The International Affairs Journal: St Petersburg University Rector Nikolay Kropachev: "Our graduates are changing the world"

The University is proud of its rich history, outstanding graduates, remarkable lecturers, and, most importantly, excellence in education it provides to those who have the honour of studying within its famous walls. What is, in your opinion, the main achievement of the University, which is celebrating its anniversary this year? 

Having to identify only one achievement is a hard nut to crack when it comes to a rich history of 300 years. What has been the St Petersburg University’s distinctive feature for 300 years? 

Throughout its history of 300 years, the University has witnessed an extraordinary range of significant events. They have been significant not only for the University itself, but also for the whole country and, perhaps, for the whole world. St Petersburg University is a state university.  Our mission is, then, to support our country and solve its real-life problems. The history of St Petersburg University is the history of people who have made decisions to make a positive contribution to and impact on our country. The University has always been, is and will be the foundation of Russia. 

Our graduate Vladimir Putin is changing the world. Not our city, not our country, but the whole world. Among the University students, graduates, and academic staff are two presidents of the Russian Federation, i.e. Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev; nine Nobel Prize winners; two Fields medallists; Olympic champions; cultural and artistic figures; and many outstanding and renowned people. 

Among them are the following: Mikhail Lomonosov, Alexander Blok, Mikhail Vrubel, Alexander Benois, Nikolas Roerich, Sergei Diaghilev, Karl Bryullov, Igor Stravinsky, Boris Strugatsky, Antiochus Kantemir, Pyotr Stolypin, Ivan Pavlov, Lev Landau, Vladimir Lenin, Fedor Abramov, Yury Tynyanov, Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Ivan Turgenev, Olga Bergholz, and Leonid Kantorovich. Among them are also our contemporaries: Mikhail Kovalchuk, Yury Kovalchuk, Andrei Fursenko, Dmitry Kozak, Konstantin Chuychenko, Alexander Bastrykin, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Herman Gref, Boris Kovalchuk, Andrey Molchanov, and Valery Gergiev to name just a few. 

St Petersburg University and Lomonosov Moscow State University are two universities in Russia endowed with a special status. This status implies several benefits. Among them are the following: a separate line in the budget; an opportunity to have additional tests for all degree programmes; an opportunity to develop their own educational standards; an opportunity to award their own academic degrees; an opportunity to issue their own diplomas; and a right to open branches abroad to name just a few. This is a special honour, a privilege and, of course, a great responsibility. Today, we are a national university, which has its own strategic plan approved by the Government of the Russian Federation. We do happen not to attach a special importance to this concept. Yet, I, as a lawyer, do emphasise the importance of this concept, i.e. the national university. I am sure that St Petersburg University shows outstanding results every year and confirms its right to be considered the leading university. 

We should also focus on the contribution that St Petersburg University made to the development of women’s higher education in Russia. Back in the 1850s, St Petersburg University had the first female students. In 1878, the University, with the active participation of the University professors, e.g. Andrey Beketov, Dmitri Mendeleev, Alexander Butlerov, and Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin to name just a few, opened the Bestuzhev courses, which are rightfully referred to as the first Women’s University of Russia. 

Before the revolution of 1917, higher education was strongly elitist. The Imperial University offered education to people of different classes and with different incomes. In the first post-revolutionary years, the composition of students was artificially transformed along class lines. In 1921, the Academic Council of our University stated that students should be admitted to the University based on their academic ability, and not class or political reasons. 

St Petersburg University particularly focuses on the current challenges and the latest changes in education. Today, the University offers a wide range of academic programmes in the field of artificial intelligence and information technology, as these skills are essential for young professionals. I can give you a simple example: in 2023, one of the most popular bachelor’s programmes was "Applied Mathematics, Programming and Artificial Intelligence", which evidences an unprecedented demand for this area among applicants. 

St Petersburg University has opened the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. It is aimed to develop large-scale self-organising adaptive and distributed digital platforms for the artificial intelligence of things and industrial applications of this technology in the digital industry. 

St Petersburg University has the Research and Education Centre "Mathematical Robotics and Artificial Intelligence". It is set to bring together the University scientists who are engaged in research in the field of intelligent control, mathematical robotics and educational robotics. Among the centre’s projects was a project to develop a new method for finding missing people in forests using drones. 

The University is an open university. What’s the essence of being an open university? How open is it? 

St Petersburg University is as open as the social situation allows it. Let’s recall the open lectures. Not the open lectures of the 1980s or those delivered by the Russian Society "Znanie" ("Knowledge"), but the open lectures which the University had been renowned for even before the revolution of 1917. 

Today, openness is one of the most fundamental principles of the University’s life. Two years ago, before the relevant federal decision was adopted, the University had started to broadcast defences of dissertations on the Internet. St Petersburg University produces about 2,000 expert evaluations reports per year in a variety of areas of science. All of them, when there are no objections from the customer, are published in the public domain on the University’s resources. 

The University is open to listen to others and to be more actively involved in solving the country’s real-life problems. Let’s take the Covid 19 pandemic. To receive financial assistance, you had to submit some certificates to confirm that you were sick or someone in the family died. It was difficult and even risky to go out and provide a paper certificate in person. 

St Petersburg University immediately issued relevant orders that stipulated approximately the following: acting in a state of extreme necessity and understanding that the law prohibits making payments without the presence of submitted documents, but if this instruction is followed, there is a risk of a threat to the health and life of people, and human life and health are much more important than formal compliance with the requirements, I order that such payments be allowed to be made upon application for the period until the end of the pandemic with the obligation to submit a document after the end of the pandemic. Is it reasonable? In my opinion, yes. We issued dozens of such orders concerning different spheres of life, students, academic staff, and administrative staff. These orders were published on our website. We were glad that after a few months the relevant changes were adopted on the federal level and therefore the whole country followed this practice. Being able to adapt to life situations should be a feature of the University, because the University is home to outstanding people, i.e. smart, creative lecturers, students, and administrative staff. 

In the 1980s, as the University expanded, it witnessed disintegration and separation of faculties. This led to the almost complete cessation of interdisciplinary research, interdisciplinary programmes, and interdisciplinary expert evaluation reports. 

Today, the University is united thanks to technical, administrative and information opportunities and solutions. Today, there is emphasis placed on interdisciplinary approaches within the academic programmes the University offers. For example, the University offers a programme to prepare experts in artificial intelligence and they are taught by mathematicians, programmers, managers, economists and specialists in other fields. 

How is international collaboration in education and research developing now? 

In 2023, the number of international lecturers increased by 30% compared to 2022, largely due to the lecturers from our friendly countries. 

International applicants usually ask how the number of international applicants has decreased and how we are coping with this situation. Do you know what our problem is? Back in 2008, St Petersburg University had a competition with one application per budget place, now there are 21,000 applications for only 1,000 budget places. 

Every year, applicants from approximately 120 countries apply to St Petersburg University. What is important is that St Petersburg University has an intense competition among international applicants (almost three applications per place) to study at the University even on a fee-paying basis. Every year, we allocate only 1,000 places for international applicants to study on a fee-paying basis. What other universities have an intense competition to study there on a fee-paying basis? 

For many years, St Petersburg University has had an intense competition among Russian applicants to study on a fee-paying basis. Their scores for the Unified State Exams are often much higher than of those applying to other Russia’s universities to study there on a government-funded places. This evidences an incredibly high level of academic ability of our applicants. 

For many years, our University has been developing unified requirements and conditions for students studying at the University on a government-funded basis, on a fee-paying basis, or funds from customers of education (employers). The unified requirements for the quality of education and a learning environment are the key to a quality of education and an indicator that education does not depend on finances. Education is about motivation, abilities and efforts of students and academic staff, which the University is proud of. 

No wonder, it is St Petersburg University. Everyone wants to study and work here, including foreigners. 

Indeed, the University is multinational. Today, we have over 500 international partner-universities. After the start of the special military operation, some European countries refused contacts with the University. The University takes a clear legal position on this issue. In all cases of unlawful termination of contracts, the University makes claims, protecting the interests of the University, its students, and academic staff. 

There are some examples of refusals in scientific publications. In all cases where we have reason to believe that a publication has been "rejected" for political reasons, we raise our claims to protect the interests of our employees. 

Since 2005, we have had a Russian system of indexing and scientific citation (RSCI), which performs the same function as the Web of Science and Scopus. In other words, scientometrics cannot be associated only with scientific citation databases maintained by other countries, including those committing unlawful acts towards Russia. 

It is obvious that under the current restrictions, the RSCI will actively develop and enter into agreements with large international scientific publishing houses to ensure data exchange. Today, the RSCI collects information on all types of publications in a wide variety of journals, monographs and reference books, which is an important indicator of the scholarly activity of researchers in the socio-economic and humanitarian fields. The list of journals in which the results of scientific research should be published has been formed and is constantly updated. Currently, it includes about 30,000 Russian and international scholarly journals. 

In 2016, we received the right to work according to our own dissertation defence standards. We started to conduct the defences under our rules in 2013, without violating Russian legislation. Until 2016, dissertations defended according to our own rules were recognised throughout the world, except for the Russian Federation, and since 2016 they have been recognised in the Russian Federation. When our own protection rules were being developed (during about six months), about 20% came from our partner scientists abroad. 

In recent years, much has been said and written about Russia’s turn to the East. This turn to the East is not only to China, but also to Korea, Vietnam, India, and Arab countries. Africa, too. How is the University developing its relations with these countries? 

In 2014, Vladimir Putin spoke about the need to turn to the East. Let me remind you that the University is a national university and is obliged to solve the problems that our country sets for us. 

Let’s take an example. In 2014, St Petersburg University offered less than 20 programmes with a Chinese component. These were mainly linguistic monoprogrammes, which were associated with the University’s traditional orientalist approach, when the study of language was complemented by the study of the history of the country and culture. As a result, all trips, exchanges of students and academic staff with Chinese institutions were like this: those who were interested in Russia and the Russian language came from China, and those who worked at the Faculty of Asian and African Studies at St Petersburg University went to China. 

Today, we offer 91 academic programmes with a Chinese component. When the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, visited us in 2019 and was awarded the mantle of an honorary doctor of St Petersburg University, there were 46 programmes with a Chinese component. In other words, from 2019 to 2024, the number of the academic programmes almost doubled. 

Today, more than a thousand students study Chinese, and these are the students in a variety of academic programmes. The University has programmes the following programmes: "Jurisprudence (with an In-Depth Study of the Chinese Language and Legal System)"; "Economics (with Advanced Study of the Economy of China and the Chinese Language)"; and "Organisation of Tourist Activities (with Advanced Study of the Chinese Language)" to name just a few. In addition to Chinese, we have Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and many other components. 

Today, St Petersburg University has about 1,600 agreements with employers. Representatives of organisations are members of the councils of academic programmes and involved in developing these programmes, because the University prepares specialists for the labour market, and it is employers who are perfectly aware what tasks are set for young professionals to solve. 

Is Russian taught as a foreign language? 

Now, the University has over 120 Russian language centres in more than 50 countries across the world. 

They offer courses in the Russian language to improve the qualifications of local teachers. We also teach Russian and test their proficiency in Russian to ensure that children from other countries can enrol in our schools and come to work in Russia. Yet, our major task is to teach them. The University holds Olympiads in the Russian language, literature and culture. For example, our International Russian Language Olympiad annually attracts 5,500 people, with 30% to 40% of the participants now coming from Africa. 

In total, 120 languages are taught at the University, for more than 20 of them we have the right to conduct tests together with foreign partners and issue state certificates. 

The Russian language abroad is a way not only to support the Russian language, but also to develop Russian culture. As part of international cooperation, the University is implementing a programme of representative offices of St Petersburg University. Currently, such representative offices of the University are open in Spain, Italy, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Iran, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Greece. This year, we are planning to open new representative offices in the Republic of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and the Republic of Moldova to name just a few. 

The representative offices play an important role in promoting education in the Russian language and extending a network of international partnerships and collaborations across the globe. Our representative offices are a unique platform for the exchange of knowledge and experience between different cultures and countries. Despite the current challenges and problems, branches and representative offices of St Petersburg University attract students and lecturers, contributing to fostering education in the Russian language and strengthening the academic reputation of the University. 

If you open the minutes of the Rector’s meetings, which, like many other things, are publicly available, you will see that the representative offices of St Petersburg University hold weekly in-person or, depending on the circumstances, online presentations by our colleagues, which attract dozens and hundreds of participants. 

In recent years, the former Soviet Baltic republics have declared war on the Russian language. What assistance does the University provide to Russian-speaking citizens? 

We are well aware that those who reside in the unfriendly countries have no chance to receive education in the Russian language. To address this issue, the University, with the support of the Government and the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, launched the unique project ‘St Petersburg University Online School’, to ensure that Russian-speaking schoolchildren across the world can receive standard educational credentials to enter the Russia’s leading universities without having to go through the procedure for recognising educational credentials. Today, this project is unrivalled. 

The teaching and learning process at the online school at St Petersburg University is carried out according to the main academic programmes of basic general and secondary general education (from 5 to 10 grade). It is free of charge, at the expense of extra-budgetary funds of St Petersburg University. In the first year of the project, the University received almost 300 applications from schoolchildren from 44 countries, the competition was 2.5 applications per place. 

The largest number of applications (83 applications) were submitted by schoolchildren of 5-10 grades from Latvia; 39 applications were received from Kazakhstan; and 21 applications were submitted by Russian-speaking schoolchildren from Uzbekistan. In total, the University received 294 applications from 44 countries, including the USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Canada to name just a few. 

The Association of Leading Universities presented this concept, and the Russian Ministry of Education and the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education supported it. The issue of opening such schools at other universities in Russia is currently being considered. This association includes Lomonosov Moscow State University, St Petersburg University, federal universities, flagship universities, i.e. a total of 50 universities, and I am the chairperson of this association. 

St Petersburg University develops textbooks on the Russian language for different countries, taking into account their specifics. In Africa, we work with at least 15 countries. In Asia, we work with even more countries. We also work with countries in South America. Among the important vectors of the University’s international work today is to support and popularise the Russian language in Latin America. The University offers online Russian language courses in Nicaragua and Venezuela. In less than two years, 335 people completed the courses, and there is an evident increase in interest from Latin Americans. Currently, about 400 people have been tested in Russian as a foreign language at the partner centres in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. Since 2023, the courses for continuing students have been launched (about 50 participants), and we offer full-time training in Paraguay for 20 applicants selected under the quota of the Government of the Russian Federation. 

This is not everything that we have been doing, and we will continue this work. We are planning to open a Russian language centre in Peru, start to work with Cuba, launch a Russian language centre in Paraguay, open an association of Russian language teachers working in Latin America, and even publish a nationally oriented textbook on Russian as a foreign language for Spanish speakers. 

Does the University pay attention to the Russian language in Russia, because literacy leaves much to be desired? 

Our specialists, not only linguists, but also lawyers, mathematicians, psychologists, and sociologists to name just a few, are engaged in the development of the Russian language in Russia. 

Until 2010, problems of the Russian language at our University were traditionally approached by only philologists and lecturers at the Faculty of Journalism. 

I’ll tell you an interesting case. During a meeting with the Minister of Education of China, we discussed the publication of a translation into Russian of the law on education in China and a translation of the law on education in Russia into Chinese. China has the Putonghua language, i.e. a codified, standard Chinese. Everyone must know and use it in China. In Russia, there are several dozen explanatory dictionaries that foreigners can use when translating into Russian. Current Russian legislation allows the equal use of any explanatory dictionary. 

The Minister asks me: "Do you have a state-approved explanatory dictionary in your country?" I answer: "No, we do not have such dictionary". She is surprised: "How many dictionaries do you have in Russia?" I reply: "Maybe, 40 or 50". She asks: "Are they all the same?" "No, each is different". "How do you understand each other?" 

Now, my colleagues, i.e. linguists, lawyers and specialists in other sciences, and researchers from Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Institute for Linguistic Studies, in pursuance of the President’s instructions to the Government of the Russian Federation, are developing an explanatory dictionary of the state language. 

The University is not only about education, but also about an economy activity. Historical buildings, new buildings, halls of residence. How do you address these issues?

Today, St Petersburg University owns, under various rights, more than 400 real estate objects (among them are 280 buildings), including more than 80 cultural heritage objects. Some buildings are located 30 kilometres away from each other. Effective planning and organisation of administrative and economic activities ensure efficient management of the entire real estate complex of the University. Efficient management is also ensured by our approach to distinguish between administrative and economic issues and academic activities. For example, deans of faculties, heads of departments, and laboratories are responsible for academic issues, while the material and technical support is on other specialists. 

Yet, academic staff and students are involved in monitoring the quality of repair work, cleaning of premises, purchasing equipment, as they are the main consumers. 

The location of the University in historical buildings, especially in the Twelve Collegia building, i.e. the main building of St Petersburg University, has a deep symbolic meaning that enables our students and staff to immerse in the atmosphere of the Age of Enlightenment and ensures the continuity of academic traditions. The aesthetics and architecture of the historical buildings of St Petersburg University contribute to a creative way of thinking among the University staff and students. 

However, historical buildings often do not meet modern requirements for conducting educational and scientific activities in terms of anti-terrorism security, accessible environment, utilities, energy efficiency and, in this regard, are in dire need of expensive reconstruction and thorough repair. 

St Petersburg University has the Board of Trustees. How is the University’s relationship with the trustees structured? Are they actively involved in the life of the University? 

The Board of Trustees is actively involved in the life of the University. 

It was created back in 2006. It is headed by Deputy Chairperson of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev. Our meetings are held at regular intervals to develop the University’s strategic plan. 

The Board of Trustees also includes Chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko; Deputy Chairperson of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko; Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov; Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Valery Falkov; Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation Konstantin Chuychenko; Governor St Petersburg Alexander Beglov; and Governor of the Leningrad Region Aleksandr Drozdenko. 

Among the members of the University’s Board of Trustees are also outstanding graduates: Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Environmental Issues, Ecology and Transport Sergei Ivanov; Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation Aleksandr Konovalov; President and Chairman of VTB Bank Management Board Andrey Kostin; President of the St Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange Igor Artemyev; Chief Executive Officer of Inter RAO Boris Kovalchuk; General Director of New Digital Solutions Vadim Semenov; Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Executive Board, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosneft Oil Company Igor Sechin; General Director of Channel One Russia Konstantin Ernst; Chairman of the Executive Committee, Chief Executive Officer, Member of the Board of Directors of the LSR Group Andrey Molchanov; First Deputy General Director of the Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System Andrey Murov; and Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of private educational institution "Gazprom School St Petersburg" Marina Entaltseva. 

It also includes Valery Gergiev, General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre; Gennady Krasnikov, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Vladimir Potanin, President and Chairman of the Management Board of MMC Norilsk Nickel; Vladimir Evtushenkov, Founder of Sistema Public Joint Stock Financial Corporation; Sergey Ivanov, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ALROSA; Vladimir Lisin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NLMK Group; Aleksei Mordashov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Severstal, General Director of Severgroup; Alexander Sergeev, Scientific Director of the National Centre for Physics and Mathematicians; Georgy Poltavchenko, ex-Governor of St Petersburg; and Veronika Skvortsova, Head of the Federal Medical Biological Agency. I am also a member of the Board of Trustees of St Petersburg University. 

The Board of Trustees is wisdom, experience, and love for their alma mater. Even if the University is not their alma mater, the University is something very dear for them. Maestro Gergiev has not studied at the University, but he is Dean of the Faculty of Arts at St Petersburg University. Now, almost half of those who are in the Mariinsky Theatre choir are the University graduates. 

Are you receiving presents? 

There is special emphasis on celebrating the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University. Thanks to Sberbank, the fence in front of the Twelve Collegia building will be restored, which will feature medallions with images of the University students and Nobel Prize winners. Funds have been allocated for the restoration of the Botanical Garden at St Petersburg University, and a gallery of portraits of the University rectors has recently been opened. The city declared this year as the Year of St Petersburg University. Our graduate Yury Kovalchuk (Russia Bank) responded to our request, and this year the Scarlet Sails will be held with an emphasis on celebrating the 300th anniversary of the University and the 300th anniversary of the Academy of Sciences. 

I am sure that for the next 300 years the University will be a solid foundation for our Motherland. St Petersburg University will always be a global centre of education and science, actively adapting to the challenges of the time. 

Thank you very much for the in-depth and fascinating interview. I would like to wish the University prosperity and excellent students. We wish health and strength to all lecturers, scholars, and administrative staff at the University.