'Attracting Talents Is a Key Factor in the Development of a University', - First Vice-Rector Daniil Sandler

10:41, July 27, 2020

The first vice-rector spoke about the successful experience of implementing academic excellence programs

Ural Federal University has everything you need to successfully participate in the federal Strategic Academic Leadership Program, which is designed to replace the 5-100 project and the flagship universities development program. The university has already accumulated extensive experience of successful participation in such programs, which directly affected the quality of its work and growth in Russian and international rankings. This was announced by the first vice-rector of UrFU for economics and strategic development Daniil Sandler.

As a reminder, since 2000 there have been about 40 academic excellence initiatives in over 30 countries. According to Daniel Sandler, certain examples of successful participation of universities in such programs are certainly worthy of the closest attention.

“For example, China's Tsinghua University has become a participant in all Chinese academic leadership initiatives, thanks to which it is included in the top 10, top 20 best universities in the world in various rankings. What are these initiatives? First of all, the cooperation of the industrial park of the university with similar structures, industrial enterprises and development institutions, all this works for technological development. It is necessary to strive for this practice ”, - Daniel Sandler gives an example of successful participation in the excellence program.

According to the first vice rector, Chinese excellence programs are massive: they usually involve not 10 or 20, but 100 or more universities. This trend is likely to come to Russia as well. Also, Chinese universities are undergoing rapid infrastructural changes that are not only affecting excellence universities.

“What matters here is what resources these programs are supported by and what additional activities are taking place in general in the higher education system and in the development of its infrastructure,” Sandler says. - Another important factor is the time and speed of the changes taking place. In the Chinese initiatives, we can observe very rapidly occurring infrastructural changes in the universities that are included in the program. Moreover, complex infrastructure development is required. We are talking about creating all-Russian platforms, services, nationwide proctoring systems, online platforms or other resources. "

Experience has shown that in almost all cases excellence initiatives are successful when implemented consistently. But the generally accepted approach to excellence initiatives tends to lead to vertical differentiation of universities and their advancement in global rankings.

“It is important to keep in mind that modern societies are diverse. In those countries where excellence programs have passed the first steps towards vertical differentiation, measures are already being taken seriously towards horizontal differentiation, says Daniel Sandler. “This requires fine tuning of superiority initiatives; this is a common practice in the world. That is, the assessment is not strictly based on any one parameter, for example, place in the international ranking. This allows universities to implement individual missions and measure the achievements of these missions. "

Assessment of the results of the work of modern universities is made up of many factors - scientometrics, and international rankings, and many other parameters are taken into account. The question is where exactly this practice leads, where is the trend heading. According to Sandler, today it is directed towards the so-called third mission of universities, when the real participation of representatives of universities in the activities of the territory in which they are located, its development, participation in socially useful movements, from engineering unions to volunteer activities, is assessed.

“Such participation of university representatives in the life of communities in a particular area is beginning to be assessed. While it is clear that these estimates are more complex than scientometrics, they need to be protected from imitation. In this regard, we are moving towards digital tools for assessing the contribution of universities, assessing the activity of their representatives in social networks, since this is also a factor in development, ”Sandler clarifies.

In any case, the most important question remains - which criteria in the work of the university can be considered the most important and how to weigh them so that there are no distortions, for example, only in ratings or only in commercial activities.

“In my opinion, there can be no single criterion,” Daniil Sandler is sure. - Just like an aircraft is controlled based on a multitude of counters and instruments, a modern university cannot be assessed by one, two, three, four criteria. Here it is important to take into account the extent to which those who come to the university fulfill their tasks. Attracting talent is a pivotal assessment of the work of universities. These are the faculty, students, and partners. It is imperative to involve partners from high-tech industries in university activities. Their participation in the educational process and in scientific research should largely ensure the development of a modern university ”.