On May 21 the new lineup of the Russian Cabinet was announced. Dmitry Livanov, who for the past five years has served as rector of the National University of Science and Technology MISiS, was appointed Minister of Education and Science. The following interview was published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
– According to the most recent surveys, high school graduates with barely satisfactory grades are planning to apply to technical universities. What do you make of this?
– Such students have no place in engineering schools. That’s quite clear. If they are accepted somewhere they will make poor engineers. The quality of the matriculating class is an important issue to which there are no simple answers. Above all else, we need to increase the motivation of the best prepared graduates to attend technical schools. For this perhaps students’ stipends need to be increased to 10,000 rubles for those studying for a Bachelor’s degree. Employers also need to be encouraged to pay stipends. At the same time the quality of teaching of physics and math in school needs to be improved. New programs and texts books that make this interesting to children are needed.
– Teachers of 11th grade complain that schoolchildren quit studying subjects which are not in the Unified State Examination. Why study them is one’s grade sheet plays no role?
– The possibility of using one’s grade-point average as a supplement to the Unified State Examination is under consideration. But we shouldn’t forget that this was once the case and it led to incredible growth in the number of fake honors students. I also have qualms about Olympiads. The Unified State Examination, in contrast to Olympiads, analyzes a set of data and compares it with the results of others, whereas the Olympiad system is closed. Thus subjectivity is a major factor.
The main criteria nonetheless remains the Unified State Examination. With each passing year the minimum score for acceptance at MISiS is increasing. The most popular programs at the institute are related to nanotechnologies and IT, with 350-400 students matriculating to these programs each year.
– Rectors complain that high-scoring students often do not follow up with good grades and on average up to 10% of incoming students are forced to drop out. Is this true at MISiS?
– I do not have any problems with those who matriculate with high scores. The difference between those who score 80 and those who score 60 is noticeable, but they usually achieve parity by the third year. However, only 50% of students succeed in graduating. If students are not capable of dealing with the tasks they are given, then we must dismiss them. We have never gotten any flack for this. But another issue is the fact that when students are lost the school also loses financing. Each year 1000 people graduate from MISiS; 600 of them are engineers and technologists, and they all find jobs. Companies need personnel who do not require additional education or retraining, who are prepared to go to work without any extra efforts on the part of the employer.
– There are no metallurgical enterprises in Moscow. So how can a graduate from a Moscow university be enticed to move to Lipetsk or Kemerovo?
– The situation is such that people are economically motivated to stay in the capital. And this should be seen as normal. Moscow should prepare the technical and creative elite, but this by definition is a small number of people. Today, for example, we do not need a really large number of engineers. But there are three times more places in universities than we had back then. Clearly there should few places, but cost of one student should be substantially higher. Not 60,000 rubles, as now, but 200,000-250,000 rubles. As soon as we move away from free higher education, mechanisms will appear that can help companies attract valuable personnel. For example, educational loans. If a good education costs a lot and the student is forced to pay, then he can take out a loan and later a future employer can agree to pay it off in return for fulfilling certain obligations.
– Suggestions are being made to shutdown one-third of all universities. Do you agree with this?
– It’s not a matter of the number of universities. It’s a question of how many students are studying there at the expense of the state. This number needs to be cut in half with the simultaneous doubling of the financing of the remaining spots.
– How much does a professor at MISiS earn?
– The average salary of professors is around 60,000 rubles. There are some which receive 200,000 and others that make 30,000 – that’s how much those who are not engaged in science and are most likely working there as a second job. MISiS invites leading scientists. For example, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Timothy O’Connor from the US is in charge of developing the university’s education system. Prior to coming to work at the university he worked at the American Councils for International Education. Another foreign specialist is Page Heller, Director of the Center for Technology Commercialization. MISiS, like most Russian universities, has little experience in turning scientific developments into marketable products. So the university invited this specialist from the United States who had for many years occupied a similar position at one of the leading technical universities in America. The Department of Plastic Deformation of Special Alloys is led by Professor Rudolf Kawalla of Germany. We plan to employ approximately 100 foreign scientists for at least five years.
– Do they deliver their lectures in English?
– All guest lecturers speak in English. That is why three years ago the university introduced within the Bachelor’s program a special English study program that is based on the Cambridge method. It’s specifics are such that the students take 8 hours of English a week for four years in a row and then pass not only a final examination but also take the IELTS and receive a certificate which is recognized by 6000 educational institutes in 135 countries throughout the world.
– Some MISiS graduates are on the Forbes list of billionaires. Do they help the university?
– Recently an endowment was created, and its funds are to be directed toward the development of the university. Certain assistance has been provided by graduates. Mikhail Fridman is an MISiS alumni from the Forbes list, and we sometimes invite him to meet with students.
– To share how he got rich?
– He talks about himself and his life. Students find this very interesting. The current generation is very critical, pragmatic and geared toward success.
– Earlier physicists not only made money but also ready good books, played music… So what book are you reading right now?
– Pelevin. Although I didn’t really like his last three books. I like detective stories in English. I often go to the theater, and recently saw the Nutcracker at the Bolshoi Theater. I don’t play music. But my children – daughter and son – are musically gifted and are serious about music.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta
