.

I agreed to this interview because your newspaper decided to make significant changes, paying significantly more attention to the young reader, the reader of the educated and well-trained. It so happened that for more than 15 years a significant part of the media is overflowing with entertainment content and pays least attention to the main thing - the formation of a responsible attitude towards LABOR among young people. Therefore, I believe that if your newspaper manages to increase the prestige of labor in the world perception of our youth, first of all, this will be its significant contribution to our common cause - building Russia as a powerful and modern state in all respects.

I would like to emphasize that Moscow University occupies a special place in the highly skilled labor market. Every year we graduate specialists in almost all areas of modern natural sciences and humanities. The demand for them is stable, and graduates find work pretty quickly.

In the 90s, there was a steady and widespread decline in the number of scientific personnel. Moreover, science was abandoned by people of 30-40 years old who achieved some results. Experts are of the opinion that these losses are uncompensated. Is it so?

In general, the decline in the number of scientific workers is not only a Russian phenomenon. This process takes place in all developed countries of the world. On the one hand, this process is due to the significant automation of scientific work, when many of the routine functions of scientific research are transferred to computer technology and special computer technologies. It's just that one person began to do the work that 10-20 people used to do. On the other hand, many new jobs have appeared, especially in Russia, in particular in service services, which do not require much scientific knowledge and skills, but are paid better than in education and science. And finally, the main thing, the third. Science, especially fundamental, has become very expensive, capital-intensive, requiring a very versatile scientific training of a specialist-researcher. The almost complete lack of support for fundamental science in the 90s led to a significant outflow of talented researchers to foreign laboratories.

How has the university's staff changed in recent years?

For the better. We have become noticeably younger. This was helped by several special programs university aimed at supporting exclusively young researchers. The professional level of the teaching staff has significantly increased. There are about 3 thousand doctors of sciences and almost 6 thousand candidates at Moscow University. There are about 250 academicians and correspondent members in our team. The expansion of the range of interests is even more indicative: we have many new interdisciplinary structures.

What can the university offer its employees today - those who have worked at the university for 20-30 years?

The university is state-owned, and, therefore, the main part of its funding depends on budget allocations and the tariff scale. However, we have serious opportunities due to various kinds of extra-budgetary activities. A significant part of the extra-budgetary funds is spent on wages. Let me put it briefly - on average, a university employee actually receives 3-4 official salaries per month.

For those who have worked with us for 20-30 years, a whole system of incentives has been introduced: the honorary titles "Honored Professor of Moscow State University", "Honored Researcher of Moscow State University", "Honored Employee of Moscow State University" and others have been established. The presentation of the corresponding diplomas and insignia is carried out in a solemn atmosphere during the celebration of Tatiana's day. Each such award is accompanied by monetary compensation.

I would especially like to note that for the university staff who have worked there for a long time, all social opportunities and benefits we have, without exception, remain. They, like those who work, use the services of our clinic, libraries, catering systems, etc.

Of course, as you can imagine, the scale of social support is now much smaller than before, but nevertheless, everything we have at our disposal actually replenishes these opportunities.

SCIENCE OR MONEY

Good earnings in science - how much is it possible today? Scientists are often forced to work part-time at several universities. Is this to the detriment of research?

It is difficult to say what the salary of a scientist is to be considered good or insufficient. You know that the salary of a researcher is determined by a scientific position (junior researcher, senior researcher, head of a laboratory or department, etc.) and an academic degree - candidate of science or doctor of science. In Soviet times, the salary of a professor was one of the highest in the country - 4-5 times higher than in industry. This is not the case today.

True, the state seeks to somehow change this situation. For example, since last year, a scientist who has a doctorate degree has been slightly increased, and now he receives 7 thousand rubles for a degree, and a candidate of sciences - 3 thousand rubles.

The amount of remuneration for a scientist, in my opinion, is not an economic category, but a political one, because it indicates what role the state assigns to a scientist in its plans and actions. In the 1990s, which you mention more than once, the state reduced the role of a scientist to almost zero, creating an image of a person useless and unnecessary for the market. Let me remind you of the official position of the Russian government in those years: "There is too much science and education in the country."

About part-time jobs. If a researcher works in 2-3 places, then the question arises: where to get the time to work efficiently? If the work is also multifaceted, then, of course, this negatively affects the scientific performance. Scientific combination, if it helps to expand the circle of contacts of scientists and coordinate their joint scientific research, certainly has undeniable advantages.

CAREER IN SCIENCE

What can a young man rely on today who has decided to link his life with scientific activity? Conditions for research, salaries, solving the housing problem - can we talk about positive changes here? Who is going into science today?

First, I'll tell you about Moscow University. By entering the Moscow State University, students thereby make their choice related to serving science, culture and education.

Most of the young people who come to us completely consciously associate their lives with the difficult but interesting fate of a specialist researcher. They seem to give up beforehand a large part of everyday blessings, which a priori are inaccessible to a scientist and university professor.

True, this has almost always been the case in the history of society and science. Scientists who, in fact, moved and continue to move civilization, in material terms, with the exception of isolated cases, most often either were in poverty or were in average income.

Perhaps for this reason, now in our country there are more holders of higher education diplomas than ever before, and there are not so many real scientists, especially young and talented ones working in science.

Nevertheless, Moscow University does not change its main fundamental goal and line of action. We continue to increase the training of specialists-researchers, theorists and applied specialists. For this, the content and forms of education given at the university are dynamically changing. We are energetically growing with the latest scientific equipment, intensively developing all kinds of new high-tech communications.

In general, we are transforming on the march, and some results can be seen by looking at the other side of Lomonosov Avenue, where the new university complex is growing by leaps and bounds. Upon completion of its construction, we will at least double our educational and scientific potential.

The motives of young people are varied. In my opinion, the main one is the passion for scientific knowledge, the thirst to learn something still unknown first, in general - the romance of the pioneer. After all, to become famous, to become famous for your mind is a dream, not alien to a scientist. Every true scientist strives to ensure that his name remains in history and in the achievements of science. This is a natural desire. In this, a real scientist is fundamentally different from representatives of many other professions, whose success is temporary.

BRAIN DRAIN

A powerful outflow of scientists abroad took place in Russia in the 90s. Another problem is urgent today: young people leaving for business. How can this situation be changed - to keep young scientists in science?

I can say that over the years about 10-15% of professors and scientific workers have left Moscow University abroad. However, the university, as mentioned above, has taken a number of extraordinary measures to preserve its scientific schools. Therefore, practically not a single faculty, not a single department has suffered such personnel losses that would call into question their further viability. We have always had an active reserve, or, as they say in sports, "a long bench".

Incidentally, this "long bench" is the main wealth of our scientific schools, which bring together scientists of different ages. IN scientific schools there is a natural rotation of leaders, promotion and movement of employees in the scientific and official field.

I will say more. Over the past 15 years, including in the notorious 1990s, more than twenty completely new faculties and other educational and scientific structures have been opened at Moscow University. And they were all staffed by our teachers, our own graduates. So the problem of the brain drain did not drain him, as, perhaps, some other scientific centers.

This does not mean that we do not have a staffing problem, both quantitatively and especially in terms of age. This problem exists, but it is solvable and resolved. More than 10 years ago, on my initiative, two new programs were introduced, which we call "100 per 100". The essence of these programs is that we quickly provide young PhDs with a professor position, and young PhD candidates with an associate professor position. Thanks to this innovation alone, we were able to lower the average age of the teaching staff by almost 10 years, and today it is somewhere between 50-55 years.

For our university young generation of scientists and teachers, this is one of the real career paths.

RETURNING FRAMES

The problem of returning scientific personnel from abroad - is there a problem and how is it solved at Moscow State University? How many MSU graduates go abroad today? Is it possible to do without state support in this matter? A year ago, the program "Scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel" was discussed. It was planned to launch it in 2009. What does this program involve and how effective is it?

The problem known as "brain drain" has many different shades. Accordingly, there are many different judgments and positions. Above, I have already said something on this topic in relation to Moscow University. I will add the following. There is no large-scale desire among graduates to go abroad - the university does not. There is also a noticeable difference in resolving this issue from faculty to faculty, from specialty to specialty. This is understandable, since a candidate for departure first of all weighs his chances of finding a job in his specialty. Graduates of the humanities departments have little such chance. Those who already in our time decide to take such a step are counting, in their own words, on the assistance of relatives or acquaintances who have settled abroad. So far, the available data indicate that only a few people find work in their specialty. The rest agree to any job.

For graduates of natural science faculties, the situation with work abroad is somewhat similar to that in the humanities. Most of our mathematicians, physicists, and partly biologists are retraining into programmers. Cases where they manage to get a teaching position at a university or college are rare. In addition, by our standards, graduates receive not so high positions.

Nevertheless, there is a desire to leave for Europe, and even better for America. But the reason is common - the lack of reliable chances to get a well-paid job, to solve their housing problem.

On the return home of those who once left. You have to be realistic in this matter. First. There are not so many such people. Those who left 10-15 years ago are now 40 years old. Their children are already associated with the country in which they live. This is a very serious obstacle on the way to returning to the "once native land". Second. At the age of 40, a specialist is no longer so young and energetic to take up scientific work with renewed vigor and new ideas upon returning. Nevertheless, there are cases of specialists returning from abroad, and their number is increasing.

We welcome those who wish to return. We pin our main hopes on those who, already today, in their undergraduate or postgraduate studies at Russian universities, are linking their life hopes and interests with work at home. The program you are asking about is designed to significantly improve the situation of young researchers and teachers in our country.

EDUCATIONAL CODE

What's new in the Education Code? What will change with its adoption? How necessary is this document?

The process of changes in the domestic system of education and science has stretched for 20 years. A huge number of laws and amendments to them, various bylaws, departmental acts regulating certain areas of the life of schools, universities and academic institutions have been adopted. This multitude of documents is extremely difficult to navigate. Everyone appeals to the document that he knows, but which, for some reason, the opponent or client may not know.

The introduction of the national project "Education" has created a real basis for bringing all this set of normative and explanatory documents into a certain logically and legally grounded system. We call this system the Educational Code.

But since in the existing educational legislation there is a lot that is simply unclear, not sufficiently worked out, not only the systematization of existing documents is needed, but also additional research work aimed at solving new problems and issues.

A tender was announced for the development of this Educational Code. The tender won faculty of Law Moscow University. The work on its preparation is under way and, as far as I can see, it is very active.

BIOGRAPHY

Viktor Sadovnichy, Rector of the Moscow State University. Lomonosov.

Born: April 3, 1939 in the village of Krasnopavlovka, Kharkiv region. Father was a worker, mother was a housewife. In 1956 he came to Donbass, where he got a job at a mine.

Education: in 1958 he entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University, in 1966 - in graduate school.

All further career associated with Moscow State University. Head of the university since 1992. Since 1994 he has been the President of the Union of Rectors of Russia.

Full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the RAS Presidium. Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor.

He is an expert in the field of mathematical modeling and mathematical theory of complex systems.

Viktor Sadovnichy is considered one of the main critics of the ongoing education reform. Repeatedly opposed the introduction of the USE. He is critical of Russia's accession to the Bologna Declaration. The son and two daughters are all mathematicians.

focus of "labor"

HOW MUCH DO YOU RECEIVE AT MSU

To date, the average salary of a professor at Moscow State University is 20-25 thousand rubles, an associate professor and teacher - 15-20 thousand. The allowances for a scientific degree for a candidate of sciences are 3 thousand rubles, for a doctor - 7 thousand.