Ivakhnenko Evgeny Nikolaevich reviews. The RSU Rector was fired a year after his appointment. But there is also some trickery.
Volgograd region, USSR) is a Russian philosopher, a specialist in the field of social epistemology, systemic theory of communication, philosophy of education and modernization of the modern university.
Professor of the Department of Philosophy of the Humanitarian Faculties of Moscow State University, Doctor of Philosophy (2000). Rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities (2016-2017).
In 1979 he graduated from the Kamyshin Higher Military Construction Command School (with a gold medal) with a degree in power engineering and continued to serve in various positions there. Since 1987, he served as deputy commander of a military unit at the construction of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. In December 1989, he retired from the Armed Forces of the USSR with the rank of major.
In 1988 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Kyiv State University. Specialty: philosopher, teacher of philosophy.
From 2012 to 2016 - part-time chief researcher at the Center for Education Development Strategy and Organizational and Methodological Support of Programs (Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation).
Since 2018 - Professor of the Department of Philosophy of the Humanities Faculties of Moscow State University.
Since 2016 - rector (elected by secret ballot on February 15, 2016). By the time Ivakhnenko arrived, the university was in a difficult financial situation: a “hole” of 238 million rubles had formed in the budget of the Russian State University for the Humanities, in connection with which the reduction in the number of teaching staff began. On September 16, 2016, 12 employees quit en masse from the Institute of Psychology due to the plans of the new rector of the university, Ivakhnenko, to optimize the staff and increase the load on teachers. The practice of introducing annual contracts with teachers has spread in the university, and the load on the teaching staff has reached 900 hours per year (and 600 hours of extracurricular work) . In an interview with the publication, Ivakhnenko replied: “900 hours is a very big load, we plan to reduce it as our financial situation improves.”
In 2016, work was carried out to streamline financial and economic activities in accordance with the standards of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. According to the results of monitoring the effectiveness of universities, conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science in 2017, the university has overcome the monitoring threshold in terms of key performance indicators.
At the meeting of the Conference of workers and students of the RSUH, which took place on December 15, 2016, the university's strategic development program for 2017-2020 was approved. .
Under Ivakhnenko, the work of the commission on anti-plagiarism was initiated, at which, under his chairmanship, the facts of incorrect borrowing in dissertations of RSUH employees were considered. The work of the commission was suspended by the decision of the Academic Council of the University
Polit.ru continues to acquaint its readers with candidates for the post of rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities.
We previously spoke with Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Professor, Head of the Department of Moscow State University named after Lomonosov Andrey Khazin.
Today we bring to your attention an interview with Evgeny Nikolayevich Ivakhnenko, Doctor of Philosophy, Head of the Department of Social Philosophy of the Russian State Humanitarian University, author of more than 120 scientific articles. We talked with him about the current state of the RSUH, possible ways to solve problems, prospects and ways of development.
Evgeniy Nikolayevich, as a specialized specialist, how do you see a modern university, and what does the RSUH lack (or perhaps surpass) in order to become a modern university? What are the main ways of modernization (if they are required) do you see today?
A modern university today is primarily one of the centers of human capital formation. This is a very important and capacious formula. The fact is that in the modern education system this human capital is accumulated not only in educational institutions, but also in various intellectual structures, in what we call production in the broad sense of the word.
A modern successful university ceases to be an “ivory tower”, and interdisciplinarity is no longer its main trend. That is, one cannot probably create knowledge innovations based only on the interaction of scientists. It is necessary to create a transdisciplinary structure, which is what the main leading universities of the world are doing. This means crossing the border in two directions: from university to industry and from industry to university. In this respect, the modern university becomes an open system - an extremely dynamic, noisy and restless place.
A successful university in modern world practice is often called a corporate one, but not in the sense of belonging to some enterprise, but in the sense that it positions itself as a transnational corporation, declaring its ability to lay claim to significant financial and other resources. The task of such a corporation is to win a dominant position in the market of educational services. I expressed a common platform. Then we can talk about each part, what is this or that strategy of interaction with the outside world.
RSUH is not a classical, but a liberal arts university. It is not included in the AKUR (Association of Classical Universities of Russia), because it does not include engineering, physics, mathematics and medical specialties. This is its advantage and the same factor is the limitation of the set of tools for replenishing its financial resources, in contrast, for example, to MVTU, PhysTech or Federal Universities.
At the Russian State University for the Humanities, as in any other successful university (I still find it successful, although there are difficulties), three forces interact: the administrator, the teacher and the student. From time to time, contradictions arise between them, since the interests of the three parties most often do not completely coincide. A student is no longer the same person who came to receive a document on higher education and therefore agrees to accept all the knowledge that the teacher has prepared for him. The most advanced student is aimed at obtaining very specific advantages at the university, which he can cash in on the competitive market of intellectual labor.
Do you think we have a competitive market?
In the liberal arts, it is, in fact, formed. Its development over the past 5-7 years is quite obvious. For example, at the first stage of the introduction of two-level higher education, the employer, as a rule, did not distinguish who came to work for him - a master, bachelor or specialist. Today, the situation with the distinction between levels of education is becoming more understandable. In this regard, our goal is to make the graduate recognizable by the employer precisely because he graduated from the Russian State University for the Humanities. This should be facilitated by the brand of the university and the high level of competence of our graduates. The second force is the teacher, whose interest lies in transmitting his system of knowledge and receiving worthy remuneration, material and moral, for his work. But the fact is that the teacher's knowledge system quickly becomes obsolete if he does not have search thinking and does not broadcast it. This circumstance, of course, will not suit the demanding student, and he may well "vote with his feet." Therefore, the qualifications of university teachers are directly related to its economic situation. The administrator - a third party - is designed to optimize the financial possibilities of the meeting between the teacher and the student. To do this, he uses the tools of academic management, which are not always accepted by the teacher and student. Social life outside the walls of a humanitarian university is extremely dynamic, and this circumstance should determine the dynamics of educational and research innovations in a university. Humanities is developing very dynamically, it is, of course, connected with the global context, but we also have the Russian context itself, which is extremely important at the moment.
The question is: what are the advantages of the humanitarian product that RSUH has now? And what are the ideal benefits that can be replicated at university? Relatively speaking, you are elected rector, and for some time you do what you think is necessary, and this product transforms, adapts to what you think are the main challenges. What are the similarities and differences between the products and the direction of movement?
The initial success of the Russian State University for the Humanities in the 90s was largely due to the fact that its educational and scientific structure was built to meet the conditions and challenges that prevailed in our country at that time. Indeed, the university lived and breathed, as they say, with a full breast. At that time, the most powerful intellectual forces of Russia were included in the RSUH: S.S. Averintsev, E.M. Meletinsky, V.S. Bibler, V.N. Toporov, M.Ya. Gefter and others. Since then, one of the remarkable advantages of our university has been fixed - scientific schools, around which a fruitful scientific atmosphere has been created. It exists even now. First-class professionals work at RSUH, including young scientists who have taken the baton of the founding fathers of scientific schools. And that's it. This is a very important position, although I believe that not everyone pays attention to it.
Are you asking what the main trend can be set for a university? You know, Burton R. Clark, a well-known theorist of university education, runs through all of his books about the successful development of the university with one thought: luck favors those who have developed an institutional habit of change. That is, we are talking about the fact that we cannot stop at some position and believe that this point of standing will make us successful. This means that university structures must constantly find the optimal form of interaction with external environments, seek their rightful place in the international network of professional communities.
In the same way, a graduate is not a person with some fixed knowledge. It seems to me that, first of all, it should be able to demonstrate its advantages in the face of growing uncertainty in situations and the complexity of the tasks put before it. Here, the baton, adopted during the study at the university from the search thinking of the teacher, becomes critically important. You can only transfer what you have yourself. The very idea of search thinking lives within the walls of our university. Take, for example, the methodological seminars on education problems led by Galina Ivanovna Zvereva. In fact, in every department there is something like that, supported by powerful personalities, genuine scientists. This is how the Humboldtian principle of combining a teacher and a researcher in one person is realized. Holding this position is a colossal advantage of the RSUH, which we have not lost.
The trend is that it is necessary to look for points of development. It cannot be said that all of them are now clear and defined. We need to make an inventory of our available forces and capabilities. I think that's where we should start. You can’t rush into battle to win high ratings without counting your resources. It's like attacking a tank column with a sword in hand.
Moreover, the situation with financing in the country as a whole is quite tense, which forces us to be prudent, extremely efficient, and live within our means. Even better, if we learn to anticipate adverse events. As, for example, it was done at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, where some positions that are economically advantageous today were developed ahead of time, back in 2011. Any structure, if it does not change, then begins to work for itself. In this sense, we need a reorganization of internal structures, an inventory, an understanding of what kind of extrabudgetary funding we have. Let me remind you that his share in the RSUH is quite high, more than 64%.
But there is also some trickery.
Yes, in absolute terms, these figures are not as high as we would like. In fact, the lack of funds is palpable. However, I don't think we need to look for outside patrons to bring us funds. I have a premonition that if this happens, it will be for a short time. We ourselves must learn to earn more. I can definitely say that I understand the trend of how to do it. In my policy statements, I seek to convince my colleagues that this is a difficult but solvable task. We are not actively involved in government programs, we are not actively fighting for the transfer to the RSUH of a number of orders for research and expertise, which are traditionally transferred to other universities and organizations, for example, RANEPA...
Do you think Mau will give them away?
I think no one is going to give anyone anything. However, our perseverance and our ability to convince that we can do it better than others will lead to a state of affairs when part of the orders will be placed at the RSUH. That is, this is a competitive component, and I believe that we have certain chances of success in this direction.
It's just completely clear that Mau and the Shuvalovs have been on the same bench for a long time, for a long time. We are talking about a competitive market. There are no such people at the RSUH, and they are unlikely to appear if we are talking about competition with the RANEPA. Perhaps somewhere with some non-core low-budget stories it is clear how to compete, but how to do it here?
Firstly, the rector of the RSUH, whoever he is, will face such a task and he must solve it. Secondly, there are quite a lot of resources that can be transferred to the RSUH without begging for them, but by winning them. There are state programs, which basically declare not humanitarian, but natural-science universities, they contain the theme of security, which contains a social and humanitarian aspect. This direction of state security in our country has not yet been seriously worked out.
And the university of the Ministry of Emergency Situations?
The University of the Ministry of Emergency Situations processes "its own plot". But isn't it a condition of security to find the social and humanitarian balance of the state? We can talk about fire safety as much as we want, but there is also a factor of social stability in the country, which, it seems to me, needs thorough professional study at every historical turn. By the way, this is one of the provisions of my doctoral dissertation. We need to convincingly show that we are capable of working out this important national theme. In other words, we need to look for those niches that we can fill. If you like, the policy of cohesive action of the internal structure of the university should be combined with external activity concentrated in selected areas. We must learn to skillfully prove our necessity and indispensability. This is about the same as a business corporation works, it cannot be otherwise. This is not about some kind of unceremonious aggressiveness in the market of educational, expert and other services, but about the ability to correctly prove one's advantage, superiority, and demonstrate one's scientific and organizational potential. We have good examples of how it should be formed approximately. I believe that the HSE exemplifies this kind of leadership...
But they have a powerful specialized department! And so much money was pumped there ...
Yes, today we will not be able to compete with them on an equal footing. Our total income for 2015 amounted to 2.1 billion rubles. they have more than 13 billion (figures for 2014 from an interview with Ya.I. Kuzminov), however, there are twice as many students. It is clear that this is incomparable money, but our task is not to surpass such a powerful institution of education and science, but to expand our funding stream, and at the same time expand our opportunities for the next steps towards strengthening our positions.
In addition, our educational content itself is quite attractive. Admission to a number of faculties involves not only a high competition for state-funded places, but a competition for places with paid education. In this regard, we are at the forefront among Moscow universities. We are talking not only about the number of applications submitted, but also about a real competition for original documents on education submitted to the selection committee.
I understand that we need to make significant progress in additional education in the coming years. We lose almost an order of magnitude to the Higher School of Economics in this area. In 2014, they earned on applied developments at the level of 1.5-1.7 billion rubles. Our numbers are much smaller. According to the results for 2015, our income amounted to approx. 240 million, that is, 6-7 times less. In recent years, a fairly significant market of orders for development programs, training of higher and secondary education personnel and other applied developments has been created. And we need to get down to business with energy.
A considerable reserve is distance education. In our country, this direction has not yet been "printed out" properly. This requires complete confidence that the Ministry of Education regards this area as promising, seriously and for a long time. If such a trend is clearly defined, then our university will “put on wings” this topic (and income item) in a short time. We have the resources and we have first-class professionals who can do it.
A very important question is who should be educated by a modern liberal arts university? Because the question of humanitarian knowledge in general, its modern specifics, pragmatics largely rests on who should be educated by a humanitarian university.
First of all, a liberal arts education forms critical thinking, which is not a kind of coaching on certain professional skills. You can, of course, proclaim yourself an expert, owning the subtleties in any field of knowledge, but at the same time not having critical thinking. For example, on the website of a respected university, a PR specialist in the department of public relations is prescribed that he “should not only know the theory well, but also write releases, create websites, understand cars, cosmetics, fashion, cooking, watches, fragrances and much more…” still have encyclopedic knowledge. The very focus on being a specialist in several fields of knowledge has little in common with the thinking of a true humanist (“Much knowledge does not teach the mind”). Critical thinking is the ability to demonstrate intellectual strength, advantages at every stage of dynamically changing conditions - life, activity, various kinds of challenges. Kant associated this mental ability with the "growing up" of an individual and humanity as a whole. A humanitarian, if he is one, is always a critically thinking person. Thus, in a dynamically changing environment, a humanist is a person who knows how to cope with increasing complexity. That is, this is not the specialist who has a prepared technique for all cases, but the one who finds it in the course of changing the situation for each case separately. Perhaps this is the main demand of our time for a liberal arts education.
Second, given the current situation in the world, Russian liberal arts education should not only fit into the world of science, the global social and humanitarian culture, but should serve our country, its goals and objectives. In other words, I am not calling for some kind of closeness, but for the fact that the humanist must do something so that the culture of our country and its ability to survive are strengthened. This is a very important aspect of humanitarian education - responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland.
In fact, one should not launch a lot of patriotic words and appeals into speech. But in some cases they are simply necessary. I will limit myself to what I will say: the patriotism of a true humanitarian is always smart, intellectual, honest, worthy of a great country.
I was a military man and I consider myself as a person whose energy and life belongs to our Motherland, and now, by and large, my small intellectual homeland is a university. These are not lofty words, but a normal, natural state of affairs. Therefore, realizing that I was nominated by teams of several faculties, I must fight to the end, without detracting from the merits of other candidates.
Let's move on to organizational issues. Imagine that everything ends, to loud applause you are congratulated on your election. What are the first 4-5 household steps you will take?
The first is inventory. We need to understand where we are in the university economy. Understand which of our resources replenish the RSUH and which are unprofitable. That is, the first is the introduction of complete clarity into a picture that is not entirely clear to me now, partly because, by the nature of my present work, I do not participate in the economic and economic activities of the university. Economic "threads" must be balanced, and this is the first condition.
The second condition is that we need what I call in my program the use of the three-step tactic. We need to stop the negative trends that have emerged in recent times. In my program I have shown some of them. Among others, for example, the fact that over the past 8-9 years, several teachers left the university, who moved to universities where they were offered better payment terms (HSE, RANEPA). For example, I consider the departure of M. Krongauz to be a serious loss. Something can be done in this direction without additional sources. It is clear that this will not be enough, but already something.
The third condition: I think that we need, as I said, to pursue a more active policy of attracting diverse non-university forces and resources. To this end, we should involve the full potential of our economists (possibly with the invitation of specialists from outside) to develop a real business plan. It is necessary to understand what we can attract and what we should not waste our energy on now. The development of such a strategic plan is the most important condition for our progress. Here I assume that it is necessary to create an administrative core, which will take responsibility for the implementation of the "vector strategy" of our development.
The fourth condition: the organization of a specialized center, whose task will include the struggle for participation in funded programs and large projects.
Fifth, the creation of a mechanism for organizing mobile research and expert groups. Great importance in this matter should be given to young creative scientists of the Russian State University for the Humanities; the function of a kind of intellectual research hub may well be taken over by the faculty of sociology. Structural reforms will give impetus to the economic initiative, which, in my opinion, should be gradually increased by projects of work with large regions and industrial corporations. Something similar was successfully carried out by the Faculty of Public Administration of Moscow State University in the early 2000s.
This is an important topic, what can be done here?
Regional studies. We didn't take them seriously. For example, there is an optimization of the apparatus. Like our university structure, it can simply work and grow. An agreement is concluded with the regional control center, professional specialists come to them, as well as a small group of students (in the form of practice). They work. As a result, optimization paths are proposed. The customer makes a decision.
And why should they order the Russian State University for the Humanities, and not, say, Vladimir Knyaginin from the Center for Strategic Research?
RSUH must create and skillfully offer content that is attractive to the customer.
But Knyaginin is on a straight line with Nabiullina, Kuzminov, Gref and so on. That is, there you can get extra points.
It is necessary to understand, first of all, whether we can fit into this network of relationships. If not, then - can we create our own network on the basis of partnership with other universities and structures.
Then you need a powerful external lobbyist. Who is this? Lobbyist for the Higher School of Economics - Volodin, do you understand who the RANEPA lobbyist is, who will lobby the interests of the RSUH?
Unfortunately, the situation is such that without an influential and powerful battering ram, we will not be able to claim what HSE and RANEPA are doing. However, in our scale, we must gradually advance our interest. I'm sure we can win positions. In the end, we will then see for ourselves who can help us in promoting our projects. I believe that it is possible, although it is quite difficult. Moreover, I don’t think the lobbying strategy is convincing or worthy at all… One way or another, it will affect the work of the university itself, because it has a lot of structures and substructures that remain in the shade for external management. I am sure about that. The university is an extremely complex structure, where, in fact, each department has at least one Plato and Aristotle. And if we take the entire university and specifically the RSUH, then this complexity increases many times over. It's no secret that this carries a certain charge of conflict. One way or another, she always has a well-founded high self-esteem in her.
I believe that the movement from within through the optimization of structures, the search for sources, the gradual step-by-step tactics can lead to the balance necessary for development. However, it is extremely naive to count on the current state of affairs with funding (in the country and at the university) for a serious advancement in international rankings. There is still a lot to be done within the university for our ranking advancement.
There may be several projects. I doubt that one-time or two-time financial injections will be able to raise the university. More precisely, it is, of course, possible, but it will fall in the same way. We had the option of inviting a lobbyist. But that was 2003… The time was different and, of course, the variant of the invitation was different. That pragmatics was anti-state in nature, and it was unacceptable.
I would like to say that our university should rely primarily on its own resources, capabilities and reserves. You need to live within your means, on the finances earned by the structures of the university. I do not rule out that there will be difficulties and problems along the way. How could it be without them. Structural reorganization is a very sensitive and painful process. However, we are not talking about some kind of total, rather - about the consolidation, regrouping of forces, about the actions of the administrative core, uniting all workers around one goal. There is such a global trend of a successful university, when it begins to be perceived by employees as a whole, i.e. is like a corporation where everyone creates something for it. You can not maintain a structure that does not work for the general promotion. This is one of the important business tasks: as soon as the university is optimized, as soon as mobility and internal logistics are created, then opportunities expand, including the possibility of replenishing the budget.
I believe, firstly, that the expectation that someone with one wave of a magic wand will attract big money is extremely naive and irresponsible in essence. Secondly, such expectations postpone changes for an uncertain future. Then, when the complexity of the situation is clear to people, they are more likely to be ready to roll up their sleeves and get down to business. We need to clearly realize that without changing ourselves, without putting ourselves in the face of present and future challenges, we can quietly lose the leading position that we still have today. We need to get down to business with all determination and pressure.
Do I understand correctly that you are convinced that free competition is possible in the modern Russian educational market?
Indeed, free competition is very difficult, but I would say it is by no means a hopeless affair. But such is the Russian reality and it must be reckoned with. Maybe if I worked in those universities with influential patrons, I would say now: “Yes, everything is going well. Keep it up". But in that case, I would drop myself as a citizen of my country. Frankly, I don't really like that we don't have the competition that we should have. Since, I dare to hope, I do not fall out of reality, I will only say that we have a lot of unused niches, and the RSUH resource should be clearly localized to solve specific problems. By the way, such universities as the RANEPA and the Higher School of Economics are strong and powerful not so much because they have influential patrons, but because they are well organized from the inside, have a strong administrative core, have learned to implement useful changes and work responsibly for various platforms - from educational to economic.
Any university, if it is consolidated in the direction of moving towards efficiency and excellence, must first of all use the internal and regional resources that it has. This, at least, is evidenced by the world experience in the development of universities. How, for example, the small University of Joensuu (Finland) has become a world center for the training of specialists in forestry.
Okay, but what is the internal resource of the Russian State University for the Humanities? There is a forest there, but what about here?
And here there is Moscow with a huge demand for highly intellectual education. If we recognize the existence of a mass and highly professional (“elitist”, but not for some kind of elite) education, then the Russian State University for the Humanities is capable of solving qualitatively both one and the other task. There are quite a lot of young people in Moscow and in the country who would like to realize themselves in the humanities. This is our resource. I already said what kind of competition we have. There is even competition for paid education. We do not take everyone who is willing to pay.
The Russian State University for the Humanities has a brand, it is preserved. This is undoubtedly one of the leading universities. I would even say that our university may well claim to become the base university for all liberal arts education in the country.
But there is a curriculum problem. Any relatively new university, and RSUH is a relatively new university, has a curriculum problem. This is a very significant issue.
Well, everyone has this problem. I supervise the international master's program (RGGU - Sorbonne - Saint-Denis) and head the department. For several years, he headed the Department of Master's Programs, when the Master's program was just getting on its feet. Therefore, I know about these problems firsthand. They remain problems until we find the right solution. I assure you, we almost always find the right solution.
But the segment is very narrow. What will they do here?
It's not that narrow. For example, a complex of sciences about the Russian language, Russian culture, Russian literature, Russian people, Russian history. When we were open opponents with the West, the interest in Russian studies was very great. in the 90s and especially in the early 2000s, this interest began to fade. Over the past 3-4 years, interest in Russian content has increased and continues to grow. We are actively developing international master's and doctoral programs, working under the Erasmus Plus program; on projects with Harvard and major European institutions and universities on the history of international relations; with the University of Freiburg in philology; with Cambridge and Edinburgh University in Cultural Studies. We also cooperate with strong European educational centers for cognitive sciences. Our academic mobility in this direction plays a positive role not only in maintaining the international image and authority of the RSUH, but also contributes to the promotion of the humanitarian influence of our country in the world. For example, the French embassy pays for the education of our students in France.
The French embassy generally conducts very serious educational activities.
This sector of our activity is already yielding tangible results. Further educational programs. They must be active. The peculiarity lies in what we can offer... By the way, there is a serious reserve here, "obscured" for prying eyes. Here, let's say, our educational structure works, in a sense, for the time being, in the old way. It is necessary to make sure that the content of master's programs cooperating with foreign European universities contains certain blocks (modules) that their and our students could take interchangeably. If we slightly reorganize the educational logistics, then the attractiveness of the educational content offered to applicants for international programs will sharply increase. A model of a constructor, an educational trajectory, is created, which is assembled by a master student together with the program manager. A modern master's student is fully aware of what kind of education he needs and what competitive advantages he would like to get. The university meets this desire, but not in the sense of “choose what you want, most importantly, pay”, but by offering a set of fixed modules with a learning path that involves bringing the competence of a master student to instrumental research activities in this subject area. A bank of courses is created, a bank of blocks (such work began, but it was suspended), which is exposed to the student, and he himself chooses the content that is attractive to him. This brings a large number of creative young people to the university. This is a very important position for education, because a professor who throws knowledge into the audience and does not feel a request for this knowledge from the listeners, over time, begins to lose his qualifications. When there is a movement on the part of young people, there is a drive, research work becomes truly creative…
Here you are talking about programs. They should not be just collections of items. We need logistics, mobility within the university, that is, if necessary, you can take prepared modules from the master's programs of other faculties. This mobility sets the attractiveness of the educational cycle, and, at the same time, raises a certain level of financial and economic opportunities.
So you are saying that the economic future of the Russian State University for the Humanities lies in the creation of niche products?
Yes, including attractive products.
Good. Then imagine the existing mobile communications market. There is Beeline, let's say it's HSE, there's MTS, let's say it's RANEPA. Does this mean that RSUH should take some place like Tele2 in this market? It's all good, but it's a niche product based on self-thinking units. Whose corporation is in this criticality and independence?
If you rely on the reasoning that the niche is occupied and there is no place for you there, then nothing remains but to doom yourself to inaction. Yet this fixed hierarchy is sometimes broken. Answering your question, I will say the following: Yes, it can be compared with Tele2, but in 3-4 years. You won't create anything right away. I have already said that we are not strong enough now to attack such bastions. But in the long run, yes, it is possible. This is a normal target. Like any healthy and strong corporation, the Russian State University for the Humanities must claim high achievements, however, the movement must be careful, every step must be verified and thought out to the smallest detail. In addition, one cannot arrive at a better state based on a few managerial decisions. Gradual punching of the intended directions is required, their adjustment and subsequent punching. This is the essence of the vector strategy.
I do not have an exhaustive understanding of all things, but the experience of my life tells me what to do first, second, and so on. Experience and knowledge of university issues cannot be accumulated by one person. This requires a team of professionals. And such a team will be created. Yes exactly. The stars sometimes light up and sometimes go out. I am sure that if the necessary work is done, the RSUH star will shine brighter than before. This will happen if we are not indifferent to the fate of our university and are extremely persistent. Somewhere we sank a little in indecision and underestimation of the need to prepare for changes. It is necessary to develop the very habit of institutional change. Otherwise, you can no longer be successful without solving this problem.
There is some task of creating modern educational products. It is clear that this is some kind of compromise, but we can say that there is a virtual customer - the state and a virtual customer - world science. And somewhere in this combination, what we call a modern university is born ...
No, not only.
What else?
I have just come from a meeting of the Historical and Archival Institute. There the customer is the state. In fact, they fulfill the largest order (in terms of the number of students) of the state for specialists working with archives. But what is a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy or the Faculty of Sociology? This is a person who is thrown into the intellectual market. There is such an author from Bologna, Gigi Rogero - a researcher of modern problems of higher education in the world. So here he is, in relation to a university graduate, uses the term “cognitive workforce”, which competes and fights for its place in the intellectual labor market. In this model, the customer is the labor market itself with high requirements for the competitive qualities of workers. It is unlikely that today it will be possible to create any kind of rigid linkage between student-graduate-customer-employer, since in 4-6 years the situation on the labor market will most likely be fundamentally different. Orders in a number of cases are meaningless due only to the fact that the dynamics of the development of society has increased by an order of magnitude. The question of the distribution of graduates has become a thing of the past (with the exception of special orders from the state - archivists, etc.). Therefore, the majority of our graduates should be ready to show their competitive advantages. But, on the other hand, this situation contributes to building up an important efficiency criterion for the university: if our graduate is preferable in getting a job, then we are moving in the right direction, creating a “highly competitive product”. It cannot be said that we have been very successful, but we still have certain successes in this area of activity.
You speak from the point of view of the subject of educational activity. Now, if you look from above, institutionally, not subjectively. From the point of view of the state, modern humanitarian knowledge should educate patriots.
Well, not only patriots, but thinking people capable of innovation.
If there really was a demand for people capable of innovation, we would not be so dependent on current energy prices. There is world science, within which Russian humanitarian knowledge is not very quoted. It’s hard for us even with technical knowledge, but if there are areas where we compete, for example, molecular biology and physics. But if we do not deceive ourselves, then Russian humanitarian knowledge, with rare exceptions, is extremely vulnerable, and Hirsch will never be there. The mechanism is clear, that under Alexander I the task was to exact the appearance of an educated class. Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov - the best graduate of the first Moscow gymnasium - was sent to Gizoni, where he listened to lectures, then came here and further, further, further.
In this formula, can a modern humanities university fruitfully form a worldview that contributed, on the one hand, to the correct state perception of humanitarian knowledge, which is very important, and, on the other hand, contribute to the modernization of what is called the humanities?
I will quote one harsh but precise statement: There is only world science and there is no other science. And when a scientist does not belong to world science, he must ask himself the question, who is he? It fully corresponds to the technical, engineering and natural science areas, and only in part to the humanitarian one. There are quite a few areas in Russian humanities that are not of interest to Western research centers, editors of scientific publications, etc., but they are important and significant for Russian science and culture. Therefore, the criteria for the effectiveness of scientific activity in these areas of humanities research should probably be adjusted taking this factor into account.
I will add to this that concern for humanitarian education is directly related to concern for the preservation of state sovereignty. To paraphrase a well-known expression, we can say: if you do not support your humanitarians, then someday you will have to support strangers. In the humanitarian space, and not in the offices of officials, genuine basic ideas and communication tools are formed, aimed at serving the country.
In addition, I note that it is impossible to enter the world of science from one fell swoop. Nevertheless, I believe that the tactic of gradually entering the "major league" of world science will eventually give its result. In our case, this is facilitated by international programs, which nevertheless give us an idea of how education is built in Europe and in other parts of the world.
It is really more important to rely on our resources, on gradual, step-by-step tactics, on the consistent conquest of certain positions, than to set extremely high goals and believe that we can overcome this by leaps and bounds. I believe that living within one's means is important here, it is important to keep the university staff in a state of search.
The main thing is not to search for money.
But you also need to look for money. And, more importantly, to find. I'm not sure that any of the rectors of Russian universities are free from financial problems. It is extremely naive to think that a joyful, carefree and calm future awaits us. First of all, hard and serious work awaits us.
I believe that a consolidated basis must be created for changes at the university. At our university, given its very high intellectual intensity, the managerial vertical must be supported by a consolidated horizontal. In my program, I tried to express why this is important. It is impossible, of course, to collect all the initiatives and put them into practice. This does not happen, if only because the initiatives may contradict each other. A large role is assigned to the administrative core. Even more - to the Academic Council of the Russian State University for the Humanities. The Academic Council ultimately fixes with its decisions the direction of action of the administrative vertical, gives it a mandate for execution and seeks accountability from it. There must also be rigidity here, because these are the conditions for our survival.
Evgeniy Nikolayevich, have you ever seen a living and working Academic Council?
I don't understand the skepticism expressed. Yes, people with high intellectual potential are not inclined to stray into a flock, they always carry a unique individuality. Much depends on the rector, on his ability to present a convincing development concept to the Academic Council. I have never had reason to doubt the collective wisdom of our Academic Council.
Without money, only for inventory, how much more can the Russian State University for the Humanities last?
No, the inventory will, of course, not give much. But what does it mean to stretch? After all, I spoke about the actions and measures that will be implemented. As if someone has a magic wand in their hands, and someone does not. Extra-budgetary financing does not look so bad with us. It is not very clear to me how it is channeled, because I do not own all the material, but I would like to understand this. Moreover, a partial reduction of some structures is likely to occur. In any case, we are talking about eliminating duplication of certain functions. But it is necessary to understand everything in detail and only then make managerial decisions.
A liberal arts university, unlike a classical university, does not need to purchase expensive equipment. We have some business problems with audiences and stuff. The premises, of course, should be more attractive, so that any person who comes to us understands that this is a respected and successful university.
We still have a number of problems, but there are also incomes. This is also the normal state of affairs. Good economic development managers are needed and it is not at all necessary to look for them outside the university.
The situation is clear. It is necessary to consistently carry out transformations at the Russian State University for the Humanities, introduce innovations in educational and research work. In my opinion, almost all employees of our university understand this. However, we must beware of traps, newfangled actions that require resources, but do not lead to positive changes. As they say, there are still many stupid things in the world that can be called innovation. That is what you need to beware of. The set of innovations is large, but we must choose what we can afford. This is the question of how we should live on.
And the last question. You've been talking about washing out brand personalities in recent years. Could you name 3-5 people who, in your opinion, should be called up again to the RSUH in order to shape its new face?
Now I cannot concentrate and answer your question with any precision, fearing not only to make a mistake, but also to offend one of my colleagues.
How would you answer the question why you should become the Rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities today?
I was nominated by several faculties of our university. That is, it was the decision of a certain part of the team. If they trust me, then I must do everything to justify such trust. Besides, I am an officer, and I understand that duty is not an empty word. I realize that being a rector is an extremely high managerial bar, but life tells me that a ten thousand mile journey begins with the first step. I believe that if this is so, then you need to check your life on the Hamburg account. It is a test of all my essential powers. I believe that if this place of honor is taken by a person with a high scientific and business reputation, then I will be happy for him and calmly return to my favorite work. Strictly speaking, it is not a matter of winning at all costs. But to be a fighter and defend your arguments with all your might ... in my opinion, this is quite a worthy thing. If you join the fight, then fight, but fight honestly. Therefore, I initially treat all applicants equally with respect.
Evgeny Ivakhnenko was born on June 5, 1958 in the city of Kamyshin, Volgograd Region. In 1975, he graduated from local secondary school No. 8. In 1979 he graduated from the Kamyshin Higher Military Construction Command School with a gold medal in the specialty "Power Engineering", after which he served in various positions at the school until 1987.
In 1987, Evgeny was appointed deputy commander of a military unit at the construction of the Baikonur cosmodrome. In 1988 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Philosophy of Kyiv State University with a degree in Philosophy. Philosophy teacher. In December 1989, he retired from the Armed Forces of the USSR with the rank of major.
During the years of service, Evgeniy Nikolayevich was awarded the medal "For Impeccable Service" - Medal of III degree for 10 years of impeccable service, the medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation "General of the Army Komarovsky", the anniversary medal "70 years of the Armed Forces of the USSR", the insignia of officers of military formations of construction and quartering of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and other awards.
From 1990 to 2003, Evgeny Ivakhnenko worked at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University in the following positions: laboratory assistant, assistant, senior lecturer, associate professor, professor of the philosophy department. In 1991, after completing his postgraduate studies at Kiev State University, he defended his Ph.D. thesis “The Idea of Eternal Peace in the Western European Philosophy of Modern Times. XVII-XVIII centuries. specialty: 09.00.03 - history of philosophy.
In 1999, at the Russian State Pedagogical University named after Alexander Ivanovich Herzen, he defended his doctoral dissertation “Main confrontations of Russian religious-philosophical and political movements. XI-XX centuries. specialty: 09.00.03 - history of philosophy. In 2002, Evgeny Nikolaevich was awarded the title of professor.
Since 2003, Ivakhnenko has been a professor at the Department of Contemporary Problems of Philosophy, and since 2005 - a professor at the Department of Social Philosophy at the Russian State University for the Humanities. Since 2005 - the head of master's programs at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Russian State University for the Humanities, including the international Russian-French master's program "Historical-Philosophical and Social Research".
From 2007 to 2016, Evgeny Nikolayevich headed the Department of Social Philosophy of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Russian State University for the Humanities. At the same time, from the same year, for the next couple of years, he headed the Department of Master's Programs at the Russian State University for the Humanities. Since 2012, he has been part-time chief researcher at the Center for Education Development Strategy and Organizational and Methodological Support for Programs of the Federal Institute for Education Development.
In February 2016, Ivakhnenko Evgeny Nikolaevich, by secret ballot, was elected rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities. On March 2, the Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation approved his candidacy by signing a service contract for five years. In this post, he replaced Efim Iosifovich Pivovarov, who took the post of president of the university.
Also, Evgeny Nikolayevich Ivakhnenko, Chairman of the Academic Council of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Chairman of the Board of the Endowment Management Fund of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Head of the Department of Social Philosophy of the Russian State Humanitarian University. Teaches courses: "Philosophy and Methodology of Science", "Modern Theories of Communication", "Epistemological Problems of Modern Information Theories", "Concepts of Modern Natural Science".
Works as part of two dissertation councils for the defense of doctoral dissertations: D 212.198.05 - philosophical sciences and D 212.198.10 - sociological sciences. Under the guidance of Ivakhnenko, 9 PhD theses were defended.
In 2017, on August 29, the Information Policy Department of the Ministry of Education and Science reported that Ivakhnenko had been fired from his post as rector. The department did not specify the reason for the dismissal.
He is the head of the scientific and pedagogical school "Autopoiesis of communication: the problem of minimizing social risks" at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Russian State Humanitarian University. Under his leadership, the school has repeatedly received grant support for research: Grant of the Russian Humanitarian Foundation - Competition for the support of young scientists, topic: "Autopoiesis of communication: minimizing social risks"; Templeton Foundation Grant - Theme: "Science and Spirituality" of the Interdisciplinary University of Paris and Elton University; Grant of the Russian Humanitarian Foundation - topic: "The role of religious prerequisites and values in the formation and development of social and humanitarian knowledge."
Evgeny Nikolayevich Ivakhnenko is a specialist in the field of higher education in Russia, social communications, philosophy of education and modernization of the modern university. His main scientific results are related to the study of the problems of the history of philosophy, epistemological problems of information theories, and social philosophy. He is the author of more than 120 scientific publications, including 3 monographs, chapters in collective works, a textbook and teaching aids for higher education.
Member of the editorial boards of the journals "Higher Education in Russia", "Vestnik RGGU" - Series "Philosophy. Sociology”, “Information Society”, “Actual Issues of Modern Natural Science. Interregional collection of scientific papers.
Evgeny Nikolaevich actively takes part in media projects. Repeatedly spoke and gave interviews on the Internet. Participated in the television program "Cultural Revolution" on the channel "Culture". He performed at radio stations: "Russia-24", "Voice of Russia", "Radio of Russia" and others.
In her free time, she enjoys reading fiction, preferring Fyodor Dostoevsky, Andrei Platonov, Robert Musil and J. Littell. In poetry, he singles out Yevgeny Baratynsky, Joseph Brodsky, Arseny Tarkovsky and Nikolai Ivanov.
In 1979 he graduated with a gold medal from the Kamyshin Higher Military Construction Command School (KVVSKU) with a degree in energy engineering. In 1988 - with honors from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Kyiv State University (now - Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University), majoring in philosophy, teacher of philosophy. In 1991 he completed his postgraduate studies at the university.
Doctor of philosophical science; in 1999 at the Russian State Pedagogical University. AI Herzen (St. Petersburg) defended his dissertation on the topic "The main confrontations of Russian religious-philosophical and political trends. XI-XX centuries." Professor (2002).
From 1979 to 1989 he served in the Armed Forces (AF) of the USSR. He held various positions in KVVSKU (1979-1987), was the deputy commander of a military unit at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (1987-1989). He retired from the Air Force with the rank of Major.
In 1990-2003 worked at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University (Nalchik) as a laboratory assistant, assistant, senior lecturer, associate professor, professor at the Department of Philosophy.
From 2003 to 2005, he was a professor at the Department of Contemporary Problems of Philosophy at the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH, Moscow).
In 2005 he became a professor at the Department of Social Philosophy of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Russian State University for the Humanities, and in September 2007 he was elected head of this department.
From 2007 to 2012 - head of the department of master's programs at the Russian State University for the Humanities. Since 2005 - head of the master's program of the Faculty of Philosophy. Head of the international Russian-French master's program "Historical-philosophical and social studies" (RSUH - Sorbonne - Saint-Denis).
In 2012-2016 - Chief Researcher of the Center for Education Development Strategy and Organizational and Methodological Support for Programs of the Federal Institute for Education Development of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.
In 2016-2017 - Rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities. On February 15, he was nominated by the Academic Council of the Russian State Humanitarian University (24 of the 47 participants in the meeting voted for him in a secret ballot), on March 3, his candidacy was approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. He replaced Yefim Pivovar (corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences), who headed the university since 2006, in this position. On August 29, 2017, the information policy department of the Ministry of Education and Science reported that Ivakhnenko was dismissed from the post of rector. The department did not specify the reason for the dismissal.
He is a member of the editorial boards of the journals "Higher Education in Russia" (Moscow), "Information Society" (Moscow), "Actual Issues of Natural Science" (Nalchik).
He was awarded the medal "For Impeccable Service" (for service in the USSR Armed Forces).
He has published more than 120 scientific papers, including three monographs. Among the main works: "The Russian alternative to" tolerance "- religious tolerance and tolerance" (2001), "Ontology of the conflict and the strategy of mediation" (2003), "Intellectual disputes of the 17th century: "Greekophiles" and "Latins" (2006), "Science and Religion in the Russian Enlightenment: From Collision and Conflict to Compromise and Interaction" (2009), "Changing Strategies for Comprehension of the Complex: From Metaphysics and Purposeful Rationality to Communicative Contingency" (2011), "Transdisciplinarity in Action" (2015) and others.
He is fond of fiction and poetry, sports.
The rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities Evgeny Ivakhnenko has been removed from his post. This became known two days before the start of the academic year and caused concern among many university staff. Alexander Bezborodov, First Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, has been appointed as interim rector. It is not yet clear who will become the rector.
Ivakhnenko worked as Rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities for a year and a half, replacing Yefim Pivovar in this post in March 2016. Most university staff did not expect the new rector to leave so soon. Moreover, many of them learned about the incident only from the media.
According to Ivakhnenko himself, "there are no obvious and obvious reasons for the resignation." So he said on the air of the radio station " Moscow Speaks". At the same time, in an interview with the Kommersant FM radio station, he said that his removal from his post was connected with the claims of the Ministry of Education and Science regarding the maintenance of the property complex. Alexander Bezborodov, in response to the request of the journalists of the Internet publication "Indicator", mentioned the comments to the university based on the results of inspections in it.
“I can say that during the summer period there were very serious inspections at the university, which were carried out by the control and audit bodies, they concerned the activities of the financial and economic block, economic relations. We have a very large university, it is in several territories. As an acting officer then, in the summer, because Yevgeny Nikolayevich was on vacation, the heads of the inspection commissions reported that there were serious comments and violations in the activities of the university along this line. Moreover, I know that the Ministry of Education and Science will soon send us a set of final documents based on the results of these checks,” he said.
One of the RSUH buildings / naar.ru
In connection with the incident, some former teachers of the Russian State Humanitarian University expressed the opinion that Ivakhnenko's resignation could be associated with a serious struggle for the rector's chair. At the same time, some professors now working at the university came to the conclusion that the decision to remove the rector was made outside the walls of the university. According to them, there is no group in the RSUH that is influential enough to achieve a change in its leadership. Other employees of the Russian State Humanitarian University, on condition of anonymity, told the media that Ivakhnenko was fired for the fact that he, closing the branches of the university, did it quietly, hiding the violations that were allowed in their work.
A source familiar with the situation commented on what was happening to Polit.ru. According to him, the bottom line is that the peculiarities of doing business by the new administration, formed under Ivakhnenko, differed from the peculiarities of doing business by the old one, which could be inconvenient for the old administration, the new rector began to distance himself from time to time, saying that he de-solves the accumulated Problems. On the other hand, the way the new administration did business was in many cases perceived by current employees and teachers as inconvenience and unprofessionalism - say, in working with the new university accounting department. However, during this time she is supposed to gradually learn - whether it will be necessary to do this again for a new person, it is difficult to say.
The indignation in the team was caused by the actual increase in the workload, the exclusion of prominent scientists, the dubious form of the "effective contract".
“What follows from this and who will now become the rector is unclear. It could be an external figure, it could be someone from the inside,” the source explained. In any case, in his opinion, one should not expect significant changes for the better from this - and not because Ivakhnenko was good, but simply in the context of what is happening in the country and in the relevant ministry, no one particularly good will be allowed to this position.
A separate problem is the unbalanced composition of the body called upon to select a candidate for rectors for the Ministry - the Academic Council, continues the source.
Meanwhile, the university, according to the source, is in a rather difficult situation - in the sense that qualified specialists are slowly “washed out” of it, leaving for more comfortable places - for example, to the National Research University Higher School of Economics or the RANEPA, and someone leaves to work abroad. “There are still strong divisions and teachers there, someone works there and at the same time in some other place. But a positive change for the RSUH can be expected almost like a miracle, and the probability of a miracle is approximately equal to zero. Which is very disappointing, because it was a significant project of Russian humanitarian and social education in the 1990-2000s,” the source emphasized.
RSUH students / msk.postupi.online
Undoubtedly, there will be elections at the RSUH. And since, according to the source, the Academic Council has a rather complex composition, with a strong intra-university disproportion (with a predominance of the administration and representatives of the Historical and Archival Institute), this, as the source explained, will be rather conditional elections. “Rather, the question is who is really behind the resignation of Ivakhnenko and whom these people meant to appoint from those who would normally correlate with the team of the old rector. Although it really can be an external player, and then various complex combinations can arise,” the source said.
He denied some of the versions from among those that were heard in the media.
“There are leaks that claims against Ivakhnenko are related to cases that took place even before he became rector. But, of course, the point is not that he did something too quietly - for example, he closed the branches of the RSUH.
It is clear that he was allowed to win the rector election under certain conditions. And he did not have the opportunity and special desire to quarrel with the old team, moreover, in a sense he was part of it. Although peripheral, but quite acceptable by the old team as a variant of the winner of the elections. On the other hand, whenever a new person comes to office, something new begins to emerge around him, he brings someone with him, a new form of coalition arises. If we recall the country-wide level, we can see that no matter how loyal Medvedev was, a split in the elites still began. Well, in the case of the RSUH, there was no such hyper-loyalty, and it is clear that some new people came with the rector and a new configuration began to take shape - with the old team in a very strong position. And naturally, at some stage, contradictions between them should have arisen,” the source said.
The moment of checking the Ministry of Education could play a certain role in the development of events. In his opinion, it is important that the inspectors were at the university at the moment when Ivakhnenko was on vacation, and Bezborodov, one of the central representatives of the old team, performed the rector's duties. The source believes that, somewhat simplifying, acting. the rector managed to turn the situation so that the negative results of the check hit mainly the new team, and the old one was largely able to get out of the blow.
“One way or another, the university still has living centers, good teachers, and even then there are not too many. And there is no unity of the higher education institution, the university as such, rather. However, this is almost nowhere. There is no real unity even at the HSE, and even more so at the RANEPA, not to mention Moscow State University, which does not represent anything at all. So this is not exactly a specific feature of the Russian State Humanitarian University,” the source added.
Speaking about the election of the rector, he recalled that in 2016 two candidates participated in them, with whom expectations of changes were associated. “One of them, Pavel Shkarenkov, has now been accepted into the current team, becoming Vice-Rector for Development. It is not clear if he will be nominated again. By the way, after the elections, he began to play quite difficult: in the 2016 elections, he positioned himself as an opposition candidate, and then he began to be quite loyal, although it is clear that you need to continue to live, protect your teams, etc. I don’t know what plans Andrey Khazin, who ran in 2016, will have it - the situation is completely different, ”the source explained.
He suggested that Ivakhnenko would no longer run; mentioned that another external candidate, Nikolay Novichkov, was nominated in the 2016 elections, whose intentions cannot be said at the moment, as well as the head of the Faculty of Art History, Vladimir Kolotaev, whose plans are also unknown. However, according to the source, if Kolotaev is nominated again, this is unlikely to give anything to the university. “There was also a candidate Grigory Lanskoy, who, let's say, was close to the old team. Perhaps some kind of bet was made on him, but I'm afraid that a noticeable part of the team will not be able to take him seriously, ”the source added.
Vladimir Kolotaev, professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities
He noted that some people also name the current vice-rector for science, Olga Pavlenko, who actively participated in the struggle in the last elections (but not as a candidate), as a candidate for rectors. According to the source, it was Pavlenko who organized the teachers' letter against Khazin and Shkarenkov. “Although it does not follow from this that she would not have become an independent figure as a rector. Most likely it would. Almost any person in the position of rector will become an independent figure, and it will be difficult for the remnants of the old teams to get along with him. In some cases, this may be due to personal characteristics, but in general it is configurative,” the source explained.
In conclusion, he drew attention to the fact that Yefim Pivovar, Ivakhnenko's predecessor as rector, can no longer be a rector due to his age, and also that A.B. Bezborodov is somewhat limited by age. The latter, according to the source, if he could run, then only for one term. However, even this would have given the university little, although Bezborodov, who spent his whole life at the Russian State Humanitarian University in various positions, is administratively experienced. “He certainly knows how the university works. But, of course, it will not bring anything new to the development of the university,” the source summed up.
