The existence of Phystech can be divided into two stages, from 1946 to 1951, when Phystech was essentially the FTF MSU, and from 1951 to the present, when instead of the disbanded FTF MSU, MIPT appeared as an independent institution.

In the first period of time, there was no position of rector as such, it was the vice-rector of Moscow State University for special issues (a post created specifically for the leadership of the FTF) - Sergey Alekseevich Khristianovich, and the first dean of the FTF - Professor Dmitry Yuryevich Panov.

After the creation of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in September 1951, Fyodor Ivanovich Dubovitsky was appointed acting director of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, until April 1952, when Lieutenant General of Aviation Ivan Fedorovich Petrov became the director of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. In 1961, due to the renaming of the position of director of the institute, Petrov was appointed the first rector of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. In 1962, a new rector was appointed - one of his first graduates - Academician Oleg Mikhailovich Belotserkovsky. He headed Phystech until 1987.

From 1987 to 1997, the Rector was Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolai Vasilyevich Karlov, a 1951 graduate of the Faculty of Physics and Technology of Moscow State University.

In 1997, the MIPT was headed by Professor Nikolai Nikolaevich Kudryavtsev, a graduate of the Physicotechnical Institute in 1973, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences since May 22, 2003.

(1908-2000) Vice-rector for special issues of the Faculty of Physics and Technology of Moscow State University from 1947 to 1951	(1907-1999) And about. Director of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology from 1951 to 1952	(1897-1994) Director of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology from 1952 to 1962
(1925-2015) Rector of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology from 1962 to 1987

The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology is the country's leader in technical education, which is included in the most prestigious rankings of the best universities in the world. The university provides education in the field of fundamental and applied physics, mathematics, computer science, chemistry, biology and others.

Day open doors at MIPT online:

MIPT is the only Russian university, which is included in the 100 best universities in the world in the field of physics according to international ratings. The university is also included in the 100 most prestigious universities in the world.

The university recruits students for more than 1,700 state-funded and about 500 paid places in 17 areas of undergraduate, specialist and master's programs.

The largest number of students study in the enlarged areas:

• Physics and astronomy 82.26%
• Mathematics and Mechanics 11.83%
• Management in technical systems 3.94%.

Less than 1% of students study in the following areas: "Information Security", "Informatics and Computer Engineering", "Industrial ecology and biotechnology", "Aviation and rocket-space technology".

The university has a military The educational center. MIPT has an excellent material and technical base: 78% of students are provided with dormitories, 6,146 sq.m. sports facilities, 92,328 sq.m. educational and laboratory buildings.

MIPT uses its own training system, known as the Phystech System. This system combines fundamental education, participation of students in scientific developments and work at partner enterprises already in the process of study.

The total number of teachers is more than 1,900 people, of which 75% have advanced degrees.

The average salary of young specialists who studied at MIPT is.

Actually, our whole conversation is about changes. MIPT from a closed university began to rapidly transform into a structure that aims to make changes in industries. Its employees are among the heads of the working groups of the National Technology Initiative - a program of measures to create fundamentally new markets and create conditions for Russia's global technological leadership by 2035. How loud! So I'm asking Nikolai Nikolaevich ...
– How did you manage to cultivate great ambitions in a small university? Indeed, in the Soviet Union, the university was completely for the elite ...
“He stayed for such people,” the rector softly answers, as if apologizing. - Everyone who joined us is a national treasure, and even more so if he passed the first three courses. We must do everything to save it. This does not mean “to drag by the ears” when he does not study, it means to make sure that he learns. You see, a person is only half brought up by a teacher, and half by the environment. The humanities and techies have the same. Getting into the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, even if you are of average ability, but hardworking, you will become a good physicist.
- It is interesting you say: you call the students of the university and the university the same word. Phystech and Phystech. What is Phystech? They refer to Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, who said that in Dolgoprudny there should be educational process, and scientific and educational - only at the basic departments of enterprises ...
- I did not find a single witness to these words of his. And Sergey Petrovich Kapitsa, who was in charge of our department, claimed that my father could not say such a thing. Yes, we have about 120 basic departments, but in Soviet years MIPT was subordinate to the Ministry of Education not of the USSR, but of the RSFSR, which was a lower rank. And our research part was of the second category. MAI, MEPhI are the first, respectively, with funding and opportunities. Up to two thirds of the teaching staff are part-time teachers. At the bases, of course, they worked, but here, for the most part, part-timers read physics and mathematics. So it was, so it is. Because they teach the same physics differently than someone who only read about it in a book. It is a great merit of Oleg Mikhailovich Belotserkovsky, our rector from 1962 to 1987, that he attracted many important people. We absorbed their knowledge, wondered, asked questions - this gave life a drive. In the 1980s, we had Vice-Rector for Science Anatoly Timofeevich Onufriev, a stern, humble person, a student of M. Lavrentiev. He pressed the deans, trying to ensure that science developed in all faculties. But then, in order to get a rate, it was necessary to make a decision at the level of the ministry. Everything was strictly limited. And despite this, while our purple hull was being built for applied mathematicians. The merits of A.Onufriev in the development of graduate school and science at the Phystech are underestimated, and O.Belotserkovsky too. And Oleg Mikhailovich believed that the university urgently needed three buildings for science - mathematical, physical and technical. The first one was raised, but the other two failed. Oleg Mikhailovich was actually squeezed out of here, and his plans for many years were forgotten ...
“Nevertheless, today the bio-corps rises like a battleship, two engineer buildings have been laid down. Has MIPT changed its development paradigm? How?
– When I became rector in 1997, I was convinced that without science, our institute is doomed. You see, it is not enough for a teacher to fulfill two days of classes a week. And our employees and graduates have other opportunities thanks to unique training. In the nineties, they themselves went to work abroad and made the institute a brilliant reputation. Yes, it is often said that there was a heyday of the black market for supply scientific personnel to the West, but ... then it was sad to be here without your own business. In a word, thanks to the graduates who went abroad and made a career, the world saw and appreciated Phystech. And I had a desire at the first stage of rector's office to somehow turn Phystech outside, into the outside world, so that it would not be oriented inward to itself, but outward and overgrown with many connections. Then it was just an idea, unspecified and without conditions for implementation. Almost until 2004, the already weak scientific base of Phystech was not updated. All universities, in the words of our rector N.Karlov, were “equally placed”, and Phystech did not stand out in any way from the general recumbent state of that time. Only with the arrival of Minister A. Fursenko in 2004, in my opinion, important changes took place: they started talking about the need to single out the best universities and, with their leadership, pull out the entire system. An obvious statement, but before that everything was exactly the opposite. Under Fursenko, serious competitions began, when they give you not just money, but - this is important - under specific obligations ...
– Are you talking about the competition “Innovative Universities”? You won it, I remember.
- Yes. At that time, we seriously thought about how to reduce the departure of our guys abroad. They talked with them. There was an opinion in society that our salaries were low and that is why they were leaving. But broader social studies, not only on the basis of the Phystech, showed that they leave, firstly, because there is no appropriate equipment and there is nothing to do science on. Secondly, because they want to live with dignity: to teach and raise children, to support the elderly ... Normal people they always think about it, and not only about their science. And only in third place is material compensation for work. And this determined our decision to spend almost all the money received under the Innovative Universities program for the purchase of equipment. The decision is again simple, but it turned out to be strategically correct.
There were a lot of discussions on this topic back then. There is always temptation: today more money receive rather than care about tomorrow.
– I take my hat off to the physics and technical departments – it all went without conflict for us. Then there was a competition for “National research universities". And again we bought equipment. And now, already under Minister D. Livanov, a very smart project “5-100”, where each university was offered to write a development program specifically for its own university, without looking back at others. Here we decided to invest the main resources in human capital. Everything is closed here: there is an excellent scientific base - you can invite the best specialists.
– Are you talking about the composition of the MIPT International Council? The chairman is the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Leo Rife, the members are the vice president of Schlumberger for technology, the president of the Polytechnic School of Paris, the chairman of the National Health Corporation of Great Britain, etc. From compatriots academicians Alexander Andreev and Evgeny Velikhov. How was such an elite lured?
– Well, Velikhov, Andreev are very closely connected with Fiztekh. In fact, these are two MIPT guardian angels. The main thing for the council was the choice of the leader - the chairman. We met a lot with Rafe, talked, he, I think, learned Russia through me. While he was the rector of MIT, he visited Moscow more than once in connection with the creation of Skoltech. When I offered him to head our International Council, he immediately agreed. And then, under his name, it turned out to be easier to assemble the rest of the team. The president of MIT is trusted. Three meetings of the council have already passed, everyone came.
- What ideas did they give you, besides their glorious names?
I won't name just one. We say what we are doing and what we are going to do, and they speak out on this issue, sharing their experience and their vision of the situation. At the first two meetings, we spent significant time to introduce them into the context of the university, to provide analytical information about it. Now they understand Fiztekh well and don't let us down, getting to the bottom of the little things. They think more pragmatically and simply than we are used to: how much does a student cost, how much does a teacher cost, etc.? And you know, it turned out that all universities – ours, the EU and the US – are facing the same challenges. Well, for example, the need to implement interdisciplinary things, combining the efforts of scientists from different specialties, which is difficult to implement everywhere.
- And how do they feel about the fact that the cost of training the technical elite is three times lower than that of a humanities student at Moscow State University or an economist at the Higher School of Economics? It seems to me that in Russia paying up to 500,000 rubles for a year of study is prohibitively high.
- I'm with great respect I relate to Moscow State University and HSE, because they are promoting many innovative projects in education. But everyone has their own path. Our field is the intelligentsia, which is ready to instill in its next generation the skills of diligence, perseverance, endurance, patience in addition to good knowledge. But she, the military, humanitarians, whose children aspire to us, have half a million a year for the study of a child. Accordingly, we set the price as low as we can by law - 176,000 per year.
– Is the passing score at MIPT the highest among technical universities in the country?
- Exactly, only MGIMO is higher, not a technical university at all. In the era of the Unified State Examination and Olympiads, we strictly choose by points, and when they don’t get to us on the budget, we ourselves advise the guys to go to other universities on the budget.
- Don't feel sorry for letting go?
- And how! Many transfer within a year or two. And this summer we have implemented a new idea, which is the future. You see, not only excellent students come to us, but also guys with a smart head and golden hands, potential inventors and technical entrepreneurs. And then they create successful high-tech companies. But at the entrance they have average and even below average results. By points, we cut them off, but on the case ... They bring self-made drones, computers for an interview. Previously, there were no Phystech passing score, but if such guys received the so-called collapsible score, then they were invited to the commission, where they scrupulously dealt with the situation, trying to understand whether it would turn out to be a physicist applicant or he was still weak for this. That year, on the recommendations of the faculty commissions, we decided to accept such guys for a paid department.
Who did they borrow from?
- No one, we found sponsors for them. Our graduate Ratmir Timashev - many thanks to him, who himself was once transferred to the second year to us, and now he is among the top leading Internet businessmen in the world. I wrote him a letter, he consulted with a partner, also our graduate, and decided to finance the education of about 40 people. A good idea is contagious: some of our bases have also begun to finance such students, and graduates are getting involved in this business.
- These guys, after graduating from high school, are obliged to go to work for sponsors?
- No. If only the basic organizations seem attractive to them. And returning to your question, what is Fiztekh? Phystech is a mix of fundamental and applied people, these are two categories together. Today, more than ever, it is important for an applied person to know the fundamentals well, otherwise one cannot come up with something new. And for a scientist, it is very important to understand where to apply his deep knowledge.
- Your main science is physics, the bomb ... and now you have biology, physiology, nano-optics in favor. How did you find the people in these directions - to catch with a wide nonsense smart people? Or did they grow out of your own physical and technical departments?
– The biology you are talking about is the application physical and chemical methods in biological and medical research. We do not have an excess of resources to throw out the broad nonsense that you mentioned. It is important for us to focus on where we have competitive advantages. These directions in our time are getting a new quality, using the methods of exact sciences, and this is our forte.
– So for you, the main thing in Project 5-100 is education, science, personnel, integration into the international community high school?
- Together. You need to pay attention to every aspect. For example, I cannot say that I am satisfied with our internationalization. Phystech was a closed university, like the city of Dolgoprudny, where our campus is, until 1991. At first, when foreign professors were invited, each visit of a foreigner was a labor feat of the team: to invite, accommodate, provide working and domestic comfort ... Now all this is done according to a statement on the university's website - the mechanism works, but it was not easy to create and debug it. After all, it is not enough to invite, it is necessary to encourage a foreign scientific leader to create a laboratory in our country. But first, make a selection: do we need what we take? As the main requirement - the world size should have our permanent deputy here, to whom he transfers competencies, in the laboratory - Russian employees who prepare publications should actually work, study by doing scientific experiments, our graduate students and students. So that in three years a strong scientific school will grow.
– And how many such laboratories have already been created?
- 33. The first 10-12 - at the end of 2013, the second batch of laboratories for the competition was created last year. We can objectively judge what happened in a couple of years. But it is clear that there will be good luck. For example, to Maxim Nikitin in the nanobiotechnology laboratory, those who want to work stand in line. He himself is young, energetic, really engaged in students. Or another example - Alexey Arsenin, laboratory of optoelectronics. And there are many such examples. Basically, these are our graduates who have experience working abroad. It is important for us that the leader imagines how science works in different parts of the world, how to organize the business so that postdocs are rushing to you ...
- Did you return on your own or did you lure them back one by one?
- Someone was specially called, seeing that it makes sense to return to the alma mater, and someone himself, having learned that Phystech is rapidly growing and changing, returned. Of these, Tagir Aushev is now the vice-rector who oversees our science, and started by learning about new laboratories, won the competition, launched the laboratory and now manages all of our science. Some of them are not even physicists, for example Alexey Arsenin - he graduated from Stankin. He came to us quietly, began to work, and then he began to act more and more boldly, more boldly. A talented person is talented everywhere. Now the most advanced physicists recognize it.
– And it’s not difficult for you with these advanced ones - they come with their slanderous ideas either from biology or from computer science, and you need to understand what is more here - talent or incompetence ...
– It is very difficult, but there are several tricks that help. Once someone was asked: “Are you a clairvoyant?”. And he answered: “No, I just know well how everything happens, and I can foresee ...” I think you need to look at a person, how he speaks, how he carries himself - and you get the impression whether you can trust him. His story can be logically verified, or it can flow like a fountain - noisily and in different directions. It is very important for me how much a person is convinced of his idea. And how he behaves when he is told: “Okay, take it and do it. We will help you." I'm more of a supporter of giving an opportunity and seeing what happens than shrugging it off. As a rule, I don’t know why myself, physicists do well. Or here is an example with Andrey Ivashchenko and his biocorpus. He came up with this idea. The first impression is good, but a new area for us, is it worth the risk? However, physicists are persistent. After some time, I got a call from Sergey Guz, our head of the department, with whom we have known each other for a long time. He asked me to listen to Ivashchenko again. Like, he worked for him in the Komsomol committee and always did things well. Listened a second time. As a result, the biocorpus has risen, and there are so many prospects for the university in it!
- Did you like the idea?
– Oh, we have here every fountain of ideas will give out, just listen. The administrator, on the other hand, needs to evaluate what forces should be devoted to implementation, what finances, what infrastructure to use and what, when to do, so that later Phystech would be useful, commensurate with the costs. All this together can never be accurately and immediately assessed. Decision making is sometimes similar to shamanism, based on intuition. And the result is not always happy. But it is not for nothing that they say that an unsuccessful experiment also teaches. A person sharpened only to win, as a rule, is a loser. One foreign colleague once explained to me: “Let's put a log or board in your office on the floor, and you can easily walk on it. And stretch it between the twin towers?” They were still standing. In a word, you can’t overstrain a person with the stress of responsibility, but you need to help and inspire - and everything will work out. I try not to scold for one-time mistakes, only if a person steps on the same rake day after day ...
– Your mostly trained people?
- Of course, the physical and technical departments, you know, have very fine professional eyesight and scent. When we began to buy new devices, scientists immediately appeared around them, graduate students came running. They are interested and they are not lazy. Somehow, by itself, new laboratories began to appear.
– In your Project 5-100, it is fixed that by 2020 Fichtekh will offer its students the opportunity to receive almost 15 types of double diplomas. Is it possible?
– Yes, there was nothing like this at the Phystech before, but now the Vice-Rector for international activities Anna Derevnina persistently and successfully introduces a new practice for us, developing joint programs with the best foreign universities.
- Is the dropout large? It's hard for you to learn. By the way, what is the geography of students?
- Geography - 30 percent of the contingent from the capital and the Moscow region, the rest - from all over the country. We are also supporters of the Unified State Examination because it gives the strongest students a chance to join us, and they, as you know, are evenly distributed over the valleys and villages. IN big cities not concentrated. Dropouts have become noticeably smaller ...
- Are you sorry? They say the standard is 20 percent.
- No, for the last 10 years the guys have become better students. Dean Ivan Groznov worked for us. Naturally, his students were called Ivan the Terrible. So, this strict dean came to me and said: “Imagine, you don’t need to expel anyone - everyone is learning.” True, I heard the opinion that Phystech should be small, 200 people, based in Moscow, have the most super-equipment, and if it produces at least one Nobel laureate, then, they say, it will fulfill its function. And we have already exceeded it - we have released two Nobel laureates. What now, close? After all, as soon as you leave 200 of those guys that we accept, talents and ordinary engineers will be distributed there in the same way. So everywhere - both here and abroad. I repeat: all physical and technical institutes are a national treasure, and our task is to educate them and preserve them for science and technology.
– Where did this young refined elite of Phystech come from?
– We have a base of all strong teachers in physics and mathematics in Russia. We invite them, show them the laboratories, we have a correspondence school of physics and technology. And for their young pupils, they began to post their lectures on physics on the Internet. So that everything is openly available for free, so that a child in any part of Russia, even in the countryside, can find these lectures for himself. International platforms such as Coursera know us, we promote our lectures in Russian on their websites. Who is doing? Yes, young teachers headed by the Vice-Rector for learning activities Dmitry Zubtsov, they are fans of this business. Our students come home for the holidays and they talk a lot about Phystech there. In general, this is a complex multifaceted work, led by Artem Voronov, vice-rector, and in the past himself a member of the Russian team in physics, who won gold medal.
- And 10 years after graduation, where do the talents end up - abroad?
- There are no complete statistics. It all depends on when they finish. Now the guys are leaving a little.
Is it because the environment has become unfriendly?
Are you talking about sanctions? We had the International Council here last fall. Everyone came, although two of them were under a lot of pressure from their politicians. Well, so they took a vacation and came. In such a political situation, there is a choice: to endure and be amazed in their independence and self-consciousness, or to react. And it is clear that there must be a reaction and there is no other for us. Science, education and art - what unites people - in a difficult environment acquires special significance and allows you to stabilize the situation. We do not feel any changes in the international cooperation of Phystech. Recent events: MIPT was admitted to CERN, to the CMS collaboration. Now we have access to the CMS experiment data, we can analyze it and publish articles on behalf of a full member of the collaboration. This is an important step forward in the growth of our scientific reputation. Plus, participation in the creation of new detectors and subsystems, which implies the development of new technologies, sensors, obtaining additional serious competencies, which we will build up in our country, based on the experience of others and our own ...
– How long was the path of joining CERN?
- Not a decade. When Tagir Aushev came to the leadership of CMS at CERN a few months ago, they didn't need to explain where he came from: they know the physicists and him personally as strong employees working at CERN. But before MIPT was accepted into the CMS, they could not officially indicate their affiliation with the university in articles. Now they can. We cooperate a lot with various scientific collaborations through the basic departments. In general, Phystech was created to work in difficult times and is geared towards this. That's last years we are from industry, the authorities feel more attention than in the years of perestroika.
– And when Project 5-100 is completed, how do you want to see your university?
- Different compared to what it was. A recognized world-class university that provides high scientific discoveries and breakthrough technologies. Yes, he has changed dramatically. It has more life. The world is changing. In technology, large corporations used to rule the ball, and now breakthrough technologies are significantly made by small teams, where motivation can be incomparably higher. Then they are either bought by a large company, or they sell their technology to it, and then they themselves create something fundamentally new again. We are trying to catch this trend. In this case, the personality factor becomes even more important. And a real physicist, believe me, is always looking for how to solve a problem, and not why it cannot be dealt with. And this person must be found in the vastness of the country, trained, educated and motivated, which determined Phystech in the past and will continue to determine in the future.

Elizabeth PONARINA
Photo by Nikolay STEPANENKOV and Viktor Anaskin

MIPT Rector Nikolay Kudryavtsev;

A new biosensor chip based on graphene oxide, created at MIPT,
will significantly speed up the process of finding a vaccine against cancer and HIV.

MIPT Rector Nikolai Kudryavtsev spoke on the air of Life about changes at the university, attitudes towards the Unified State Examination and the reasons for the high positions of the institute in world rankings.

D. NADINA: Good evening. Our guest today is Nikolai Kudryavtsev, Rector of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Nikolai Nikolaevich, greetings.

N. KUDRYAVTSEV: Hello!

D.N.: Nikolai Nikolaevich, 5 Russian universities were in the top 1000 university rankings, which is Saudi Arabia. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, St. Petersburg State University, MEPhI, Moscow State University are on this list. MIPT rose a little higher. We are always very happy for our universities, which occupy prestigious places. I would like to understand, this rating is important? And what ratings should you pay attention to?

N.K.: Indeed, there are a lot of ratings. There are three such ratings in the world, which are considered the most authoritative. This Times Higher Education, QS and ARWU - Shanghai ranking. This is the World University Ranking, headquartered in Saudi Arabia. He is also very authoritative. Each of the ratings is divided into subsections that are related to subject ratings, with overall ratings. In this case, we are talking about the overall rating. There are 5 universities. We have risen very strongly, somewhere on the 35th place.

D.N.: Last year, your university was on line No. 250, this year it has risen and is already ranked No. 216. Moscow State University is above all. Last year it was in 59th place, and this year it dropped quite significantly to 77th place. Moscow State University the best university countries, 77th line in some ranking of Saudi Arabia. After all, we rarely occupy any honorable places in all ratings. What is it connected with? Is our education really that bad?

N.K.: No way.

To receive here high scores, and this, as a rule, is a very wide survey, where about 10 thousand or more experts can participate, you need to be well known, including for foreign experts. Here is probably the most big Stone stumbling blocks of Russian universities. We have not been dealing with these topics for a very long time. Our institute, ashamed to say, since 2013.

D.N.: What about Moscow State University and St. Petersburg State University? Did they start doing this before?

N.K.: They started earlier. They are moving, occupying already quite high places. But, they say, there is some prejudice. But I think that's not the problem.

D.N.: Previously, our teachers at the university often complained, and experts complained that in these ratings quite a serious importance is given to citation, how actively the university is engaged in research, how actively they are cited in Western scientific journals. Like, it’s bad for us with this matter, for some reason, we pay little attention to our developments within the framework of the university, and secondly, even if we develop something, we rarely write publications in Western scientific journals, we rarely achieve citation . Have you started doing it now?

N.K.: In my opinion, this is a wrong position. A modern scientist, both fundamental and applied, of course, must be known throughout the world.

Therefore, it must be present. In our time, when I started, the leading Russian magazines were translated into foreign language, we even received money for this in checks, for which it was possible to buy something in Beryozka, which did not exist then. Now God himself ordered it, and they usually do it, because the whole world should know you.

Accordingly, the situation with quoting improves significantly. But the situation with citations in these ratings is different everywhere, but it is done something like this: you step back from the current year 2 years ago and take high-quality publications for the previous 5 years. Therefore, the result does not come immediately. Russian universities, I must say, have dramatically moved forward in recent years in the rankings, both special and general. Thanks to the fact that they began to deal with this issue. Universities have begun to attract more scientists, and this ultimately has a very positive effect on the educational process. And not only our institute.

D.N.: I look at the leaders of this rating, which we are now discussing. Actually, the leaders everywhere are about the same. It's always Harvard, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Oxford. I think that all our students, even those who are far from the topic of education, know these universities, because these are the places where any student aspires to, dreams of studying there. Explain to me the difference between studying, conditionally, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the difference between studying at Harvard and Moscow State University. Why is this education so highly valued, they are ready to tear you off with their hands and are ready to give you a million salary when you are a graduate, but ours is not valued?

N.K.: This is also the reason for these ratings. One consequence of these rankings is that high-ranking institutions are becoming more widely known, and graduating students from all over the world aspire to go there. Therefore, ratings are very useful here. Generally Russian education- I am a techie, so I will talk about natural science and technology - it, especially natural science, in principle, is not inferior. You can say that we are somewhere, maybe a little old-fashioned.

I know well how things are at MIT, we have an international council, which is headed by the president of this university. We also have leading universities from Europe and Asia there. Many of our graduates work there. At MIT. And they are very happy. And it's the same in other places. Russian education is no worse. It is, of course, somewhat different. They say that we often retrain.

Of course, education must change. And from that principle it is necessary to go that the task is not to invest in the student all the knowledge on the subject that may be, but it needs to be ignited. And then it begins to form itself more effectively. Now it's a revolution. Information is available, available very high quality, very quickly. Accordingly, it can be received. Therefore, all education systems need to be changed, and in relation to these new trends. This is probably where we are a little behind.

D.N.: Yesterday I came across a publication. There, an associate professor at Moscow State University complained (she is engaged in admission to the faculty of journalism there) that we are accepting aliens. A bunch of mistakes were made this year at the entrance exams and generally problems with the Russian language. And he blames the USE for everything, because when schoolchildren are preparing for final exams, they only get used to putting letters in empty squares. And consciousness does not really work, and they speak badly, think inconsistently, unsystematically. There is a whole rebuff about the exam. Are you joining? Do you have the same attitude towards the exam?

N.K .: It’s definitely not the same with us, because, firstly, when the USE was introduced, we were one of the consistent, non-persistent supporters. Phystech accepts students from all over the country and the CIS. And we began to feel that the geography of our reception began to concentrate on the central part of Russia. There was a difficult economic situation, not all parents could provide a way to Moscow.

D.N.: So the USE helps you in selecting high-quality students?

N.K .: At the very beginning, when the exam was just beginning, not everything was perfect, there were a large number of tasks where you had to guess the answers. Including in mathematics. It was divided into A, B and C. Here is A - to guess, B - to think a little, and C - normal tasks. We actively participated in many activities that were related to the improvement of the USE, including. At first, we also had quite a few skeptics at the institute, I think it was 50/50. Therefore, we conducted a thorough monitoring of what is happening. In the early years, everyone admitted that we take excellent students from the Olympiads. And the exam gives guys more reliable, who study well, they catch up later, after several courses. Now, of course, everything has changed. Such a general opinion of all teachers who are associated with general disciplines, in the first years, that

D.N.: Do you have a passing score of 97?

N.K.: This is wrong. For last year we have GPA Unified State Examination in three subjects: either mathematics, physics and Russian, or mathematics, computer science and Russian - we have two main areas - the average score was 93.8.

D.N .: It's like you have to contrive to write like that. They just talk a lot about the corruption component. A hundred-point exam can be obtained only by paying. Rumors are circulating.

N.K.: It is very dangerous. Because there are few such graduates. A graduate who has shown such results and knows little will immediately arouse everyone's attention.

D.N.: If we talk about the Unified State Examination, about how these children study further. Conditionally, he wrote for 94 points of the Unified State Examination, entered the budget, unlearned, passed the first session, passed the second session. And what awaits him on the 5th chicken? Will they line up behind him, as they line up for graduates of Oxford, Cambridge and other significant universities?

N.K.: Now the system is bachelor - master. This is the end of 4 courses. Some guys go to work in an IT company, somewhere after 4 courses, but there are not many of them. Then, as a rule, they return and receive a master's degree. As a rule, 75-80% of our children are not from Moscow and the Moscow region. The financial situation there is worse, and the guys usually start earning money from the third year. What does it mean to work? With us, a student spends about half of his time in the base organization - an organization where he does scientific work. And as soon as he comes there in the third or fourth year, he is immediately included in scientific work. And he gets money from there too. He puts it all together. They are looking at him. If he is satisfied and he likes this place of work, then that's it, he is employed. Not only is there a queue for graduates, they have no problems in this mode.

D.N.: I know quite a few graduates of one university that actively supplies personnel for our space companies. The problem there is that you finish with excellent marks, you study well, you are invited to work after practice. You are given a salary of 18-20 thousand rubles. A person works for a year, two years. Then he spits on this whole thing and leaves somewhere far away, because it is impossible. A young specialist lives lean in our times. Do you have the same?

N.K.: No. Of course, the guys have significantly more salaries. Still depends on the segment where they work. They are number one in the IT segment. This year, I remember, the average that they demonstrated, employers, is 100-120 thousand.

D.N.: But these are non-state companies, as far as I understand?

N.K.: Mostly non-state companies. You see, if we take international experience, then they do a lot of developments in the aerospace plan, aviation, in small companies where there are leaders, where there are very powerful motivations. And the result is already used by large companies such as Boeing, Airbus and others. They act as assemblers of these directions, developments that others have done.

D.N.: Why is that? After all, some of our officials earn absolutely insane money in the civil service. Golden parachutes. I got a job through an acquaintance, I worked for a year - I got a parachute. We have many such examples. Why is everything good with us, conditionally, with officials, they shift papers there, they don’t do a damn thing in a practical sense, but they help young specialists who develop rockets to build, IT workers who can organize security, why are they paid so little? This is part of our state policy: do not support the youth?

N.K.: State policy has nothing to do with it. Then, you know, in my social circle there are all those layers that you have just named. I can say that there are certain exaggerations.

D.N.: He, of course, is needed. Only we have more officials per capita than in the Brezhnev era.

N.K.: This is a different question. I say a good official is very much needed. Still, in large corporations, internal optimization of this entire process is needed. He is, in my opinion, somewhat heavy today.

D.N.: To the question of admission. You, you say, have a passing score of 94. And if the child scored 90. It doesn't go to budget, does it? Do you have paid seats? How much does a paid seat cost?

N.K .: Paid places are a little different, they cost around 250 thousand a year. But this, I would not say that something is here! The state, approximately, allocates 240 thousand for our student. We can't do less. As a result, we don't have many of these guys. We keep this bar as low as possible. Because we do not accept everyone for a fee. We accept for a fee those who have high scores, but are somewhat lacking. There are sponsors, from our own graduates, who pay for the guys to enter the paid department. And these payers, to be honest, are not one hundred percent payers. We have an internal position, if he passes a couple of sessions without triples, we transfer him to the budget. Therefore, by the end of training, there are very few of them.

D.N.: Does the state allocate a lot of money to you for the functioning of the entire MIPT?

N.K.: It is very a complex system. There is a state order. Now the state order is 1.63 billion rubles. We have a fairly large infrastructure. All students live in a hostel, even Muscovites. If you don't live very close. There is also money under the 5-Top-100 development program, and there is money for infrastructure. We are building quite powerfully now, at the moment there are two engineering laboratory buildings, one hostel.

Therefore, it turns out much more. We earn little on payrolls. And we do it in order to keep the minimum bar. And we earn on scientific research.

D.N.: Here is the life of a scientist in Soviet time, if you look objectively, was quite strictly regulated. The scientist was sure tomorrow, could not particularly worry about his material well-being, because he always had a salary. If a person started doing science, this means that sooner or later he will get an apartment, he will always have a salary, and he may even earn some money somewhere. Now you can do science just as stably, with confidence in the future, or science is not a completely profitable business, is it better to go to companies and earn money there?

N.K.: There is quite a lot of science in IT companies. ABBYY comes to mind, which our graduates made. These are electronic translators that we all use. This is linguistics and mathematics together. To do this, you need to do research and development. Therefore, direct coding is not a task for our students, graduates, they do not do this. That is, there is also science in IT.

Of course, everything has changed. In the 1970s, somewhere, the number of scientists greatly increased. And, frankly, there are not so many bright minds. So now it's all coming into alignment, which is right. Of course, there should be peace and confidence in the future. But there must also be a component associated with the implementation of its own capabilities. Therefore, grants and various funds have been created. They just provide such an opportunity that you have a stable income, as well as the opportunity to earn money if you have high achievements. This is the correct system.

But this is what enthusiastic people who are used to do. One now needs every next day to repeat the previous one exactly, something changes - this is already stress. The scientist lives in a different paradigm. For him, on the contrary, every next day should be different from the previous one. He must feel this movement - a drive arises. Now everything is coming into alignment. It is clear that not everything can be done at once, but in general this trend is sharpened correctly. He will give the fruits that we will receive in the future.

D. N .: The first thing that comes to mind is Lev Landau, who built an amazing career in the Soviet Union, published a textbook that is still incredibly popular, left behind a huge legacy, a bunch of pearls, like "A good deed will not be called marriage ". It is quite obvious that the person was selflessly engaged in science, without being distracted by anything. And at the same time it was provided. Is it possible for us now?

N.K .: You see, this is not a completely correct comparison. Because in the Soviet Union, after the creation of atomic weapons and their means of delivery, those scientists who took part could not deny themselves anything. So you can't compare like that either. But at that time there were also people who worked in research institutes for a salary, and this was not something supernatural. If you remember that time, then many employees of scientific institutes and educational institutes went in the summer to earn money not at all by mental labor.

D.N.: What is your corruption? In general, we have quite a lot of scandals unfolding. Every year they start talking about it in the summer. And students, entering universities, make inquiries in advance - with bribes or not, you can take it on your own or you can pay. I personally know several universities in our city, where everything is decided by money, according to the stories of friends who themselves studied there and paid. What's up with this case?

N.K.: We have a completely different world. In my entire long history as a rector, there has not been a single case. I do not know him in previous years, but I have been at the institute for a very long time. Is there any reason? You need to know one or another subject in order to master the next subject. After all, this is how education is built. You have mastered, you must apply this knowledge. Sure, if you can get a job Good work, where no such knowledge is required, then, probably, you can buy something there. In our history, you can only get a job in your specialty and do a good job if you have all these competencies. So it makes absolutely no sense to do so. I can also say that if this happened somewhere, then this teacher would be instantly rejected by the community.

D.N.: I recently read a publication that the reform of the institute is starting in your country. And you are going to adjust everything to the central axis, when leaders, heads of departments and so on are not elected locally, but will be appointed by you personally. What does all of this mean? Why such centralization? Why such direct dependence on the rector for absolutely all departments?

N.K.: You probably read one part. In fact, this is the hardest thing when everything needs to be accepted by one person. High risks are concentrated here.

We never had a serious science at the institute, we relied on our basic organizations. Now we have done very short term science within the institute. And she gave us 40% of high-quality publications in 2015.

We are members of the "5-Top-100" program. It analyzes and implements current trends. In this program, participating universities (there it was called strategic academic units) were asked to develop their development programs taking into account modern trends. All these strategic units were called schools by the community. We have 11 faculties. After quite a long discussion, we settled on the creation of 6 schools. We are creating these schools on the basis of breakthrough scientific achievements that we have at the moment. And this is in the Phystech style, when science and education are inextricably linked with each other.

Actually, this is being done. The question arises of the leaders of these schools. Who should manage them? These schools will have councils that will identify and nominate these principals who will be directly accountable to them. That is, we will decentralize the central branch of management into 6 of these segments.

D.N.: Let's take a call. Hello.

LISTENER: Igor, St. Petersburg. At MEPhI, I heard, there was a department of theology. Has something new happened in the world of scientists? Are you planning something similar at your university?

N.K.: This is not at the Physicotechnical Institute. We don't plan.

LISTENER: Can you say offhand how much it costs to educate one student from the first to the last year? Don't you think that Russian taxpayers, paying from their own pockets through state grants and subsidies to your institute for education, lose both its brains and their money when students go to continue their studies abroad?

N.K.: This is a very interesting topic. Indeed, in the 1990s and early 2000s, many guys left. Mostly from those universities just where they gave very a good education. We are attentive to this problem. We also studied why. It turned out that not the issue of low pay is the first. The first is the lack of necessary equipment. The person then loses his qualification. We prepared him, but he cannot realize himself. Second, they want to live somewhere, they have families. And only in third place is the salary. Therefore, what we did in previous years, thanks to taxpayers and the state, the first thing we began to do was to purchase modern equipment. Now we see not only that when a modern device appears, there are already guys and employees around it. We see that our graduates who left earlier from abroad are also starting to return. A scientist must have contacts all over the world. But it was annoying here that it's expensive with one way traffic.

D.N.: By the way, don’t you think that we need state restrictions on leaving? If he studied for free, or rather at the expense of the state, a schoolboy graduated from a university, he was given a good quality education, shouldn't he be limited in movement for 5 years? So that he can work off this debt to the state, in a state-owned company, or just somewhere in his homeland?

N.K.: Probably, it can be done. But the result, in my opinion, will not be achieved.

If a person is administratively forced to do this, then I think the effect will not be what we expect. That is, he should want to do it here. Many now want to return, because they still have roots and relatives here. The conditions are not yet competitive by and large, but they are already acceptable. They see this trend, that we are solving this problem. I experienced it myself in the nineties. The most difficult thing was not that it was a hard life when we dried potatoes in laboratories on the floor, but that there was uncertainty, because no one said that science was needed, that education was needed. Now this is being repeated at all levels: this is very important.

D.N.: To talk about the exam. Don't you think that something else needs to be changed in the USE? It has already gone through quite a powerful transformation over the past 10 years, but do you have any complaints about it?

N.K .: Not like complaints. The exam is constantly being improved. My colleagues are doing this, who are with schoolchildren. In this sense, they are more competent than I am. I feed on more information from them. What they say now is that the situation has become much better, and it suits them.

D.N.: Another call. Hello.

LISTENER: Andrey, St. Petersburg. Himself in 2003-2005 he studied in graduate school, applied chemistry. What is the current scholarship for graduate students? Because in my time it was 1,500 rubles, on which one could not live at all, respectively, there was no talk of any science at all.

N.K.: Postgraduate scholarships are not the same, but they are not very large. I will return to what I said. A graduate student is engaged in scientific work. And for doing this scientific work in addition to scholarships, he receives from the organization. In this sense, the income that our graduate students have is not 10 or 20 thousand rubles, but more.

D.N.: Let's take another call. Hello.

LISTENER: Evgeny Nikolaevich from St. Petersburg. In the 1980s, I had connections with the Physicotechnical Institute, with the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, with the Department of Quantum Electronics. I would like to ask whether our Nobel laureates are Russian, two of them. They are in the UK. Can you tell me if they have a connection with the Physicotechnical Institute, and with which faculties and which departments?

N.K.: Here is the story. They received the Nobel Prize in 2010 together for the discovery of graphene. This is a class of two-dimensional materials, which did not exist before. One of them, Andrey Geim, he is older, he studied in the eighties. He went abroad earlier. The second laureate is Konstantin Novosyolov, he entered in 1991, graduated in 1996, and completed his postgraduate studies at the Physicotechnical Institute in 2000. After that he left. And in 2010 Nobel Prize. youngest Nobel laureate throughout history.

Konstantin comes here all the time. Often. When he received the Nobel Prize, he came to the institute. And very interesting. We sent a car for him, he asked to take him to the Savyolovsky railway station, took the train, followed the road where he always walked from the station to the hostel. I went to my hostel, met with the commandant, the same elderly woman. Then I went to my favorite teacher, who lives nearby. And then a meeting with students. He comes to Russia quite often, his parents live here, as far as I know. I also know that they meet with alumni in an informal setting. In college - a couple of times a year. He is a very busy person, but we try to involve him where his potential is needed to solve one or another of our strategic tasks. Andrei Geim, I know that he was invited by the Ministry of Education, he came for a few days. He donated the first replica of the Nobel medal bearing his name to our museum as soon as they were awarded the Nobel Prize. But he, as I understand it, has a lot of different obligations. He is a man open to the whole world. This is how he positions himself.

On Friday, a large number of stickers pasted on various flat surfaces appeared at the institute with the text “How is it, rector Kudryavtsev?” In the "Fizkek" VKontakte group, a text appeared with fairly clearly formulated claims, to which these stickers apparently should have attracted attention.

The main problems that the authors pay attention to text, are:

1. Bureaucratic fuss around fire safety;
2. Coercion to vote for a "traditional" candidate;
3. Closing of reading rooms at night;
4. Destruction of faculties and their replacement with amorphous physics and technology schools;
5. Closing access to dormitories for students who have not paid for accommodation in a dormitory.

These considerations are summarized as follows (spelling changed):

“I don’t want a crazy monarch at the head of MIPT. I don't want another lunatic to replace him two years later, who would already know that this is possible at Phystech. I want my opinion to be considered. I want any major decision of the administration to be approved by the MCI, as well as the deans and student councils of the faculties to which it concerns. I want the merging of departments to happen in at least a year, if it turns out that it is really useful. I want to study at the best technical university countries."

We often repeat that we have good students. Now we can state that the students at our institute are not just good, but wonderful.

On the one hand, Phystech stands out quite favorably against the background of many other universities. Compared to them, we have a relatively democratically organized university, and the management regime established in our country compares favorably with many other institutions. Approximately like enlightened absolutism from the feudalism of the dark Middle Ages. However, our administration, albeit slowly, is drifting precisely in the direction of feudalism.

All the problems mentioned by the students really take place. As, however, and some others, not so noticeable to students. These are the problems of the lack of open-ended contracts at MIPT, and the rather large workload of teachers, and the inefficiently functioning bureaucracy, and behind the scenes distributed money.

But the main root of all these problems is the lack of elective leadership, the lack of functioning self-government, lack of rights for teachers and students, and the low level of academic freedom in general. Elections of heads of departments are transferred to the level of the academic council; the competition for teaching temporary positions (and we have only one permanent position for the entire institute) has been transferred to the level of the Academic Council. Decisions about which the management of the instituteobligedto inform our trade union are not brought to our attention (which is why there is still no clear information about the abolition of faculties), the opinion of students and teachers on the most important issues is not taken into account.

Here, the example of the closing of the institute's buildings on weekends and at night is extremely typical. It cost nothing to conduct reasonable consultations with the parties concerned and find a solution acceptable to all. Instead, a conflict actually flared up from scratch. The same applies to other issues of the institute's life.

We are ready and will cooperate with everyone who wants to see Phystech as a strong, modern university. We will continue to fight for the rights of teachers and academic freedom. Together (and only together!) we can preserve the former greatness of Phystech and increase it.