For the Nobel

A unique project "Russian Genomes" has been launched at St. Petersburg State University

Irina Ivoylova, Rossiyskaya GazetaWill the price of paid university tuition increase?

Why did scientists take up the monitoring of the press? What role do the "star" deans Mikhail Piotrovsky and Valery Gergiev play in the life of St. Petersburg State University? The rector of St. Petersburg State University, Chairman of the Association of Leading Universities of Russia Nikolay Kropachev told about this in the editorial office of "RG".

Photo: Alexander Korolkov

– Nikolay Mikhailovich, the government has just adopted an anti-crisis plan. The budget will be reduced by at least 10 percent. Will it affect the cost of training?

Nikolay Kropachev: There have been no price changes so far. The cost of paid tuition is determined by the expenses incurred by the university, including teachers' salaries. They cannot be less than the amounts that the state gives to the university for the education of budget students. If these amounts grow, then the cost of paid tuition will increase. By the way, the previous global economic crisis practically did not affect us, partly because we managed to optimize our expenses. I was then called a tyrant because I was putting things in order: I closed restaurants that were illegally located on the university grounds, saunas, a market, candy and furniture factories, hotels, a workshop for making tombstones. We have almost halved the cost of electricity and won on this. As a result, over the past five years we have managed to return more than 2.5 billion rubles to the state budget. This is not only money, but also land plots, buildings, books, equipment and more.

– There are eight Nobel laureates among the graduates of the university. When will the ninth be?

Nikolai Kropachev: Soon. I think it will be a scientist who is engaged in biomedicine. Today, about a dozen researchers work at St. Petersburg State University, who, in my opinion, are conducting research worthy of the Nobel Prize. Here, for example, is Professor Raul Gainetdinov, who is leading a project on translational biomedicine. We conduct interdisciplinary research involving biologists, physicians, psychologists, geneticists, and the results of their work and scientific discoveries are immediately "broadcast", that is, transferred into practice – medicine, pharmacology. Or the owner of the megagrant of the Russian government, Professor Ruslan Valiev. He is a specialist in materials science. There are Nobel Prize–winning teachers at the university. The Laboratory of Problems of Economic Growth and Labor Resources is headed by the Nobel laureate in Economics Christopher Antonio Pissarides.

It's probably realistic to do a job worthy of the Nobel Prize, but it's also important that competition among scientists is fair. After all, there has already been a sad example in history: chemist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, a graduate and professor of our university, is not among the Nobel laureates.

– By the way, students pass the Unified State Exam in chemistry well, they are happy to enter chemical schools, and then where do they work?

Nikolay Kropachev: More and more chemists, biologists, mathematicians are returning to work at the university. Today, there are over 160 foreign employees from 37 countries among our teachers. For example, Raul Gainetdinov, a professor at Duke University and the Italian Institute of Technology, whom I have already mentioned, has returned to us. The university employs Fields Prize winner, world–famous mathematician Stanislav Smirnov, Elena Grigorenko, a professor at Yale University, who directs one of the laboratories and conducts research on psychobiological indicators of children's development.

– Are you paying well?

Nikolay Kropachev: Now the average salary of the teaching staff of St. Petersburg State University is 64 thousand rubles a month. Growth is expected this year, we have not only high salaries, but also the best information resources, a Science park with equipment worth more than 5 billion rubles and qualified engineering staff.

This year we started a unique project "Russian genomes". We are talking about creating a database of genomic information about all ethnic groups inhabiting Russia. The data bank will be constantly replenished. The researchers are tasked with collecting the blood of more than 500 people plus 160 so-called triads (DNA of two parents and one child). The project will involve scientists from other universities and research organizations in Russia. The scientific supervisor was a world-renowned scientist Stefan Obrien, who has been in charge of the F. G. Dobrzhansky Center for Genomic Bioinformatics at our university for the fifth year.

– What specific benefits will the genome data bank bring?

Nikolay Kropachev: The project is important not only for medicine and healthcare, but also for ethnopolitology, genetics, history, because it is about creating a complete database of information about all ethnic groups inhabiting Russia. Historians and ethnographers will better understand the movement of different ethnic groups, pharmacists and doctors will find out more precisely the predisposition of certain people to various medications. The University has already purchased new equipment. I think the genome data bank will appear in three years. Another promising study in genetics is the development of new genetic tests that will allow a person to diagnose a particular disease even before its symptoms appear.

– Do your "star" deans – Piotrovsky, Gergiev, Kostin, Kovalchuk go to work every day?

Nikolai Kropachev: It's not so important how many days a week you "go to work." The main thing is the result and dedication. And even if the schedule of our "star" deans does not allow them to spend every day at St. Petersburg State University, their contribution to the development of the university is great. After Andrey Leonidovich Kostin became dean, our business school was included in the Financial Times rating. We are on the 56th place in the world, and there is not a single Russian university in this ranking anymore. At the initiative of Andrey Leonidovich, we have made changes to many additional programs, now they take into account the requirements of leading employers. As a result, interest in programs and income increased by 10 times! Now it is more than 200 million rubles a year. By the way, Dean Kostin gets practically nothing for his work. As well as Valery Abisalovich Gergiev, Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk, Otar Leontievich Marganiya.

When such strong leaders began to come to the leadership positions, everyone benefited from this: pooling resources is always for the good.

– There are rumors that St. Petersburg University will monitor and look for spelling and factual errors in all Russian media. Is that true?

Nikolay Kropachev: Yes, this is a project to study the completeness and reliability of information in media texts. We have experience of such research. Back in the mid-90s, the quality of Russian justice was such that there were situations when a judge made one decision in the morning and another in the evening in the same situation. The Law Faculty started monitoring court decisions and began to publish them in our university journal. The openness of court decisions helped, first of all, not only the judges, but also those whose fate they decided. But human life is affected not only by the mistakes of the courts, but also by the mistakes of the media. I'm not just talking about grammatical and spelling mistakes. Often there is a distortion of meaning! Our task is to make available information about the reliability of information, about the decisions taken by the authorities. We will talk about manipulations based on the readers' lack of knowledge in the field of law, economics, history, biology or physics, and we want to show the possible consequences of the mistakes made. Therefore, the team that works on the project includes philologists, lawyers, economists, programmers, mathematicians, sociologists, psychologists, and international experts. We expect to get the first results by the summer and are ready to share them with the readers of Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

– Did the yellow press really inform you so much?

Nikolay Kropachev: No. I just see how readers complain to each other – it's not true, there's a mistake and what to do? I realized that it is in the classical university that there is a huge resource to help Russians. In the near future we want to organize a meeting of rectors of federal universities and address them with a proposal to create the same centers that will analyze the local regional press. We are ready to share our software and methodology.

Taking this opportunity, I appeal to readers: everyone can send us examples of such materials and questions to the email address smi@spbu.ru .

About sanctions and the crisisNikolay Kropachev: The global economic crisis, of course, affects both our country and St. Petersburg University.

As for sanctions, I don't really understand why you are talking about them? A sanction is a legal consequence of an offense that is applied in accordance with the established procedure to an individual, legal entity, or state found guilty of committing this offense. The procedures for making such a decision and applying sanctions are determined by the norms of law. There is none of this, so it is impossible to call such actions sanctions. These are not sanctions – they are arbitrary. The introduction of the word "sanctions" by Western politicians and the media into the American and European information space is not accidental. People there live with the firm belief that if sanctions are applied to someone, then this person has already been recognized as an offender.

I repeat, there can be no question of any sanctions against Russia. What is happening, I assess as arbitrariness and offense.

Blitz for the rector– Can a student get to the rector for a personal appointment?

Nikolay Kropachev: Yes, during reception hours. If it is necessary for me to prepare for the conversation, it is better to outline the range of questions in advance.

– Who reads the e-mail that comes to the address of the Rector of St. Petersburg State University?

Nikolai Kropachev: The one to whom it is addressed. In addition, every day I look through all the questions in the "Virtual Reception". I hold a reception of citizens every week. Anyone can come.

– How much does lunch in the student canteen and a discounted travel pass cost?

Nikolay Kropachev: A set lunch – 145 rubles, a pass for all types of transport – 850 rubles.

– For what are you expelling without any talk?

Nikolay Kropachev: All grounds for expulsion are listed in the University Charter. For example, we deduct for plagiarism.

– What do you do if you see that students are bored at your lecture?

Nikolay Kropachev: Now I don't give lectures anymore, but it seems to me that my classes were not boring. However, I was not applauded, as, for example, Anatoly Alexandrovich Sobchak.

– Are there such lecturers now?

Nikolai Kropachev: Yes. Such stars include my favorite student Mikhail Schwartz. The course to which he lectures is about 100 people, and more than 200 attend lectures. Notaries, lawyers and many others come...

– Do you believe in fate?

Nikolai Kropachev: I believe in coincidences and coincidences. My birthday coincides with the birthday of our university. And the birthday of St. Petersburg State University and the Academy of Sciences is the Day of Russian Science. With which I congratulate everyone!

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru10.02.2015