Interview with the Rector

11:49, January 17, 2019

Victor Koksharov on the results of 2018 and the plan for development

— Mr. Koksharov, at the end of October the presentation of Ural Federal University’s development plan took place in Kaliningrad as part of the 5-100 project aimed at increasing the global competitiveness of Russian universities. What was the International Council’s feedback on the results achieved by the university?

— The achievements of the Ural Federal University are evident. UrFU is moving forward steadily and is deservingly considered one of the top Russian universities selected for participation in the 5-100 project.

We have an impressive dynamics in the international rankings: over the past two years, we have moved up by 229 positions at once and reached the 412th place in the QS ranking. No other university has such dynamics. In the Shanghai ranking (ARWU), we are among the 800 leading world universities and top 5-6 in Russia, sharing positions with Tomsk State University.

We entered many subject rankings where we had not previously been present, both in the QS and in THE (Times Higher Education) rankings. In the Shanghai ranking, we are in the top 200 universities in the world in metallurgy. And deservedly: historically, metallurgy and materials science are one of the strengths of our university, the training of qualified specialists in these areas is a significant component of our mission.

In addition, we have entered the broad subject rankings, such as QS rankings in natural sciences, humanities, social sciences and management, Times Higher Education ratings on computer science, engineering, and a number of other areas. At the same time, we understand that there is room for improvement. We have every chance to advance significantly.

— What is the source of the confidence?

— The peformance of our strategic academic units. They concentrate personnel, scientific competence, equipment and are the framework through which we will fulfill the tasks set before us by the Government under the Project 5-100 and the the national priority project "Science". An example of this is the Institute of Radioelectronics and Information Technology, which plays a dominant role in personnel training and scientific activities in the field of IT. One of our leading divisions is the Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. A special unit has been singled out at the Institute of New Materials and Technologies: the Engineering School of the New Industry. It is a master's school for training design engineers and other highly skilled specialists that our industry needs so much. The Graduate School of Economics and Management also declares ambitious plans. They have accredited a number of its programs at the international level, in the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD); there are very few examples of such schools in Russia.

The Ural Institute of Humanities is the center of highest quality liberal arts education not only in the Urals, but also in the country. Some believe that liberal arts today are less relevant and in demand than before. I disagree. [Our academicians] justify the motto: “humanities scholars rule”. Out of the seven journals published by the Ural Federal University, which are included in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, three are humanities-oriented: “Quaestio Rossica”, “Problems of Onomastics”, and "Bulletin of the Ural Federal University. Series 2. Humanities”. Two other journals are devoted to economics. In recent years, our scholars have shown a very good dynamics of advancement in the world rankings, a great deal of publication activity, they have won many grants; new interesting educational programs have been opened. An example is the training program “Media Communications”, which was launched a year ago and is in high demand. And we are happy to support such proactivity.

— Last year you reported on the decentralization and enhancement of the role of institutes, which UrFU consists of. What did you mean by that?

— We are aware that in such a large and complex organism as the Ural Federal University, it is impossible to manage only from above, policing everything strictly, in detail. Therefore, directors of [UrFU] institutes are largely independent. First, each institute has its own budget, and they understand how much they spend on development, on repairs and equipment, teachers' salaries, bonuses, students.

Secondly, the institutes are actively involved in the Project 5-100. They develop their programs, present them to the UrFU Supervisory Board (which includes the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, the ministerial officials, the administration of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, our alumni who head the largest financial and industrial holdings: Dmitry Pumpyansky and Andrey Kozitsyn), to the investment committee, and receive funding for development.

 Each institute has its own academic council, and some have fiduciary boards. At the same time, the university-level Academic Council, which includes the representatives elected by the staff of the UrFU institutes and departments, plays a great role in strategic management. There is a Coordination Council, which makes decisions on the financing and implementation of joint projects and programs, with the participation of the institutes’ directors.

Thus, on the one hand, UrFU’s management is decentralized, and on the other hand, it is concentrated and does not fall apart. And the university as a whole is the epicenter of the relations between the government, science, enterprises, the center for expert study of programs adopted by the authorities of municipal governments, the Sverdlovsk region and other regions (for example, the Five Year Plan and Smart Region programs). We see this as our social mission in Ekaterinburg, in the [Sverdlovsk] region, in the Urals.

— Which of the processes and events of 2018 would you highlight?

— This academic year, our university began a wide-scale transition to project-based training. We started off with the Institute of Radioelectronics and Information Technology and the Ural Power Engineering Institute, next in line is the Ural Institute of Humanities. The main purpose of the transition is to ensure that the education at our university is focused on the interests of specific employers, whether they are industrial enterprises, scientific or social organizations. Therefore, starting from their first year at UrFU, students perform tasks for projects that are put forward by employers and under the authority of their representatives. Thus, as a result, by the time of graduation, they have developed real projects that are implemented in real industrial, scientific or social practice. At the same time, students develop their soft skills, which are necessary for further professional success. Those are creativity, proactivity, social and teamwork skills, responsibility, and others.

The most important of our achievements, which we are proud of and which we talked about on the Project 5-100 Council Meeting, is the transition to our own educational standards from January 1, 2019. We were granted such a right, and we exercised it to the fullest. This allowed us to develop interdisciplinary programs independently and fine-tune the educational process in the interests of both the student and the employer, diverging from some of the rigidity and conservatism of state educational standards.

During the Council Meeting, we also discussed the achievements of our scientific schools, which demonstrate steady progress on the global scientific arena. We understand that the quality of teaching in any educational discipline is directly related to modern achievements in science. Therefore, we are proud to note that more and more of our teachers participate in world-class research. This is expressed in a large (and growing by 30–50%) number of publications in Scopus and Web of Science-indexed scientific journals, in the creation of new scientific laboratories and groups, in extensive research commissioned by employers or under the projects we strive to implement within the priority national project "Science".

— What exactly are the initiatives?

— We’re talking about creating a Research and Educational Center (REC) and two Scientific Centers of International Standard (SCIS). The purpose of the REC is the embodiment of our students, teachers and scientists’ research in advanced industrial technologies. The specialization of the SCIS is Mathematics and Materials Science with the use of digital technologies, creation of new smart materials by means of machine learning and forecast.

In Mathematics, as well as in Materials Science, the Ural District is recognized as the center of scientific research and potential. That is why it is natural that our applications for creating world-class scientific centers are being developed together with the Ural Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the regional authorities that fully supports us.

We also talked about this during the recent visit of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Viktor Kotukov. We presented the projects and saw interest on his part.

Our aim is to achieve results of a truly global scale. The responsibility that we have assigned to ourselves is really big, but we understand very well that without projects as huge as these it is impossible to develop and ensure the competitiveness of the University. That is why we set such lofty goals and we are sure that the experience gained gives us all the chances to achieve them.

— There are 91 small innovative enterprises based at the university. The number is impressive. What are the future prospects in the area of innovation?

This year, our innovative enterprises will make 270 to 280 million rubles, and this is not the end of the line. Currently, with the use of a 144 million rubles grant from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, we are creating a big engineering center that will be developing digital technologies for industrial enterprises, in particular, the center will produce so called “digital doubles” of various parts, hubs and whole systems.

This technology allows partner enterprises to minimize significantly their costs of production and testing of full-scale specimens. As for us, such cooperation is a way to substantially build on the competences available. We’re adding an additive technologies laboratory to the engineering center, for which we have purchased advanced laser technology. Some important contracts have been signed for this laboratory as well).

We’re actively equipping our Cyclotron Center of Nuclear Medicine. The cyclotron has already been launched and is being developed, the only thing left is to finish mounting the radiochemical complex. We're planning to launch the regular delivery of radioisotopes for diagnosing oncological diseases by march.

One of our partners, “PET Technology”, which already has one center for nuclear medicine in Ekaterinburg, is ready to equip one more for those patients that are in need of our isotopes. Together with “Rosatom” and pharmaceutical company “Pharmstandard”, we are planning to open a so-called “crisis clinic” where the patients will be treated.

The cyclotron center will, in the long run, produce the same isotopes for diagnosing cardiovascular diseases. The thing is that, without a surgery, it is very often unclear how a heart attack is progressing, and the usage of radiopharmaceutical products allows us to effectively cure and save a big number of patients without the need for surgery.

One of the most important projects is the Center of Chemico-pharmaceutical Technologies. It is equipped with the most advanced technical solutions and is unique on the territory from Moscow to Novosibirsk. It gave our organic chemists the possibility to work on the development of innovative medications, including anti-virus, antidiabetics, and others. There are already some major contracts.

Together with “Pharmstandard” we’re now launching a new project on development of new medications and generic drugs. Besides, the center will deal with methods for biological and chemical plants protection, there is a big contract on potatoes, for example. In short, the Center of Chemico-pharmaceutical Technologies has great prospects for the future, and we will do our best to ensure it creates the medications that are in-demand in our country.

I should also mention the Center of High Technologies in Mechanical Engineering, a mini-factory with cutting-edge machinery producing small-scale batches of various details, which gives a significant turnover every year. Plus, there is the Model Factory of Lean Production, the 15^th in the world and the only one in Russia. We created it together with McKinsey company and the United Machine-Building Plants.

It is a small but real plant producing pneumatic cylinders. And the main thing is that the work there is organized in a way that allows the working process to be completely changed in order to achieve maximum cost reduction (up to 50%). The plant is used as a training platform for factory managers, production managers, economists (both from the University and from financial institutions, banks).

In brief, the research and production centers mentioned above are educational platforms, platforms for testing various technologies, a way of producing income used for funding the university development programs. We expect the income to increase threefold by 2025 with the help of the centers.

So, our university is confidently looking towards the future. Of course, this does not mean that we should stop and rest on our laurels in education, science and innovations. We see the progress with satisfaction, we see that Ural Federal University is rightly recognized as one of the best universities in Russia and protects this right with dignity.

— How does this affect the admission statistics?

— Both the competition and GPA are increasing. This year, 11000 students were enrolled to UrFU to all forms of education. The total number of students studying is 35000. Adding the 8000 of staff members, we can call UrFU a city, really. Our students are studying in 430 educational programs in 200 majors. We’re holding the second place after the MSU by the number of state-funded places.

The number of international students is increasing rapidly. According to the official federal data, our university is one of the top 5 Russian universities by attractiveness for international applicants, both for near and far abroad – Latin America, Europe, North and South Africa, Middle East, South-East Asia. In 2018, we recruited 1 547 international students, which is 35% more than last year. In total, there are 3 114 international students from 84 countries studying at the university, and it is almost 10% from the total number of students.

Together with a number of foreign universities, we’re implementing double-degree programs. For example, in 2018 we recruited 400 students from North-Chinese University of Water Resources and Hydropower. For the first 2 years, they study at their home university and then they come to ours, but they are already counted as students of Ural Federal University. The number of these partner universities is constantly increasing, today we have 400 from all over the world, and we exchange great number of students with many of them. The participation in the Project 5-100 allows us to support our youth, organize visits for participation in conferences, internships, collaborations with foreign colleagues.

— One of the currently developing forms of education is online learning. How is Ural Federal University participating in this development?

— The tone here is set by Moscow-based universities, such as MSU and HSE, but still UrFU looks quite capable next to them. Together with seven other universities, we have founded the national platform “Open Education”, where we have about 70 our courses uploaded. All of them are free to be used by lecturers at any Russian university, and many are extremely popular. Those are, for example, courses on analytical mechanics and philosophy of science and technology. English-taught courses are uploaded to edX, one of the most renowned online education platforms. In total, our university has created and uploaded 65 courses, which are now used by almost 200 000 people around the globe. In our turn, we also use courses created by partner universities, both Russian and international, in our educational programs and award ECTS for them.

— Some experts believe that online education will soon replace classroom training. What is your opinion on that?

— Online education is a technology of the future, but it will never replace the live process of experience transfer from teacher to student. In any case, it is a way to bring diversity into educational programs, improve their quality and accessibility, integrate with the external educational environment. Moreover, the use of various virtual simulators, test assignments and electronic control methods leads to a greater objectivity in assessing students’ performance.

— Another novelty to the Russian system of education are the individual learning paths. How are they used atUrFU?

We do try to provide our students with opportunities to build individual educational tracks for themselves. Starting from the later years of undergraduate training, the students can, in their discretion, choose whole educational modules alongside with the mandatory courses and sign up for additional courses that meet their interests and needs. And this is not limited to the narrow scope of engineering, natural sciences, or humanities: our future engineers and scientists find great pleasure in attending soft-skill-forming courses in social sciences, for example. Students literally line up to attend such courses taught by our lecturer Ivan Zamoshchansky. So, by creating opportunities for students to choose individual learning paths, we at the same time create conditions for the innovation-loving teachers where they can bring their ideas to life both in the form of online courses and traditional educational programs.

— And what if an innovative idea comes to a student?

— We have a very serious, deeply elaborated system for support of innovative ideas. There is a program called “Innovative Diving” where any student, young scientist or teacher can present their ideas and receive help in shaping them and calculating the commercial value. The ideas that are commercially promising receive funding with the help of the university: we apply to various funds, such as the FASIE. When the product Is ready, we help to sell it by connecting our innovators with enterprises. This is also facilitated by the project-based training: the enterprise that is the ordering customer for the student project at the same time acts as a potential investor. Hence the more than 90 small innovative enterprises that I mentioned at the beginning.

— What especially inspires respect is the attention that the university pays to educating people with disabilities.

— Yes. We have just opened a fully equipped Center for Inclusive Education, where we created the conditions that allow people with disabilities to receive the most advanced knowledge. We consider it our social duty and are glad to set high standards in this field.

In general, Ural Federal University is a permanent source of bright social events. Thus, we were one of the 14 official training centers for volunteers of the World Cup —2018. Our volunteers participate in all events of international and federal scale that take place in the Sverdlovsk region and other regions. The Winter Olympics and the World Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi, the World Aquatics Championship in Kazan – our volunteers contribute to the success of Russia as the host country. Now a large group of our volunteers are in Krasnoyarsk, participating in the preparations for the Winter Universiade 2019, and in Kazan our volunteers are to work at the WorldSkills World Championship.

— Mr. Koksharov, what would you wish to the big family of Ural Federal University for the New Year 2019?

— It is a great pleasure for me to wish a happy New Year to everyone in our big team of students, lecturers, scientists, management and maintenance staff. May your most ambitious dreams come true in the year to come. May the 2019 bring health, happiness and confidence in the tomorrow. And the university will do everything for the dreams to be realized.