As it will be in Russian. FEFU Rector Nikita Anisimov - to the Rare Earths magazine FEFU is one of the largest universities in the Far East of Russia, you as a leader are faced with ambitious tasks for its development. What criteria do you use to select people and form
A high-profile corruption scandal in Vladivostok: the rector of the Far Eastern Federal University, Sergei Ivanets, is accused of “organizing the abuse of official powers,” the website correspondent reports, citing the press service of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Primorsky Territory. Apparently, it was on Monday, March 21, that the Far Eastern career of Sergei Ivanets suddenly ended, for many - extremely unexpectedly. The site’s correspondent decided to remember what Ivanets’ four-year stay at FEFU will be remembered for.
Perhaps it’s worth starting from the end: the first news about the detention of the rector right in the FEFU campus dormitory with reference to “sources” appeared on the morning of March 21. Some media outlets, having come to their senses, deleted the publications without receiving confirmation from official sources, but the most persistent ones turned out to be right - by the end of the working day, information about the charges was confirmed by the press service of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, the first “bells” rang out earlier, last week - then two FEFU vice-rectors were accused of exceeding their official powers. Alexey Tskhe, responsible for science and innovation and Victor Atamanyuk, who oversees economics and finance at the university, were detained exactly a week ago, on March 14. At the same time, the general public learned about how the FEFU management managed to cause damage to their native university of 20 million rubles.
According to investigators, 5 years ago, in 2011, the Far Eastern Federal University and a certain LLC “Modern University” entered into a contract, the subject of which was the provision of services for the creation of an information technology system in five stages in the period from 2011 to 2013. The total amount that the performers were supposed to receive was more than 647 million rubles. However, as law enforcement agencies managed to find out, the third stage of work, which involved the creation, implementation and implementation of a distributed printing subsystem, a financial, management accounting and planning subsystem, as well as a campus map subsystem, was not completed.
Initially, the investigation believed that Alexey Tskhe and Viktor Atamanyuk, through joint efforts, but independently, prepared and signed a certificate of acceptance of obligations for this stage of work, allowing the “performers” of Modern University LLC to receive more than 20 million rubles for services that were not provided . A week later, on March 20, it became clear that the vice-rectors acted not in their own interests, but on behalf of the university rector Sergei Ivanets.
“From August 20 to September 11, 2015, the suspect (Sergei Ivanets - editor’s note) instructed subordinate employees, vice-rectors of the educational institution, Alexey Tskhe and Viktor Atamanyuk, to ensure the production and signing of acceptance certificates for the fulfillment of obligations for the third stage, and on September 15, 2015 year gave instructions to the chief accountant, on the basis of the specified acts containing deliberately unreliable information about the volume of work performed, to transfer funds in the amount of over 20 million rubles from the university’s current account to the contractor’s current account,” reports the press service of the Investigative Department of the RF IC.
Alexey Tskhe and Victor Atamanyuk. Photo: IA Data.ru
It is noteworthy that attention to this purchase of the university has been focused for a long time: the Primorsky OFAS discovered serious violations during the competition, which had only one participant and, accordingly, the winner - Modern University LLC (in 2011 - Vintegra-Projects LLC, held the position of executive director of the company Roman Kalina, son of the Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Issak Kalina) Antimonopoly officials considered that the terms of the competition limited, or even completely excluded, the possibility of competitors appearing. However, the image of the university was then helped to defend by the Arbitration Court, which found no violations during the competition.
But the activities of the FEFU rector have long raised many questions, although until now they have been asked by representatives of the public, and not by law enforcement agencies. For example, the personnel policy of the new university management, which did not suit many teachers who had devoted decades of their lives to teaching. Many were sure: the new rector was getting rid of practical teachers, replacing them with theorists, which could significantly reduce the level of knowledge acquired in some faculties.
There were also more obvious particular examples. Thus, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and Head of the Department of Materials Science and Materials Technology of the FEFU Engineering School Yulbars Mansurov accused the management of the main Far Eastern university of trying to “drive him out” of his job. The first reason for evil suspicions was the sudden arrest at Sheremetyevo airport: then not only Primorye, but also federal media wrote about the fact that FEFU professors do not want to be allowed into Russian territory. Yulbars Mansurov himself suggested that the unexpected arrest and deportation to his homeland in Tashkent were provoked by the university leadership. However, the scientist had no evidence, and FEFU rector Sergei Ivanets suppressed any suspicions. At least officially.
According to Yulbars Mansurov, the inexplicable decisions of the FEFU leadership began to seriously interfere with the work of the department later, in mid-2015, when most of the employees went on vacation. It was then, as the head said, that all the laboratories and premises for the educational process on the campus on the island were suddenly taken away from the department. Russian, transferring them to the Oriental Institute - School of Regional and International Studies.
Thus, according to the results of 2017, an effective manager Nikita Anisimov earned 439,082 rubles per month. The average salary of a vice-rector is 350 thousand per month. Outraged parents believe that tuition fees are rising precisely because of the immodest financial appetites of the management team.
The Primorye TV presenter was the first to talk about this on her social networks. Elena Shteinikova. According to her, the university, contrary to all agreements, decided to significantly increase the cost of education at the gymnasium. The cost immediately increased by fifty percent. Outraged parents intend to hold a rally on July 13.
The Far Eastern Federal University is a huge structure that, in addition to higher education, also includes pre-university education institutions. The university includes a gymnasium, a choreographic school, a college, a lyceum and even a kindergarten.
Children Elena Steinikova receive secondary education at the FEFU gymnasium. Elena said that the cost of education in the fifth grade immediately increased by fifty percent. FEFU management promised Elena and other worried parents that there would be no significant increase in tuition prices if they deleted negative posts from social networks. Parents deleted the posts, but prices still went up.
Previously, rector of FEFU Nikita Anisimov. Thus, in 2017 the rector earned 6,344,257 rubles. In addition, it became known how much the directors of the university branches earned. The director of the Arsenyev branch turned out to be the richest Yuri Ognev- 2,448,177 rubles. Head of the FEFU branch in Ussuriysk Sergey Pishun thanks to 2,249,281 rubles, he became the second most wealthy. The top three was closed by the director of the FEFU branch in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Vladimir Kaukh reported 2,147,128 rubles.
“FEFU has felt a sharp degradation in all areas of activity,” - this phrase began the discussion of the petition for the resignation of the current rector of FEFU Nikita Sergeevich Anisimov, published on the website www.change.org on June 28.
The initiator of the petition, Maria Malkova, wrote that the root of the conflict is the excessively inflated prices for education at FEFU Schools.
“The cost of training for the higher education program for 2018 is significantly higher than for similar specialties in other universities in the region and central Russia. Applicants (and these are young people from 18 to 25 years old) are forced to leave the region in search of a decent and affordable education. Their places are taken by foreign students from India, Asian and African countries, etc. Currently, our children have no choice or right to vote,” the petition says.
The fact that the cost of education for bachelor’s, specialist’s and master’s programs has increased significantly is also evidenced by students themselves, who are forced to pay “unrealistic” amounts to study. “A year ago, when I was in my 3rd year, I looked at the cost of studying for a master’s degree. In my specialty, the price was 90 thousand rubles, but now it’s 120. I have no idea how to continue to live and study,” complained Irina Khop, a graduate of the Far Eastern Federal University.
The petition also expresses the opinion that qualified and knowledgeable teachers are being fired, and they are being replaced by people whose knowledge is not much different from that of students.
“In less than 1.5 years of leadership of the university by the current rector and his team, the largest and once prestigious university in the Far East has fallen into decay. Persons from other regions who do not have proper work experience or specialized education were invited to leadership positions. During this time, almost all experienced and competent employees who had worked at the university (including universities before their merger) for more than a dozen years were fired. In their place, the rector invited young, inexperienced managers. The cuts continue. Personnel optimization announced. But the leadership of the Departments from invited specialists continues to grow,” the message notes.
Also, the authors of the petition allegedly learned that by the end of August 2018, about 200 FEFU teachers would leave their positions. Their dismissal has nothing to do with “not being able to teach” - management sees such radical measures as “optimization of activities.”
“I am an employee of the Far Eastern Federal University branch in Dalnerechensk. On May 29, 2018, an order was signed to amend the structure and staffing of the FEFU branch in Dalnerechensk, that is, to close our branch. Almost all employees were given layoff notices. But the management of the University did not even deign to come and talk with the branch employees, students and their parents (legal representatives), whose rights they violate,” said Nina Bravok, administrator of educational programs at the FEFU branch in Dalnerechensk.
Currently, the petition has been signed by 935 of the 1,000 people needed to address the issue. But we note that petitions created on the Change.org website do not have any legal significance: the state cannot take into account all the signatures collected under them, or rather does not even have the right. Over the past two years, only about 20 petitions have been able to influence the outcome of events, and all of them concern small “local” cases.
The FEFU press service gave detailed official comments on the petition that had spread online. The specialists' report notes that most of the figures and facts set out in the petition turned out to be false or distorted.
Rector of the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) Nikita Anisimov will head the interdepartmental working group of the Association of Leading Universities of Russia on issues of educational development. The proposal was announced at a meeting between the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, and the heads of the country's leading universities, where one of the key issues was the development of national projects in the field of education and science.
“Our tasks for the next six years are very ambitious, they are outlined in Presidential Decree No. 204. Most of them cannot be effectively solved without a strong higher school, that is, without new specialists, ideas, developments,” he emphasized at a meeting with the rectors Dmitry Medvedev. - The government is now developing national projects in the field of education and science. These projects will bring together and detail all our plans, mechanisms for their implementation, and provide funding, which is extremely important. I would ask all fellow rectors to join in this work."
According to the rector of FEFU Nikita Anisimov, the offer to lead the working group of the Association of Leading Universities of Russia on the development of education is very honorable and carries great responsibility.
"The rectors made a total of about 20 proposals at the meeting. The Prime Minister commented on them all and gave appropriate instructions. The general feeling is that this is just the beginning of the conversation. We will continue to work in the format of an interdepartmental group on education development. We have a responsible task ahead of us, because we must maintain a balance between all participants in the educational process,” commented Nikita Anisimov.
The rector also noted that the refinement of the development programs of the Far Eastern Federal University is keeping up with the times and clearly corresponds to the priorities that the country's leadership sets for higher education:
“The role of FEFU as the country’s leading university is to transfer advanced approaches and technologies to the federal district, ensuring interaction between the country’s leading universities, primarily Moscow and St. Petersburg, with universities in the regions of the Far East.”
Following the meeting, Nikita Anisimov noted that the Prime Minister paid great attention to online education, postgraduate studies, attitude towards scientific activities among youth, the development of university campuses, the implementation of the national project 5-100, in which FEFU has been participating since 2013 together with leading universities countries.
Dmitry Medvedev emphasized the key role of the 5-100 project in strengthening the global position of Russian education. According to him, one of the indicators of development is places in international university rankings, and Russian universities manage to demonstrate positive dynamics even in the face of increasing competition among global research and educational centers. Thus, in 2018, the Far Eastern Federal University rose by 110 points in the QS world ranking and was placed in the group of leading universities from 541 to 550 places.
The Prime Minister said that a unified platform for university online courses should be created in Russia. To develop digital education in 2017, the Ministry of Education and Science identified 10 regional competence centers, one of which was FEFU. The university has created a Far Eastern Center for Online Learning, where teachers in the region learn to use distance technologies more effectively and independently develop online products.
The Prime Minister also discussed with the heads of universities the results of the unified state exam and the student recruitment campaign. Dmitry Medvedev recalled that in 2018 the plan for admission to universities was increased by 9 thousand places and a total of more than 514 thousand places.
Famous seaside TV presenter Elena Shteinikova said on her pages on social networks that FEFU, contrary to previous agreements, decided to significantly increase tuition fees in pre-university training institutions. On July 13, parents are “ready to go to a rally.”
Far Eastern Federal University is not only higher education. His empire, among other things, includes pre-university assets - a gymnasium-college on Admiral Spiridonov, a choreographic school, a kindergarten, a humanities and economics college, a polytechnic lyceum and the very gymnasium where Elena’s daughters study. The institution is located on the territory of a former teacher training school and, in fact, is a paid version of a secondary school with all the accompanying attributes.
– The university management deceived us. Tuition fees for 5th grade at the FEFU gymnasium have been raised by almost 50 percent! Although they promised that there would be no significant increase if we erased all negative posts about them and stopped the parental rebellion. We kept our word, but they didn’t,” complained Elena Shteinikova.
She clarified that upon admission, she paid 60 thousand rubles for the education of each of the girls - “and I alone raise them.”
Komsomolskaya Pravda decided to find out whether the leaders of the federal university really decided to increase tuition fees? It turns out that this is true. The order “On establishing tuition fees for pre-university education programs at FEFU for the 2018/2019 academic year” was signed on June 25 and came into force on July 1, 2018.
Primary school students, as well as grades 5–9, will receive knowledge for 110 thousand rubles per year. For high school students, the financial burden is a little lighter - “one hundred” for 12 months of study. For comparison: the cost of undergraduate education at FEFU, say, in the specialty “Mathematics and Computer Science” is 180 thousand rubles. That is, secondary education is rated quite decently.
– Why shouldn’t ordinary neighborhood schools take note of a similar business model? They, like FEFU, are also not formally private structures. This would certainly solve the problem of shortage of personnel and material resources in educational institutions. They would stop endlessly demanding money from parents for security and cleaning,” a resident of Vladivostok expressed her paradoxical point of view on the situation to KP. Evgenia Nikolaeva.
Elena Shteinikova was outraged by the said order that there was no justification for where the money collected from parents would go. It can be assumed that they will indirectly cover the salaries and bonuses of university functionaries - the rector and almost a dozen vice-rectors and directors. Each of them also has 2–6 assistant advisors.
As Komsomolskaya Pravda - Vladivostok previously reported, teachers and parents of students are signing a petition on the website change.org demanding “the removal of the rector and the team of invited leaders of the Far Eastern Federal University.”
Only numbers
Based on the results of 2017, the average monthly salary of the rector of FEFU Nikita Anisimov amounted to 439.082 rubles and 39 kopecks. The average salary of vice-rectors is 350 thousand. This team of managers costs the federal budget several tens of millions of rubles per year. Plus travel expenses.
