Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting

Death of St Petersburg University graduate Ivan Iankin 

On 6 December 2023, Ivan Iankin, a graduate of St Petersburg University, who voluntarily had gone to the special military operation, died near Artemovsk while performing a combat mission. 

Ivan Iankin received a degree in history in 2008. During his studies, he specialised in medieval history and studied duelling culture in France. After graduating from St Petersburg University, he worked in the secondary education system. In 2012–2019, he was a first category teacher at the Lyceum "Physics and Technology School" named after Zhores Alferov. Ivan Iankin was also engaged in tutoring activities. The University student was fond of martial arts. He was a freelance police officer, and in 2019–2022 worked as a specialist in social work with youth in the social patrol department at the City Centre "Kontakt" for Social Programmes and Prevention of Antisocial Phenomena among Youth. 

After graduating from the University, Ivan Iankin maintained contact with fellow historians at St Petersburg University and in 2013 published an article titled ‘"To arms, citizens!" Towards the image of a medieval town person of the 13th—14th centuries’ in the proceedings of the 32nd All-Russian conference of students, postgraduate students and young scholars "Kurbatov Readings". 

Since 2014, Ivan Iankin provided support to residents of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic. In 2022, he volunteered to join the Akhmat detachment. On 6 December, Ivan Iankin died near Artemovsk as a result of enemy shelling while performing the combat mission. St Petersburg University is proud of the University graduate and expresses deep condolences to Ivan Iankin’s family, relatives and friends. 

The participants in the Rector’s meeting honoured the memory of Ivan Iankin with a minute of silence. 

Assistance to military units of the Western Military District by St Petersburg University

St Petersburg University sent another batch of humanitarian aid for the military units of the Western Military District, collected by St Petersburg University. Over the last two weeks in December, the University staff collected more than 30 kilograms of cargo, and the next delivery is scheduled for the next week. 

Currently, the personnel of the units of the Western Military District, where summer training camps for St Petersburg University students are held annually, are taking part in the special military operation. In this regard, the University decided to provide support to the units, as it was announced during one of the Rector’s meetings. 

According to Aleksandr Maslikov, Head of the Military Training Centre at St Petersburg University, the University asked the command of the units what technical equipment they need. In accordance with this list, a fundraiser was organised among employees of St Petersburg University. The University has organised regular purchases and transfers of material resources for military personnel. We are currently sending things that are required in winter conditions, i.e. power supplies and heaters, necessary spare parts for cars. 

A new batch of humanitarian aid is planned to be sent next week. The collection of the aid will continue throughout January, and any interested St Petersburg University employee can make their contribution. The University staff and students who are ready to help military personnel should send a letter from their corporate email to Aleksandr Maslikov, Head of the Military Training Centre at St Petersburg University, at the address: a.maslikov@spbu.ru. 

Organisation of the teaching and learning process 

Over the past week, 21 enquiries were addressed to Marina Lavrikova, Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities. The majority of enquiries relate to preparation of various documents. An analysis of the information on the organisation of the teaching and learning process provided by the heads of academic and research subdivisions has been carried out. Interim assessment is held in due order according to the timetable. As of 12 January 2024, the information was not sent by Kirill Chistyakov, Director of the Institute of Earth Sciences. 

Over the past week, meetings were held with student activists: group heads, and representatives of student councils and student scientific societies to name just a few. They discussed issues with organising the teaching and learning process. The meetings were held at: the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Control Processes; the Faculty of Physics; the Faculty of Philology; and the College of Physical Training and Sports, Economics and Technology. 

The "School of career consultants at St Petersburg University" project 

At the initiative of the teaching staff at the academic programmes in the area of study "Personnel Management" at St Petersburg University, the University has developed a project "School of career consultants at St Petersburg University". The pilot launch of the project took place in 2022. Its mission is to prepare certified career consultants (a junior level). 

The teaching and learning process at the School of Career Consultants, which will be part of the HR Clinic at St Petersburg University, is underpinned by an innovative training and mentoring programme, which expands students’ opportunities in building their professional career. Having tried yourself in peer to peer (P2P) career counselling for university students, you can become a freelancer or proceed to employment in companies that offer career counselling programmes for employees. 

The University will approach its overarching priority in effectively employing graduates of the academic programmes by involving the students who have undergone special training as career consultants in career events for students in all areas of study. This means a wide range of opportunities for conducting career consultations for future graduates. 

Training is conducted by practicing consultants, representatives of large companies (for example, Headhunter, Gazprom Neft Snabzhenie) and leading experts in areas related to career counselling at St Petersburg University. The Association of Career Consulting and Support is also taking part in the implementation of the project. 

This academic year, admission is open for the second time. According to Olesia Verediuk, a curator of the school and Associate Professor at St Petersburg University, the new admission differs from the first admission campaign both in terms of the variety of students who are studying personnel management, psychology, sociology and economics, and in terms of the lecturers. 

A consulting module will begin in the spring of 2024. It is aimed at helping St Petersburg University students find effective employment. The HR Clinic will expand the opportunities for students to receive high-quality professional training for future professional activities as career consultants.

The mentoring programme at St Petersburg University 

St Petersburg University has completed a mentoring programme, which brought together 50 students. The students gained career advice from the experts from the Russia’s leading companies: VK, Beeline, Selectel, Gazprom Neft, Polyus, Geropharm, Alers Russia, Dostavista, Bonava, and Nexign. 

The St Petersburg University Mentoring Programme is a model of informal learning and communication between a mentor and a student or a recent graduate of St Petersburg University who want to build a successful career strategy and to learn how to apply and use their competencies. 

There is a great demand among students in how to gain practical experience and skills. Mentors share the experience they have gained over the years of practice, devoting their free time to helping students decide on a career path, explain how to narrow down a career path, and tell them what soft skills and hard skills are missing for a successful start in their path to career success. 

The mentors of the general track are graduates of St Petersburg University who have gained extensive professional experience and have confirmed it with successfully implemented projects. Students in physics, mathematics, and computer and information sciences joined the partner track. Until 5 February 2024, graduates of St Petersburg University can apply for the programme to take part as a mentor in the general track. On 12 February, the University starts enrolment of students for the new stream of the St Petersburg University mentoring programme. 

A grant for the implementation of the programme of the Centre in the field of artificial intelligence 

With the support of the Government of the Russian Federation, six scientific and educational organisations were selected to receive Government support for the development of industry research centres in the field of artificial intelligence. St Petersburg University overtook seven Russian universities in the category "Digital industry" and will receive a grant for the development of a platform of artificial intelligence of things. The project will be implemented jointly with ITPS and the company "LarTech Telecom", i.e. a supplier and manufacturer of automated information systems and integrated solutions in the field of the Internet of things. The company is part of ER Telecom. 

The amount of the grant provided to the University for 2023–2026 will be over 625 million roubles. The funding will be used to develop a modular digital platform for the strong artificial intelligence of things. The platform will be set to combine and process information from thousands of sensors associated with the objects of a high-tech enterprise and create a voice interface for connecting employees with the production system. The platform will ensure the security of the system with connected IoT devices. 

According to Sergey Mikushev, Vice-Rector for Research at St Petersburg University, today modern industrial production is a huge robotic complex that generates large volumes of data. To manage such complex systems, it is necessary to be able to process streams of heterogeneous data coming from many devices, and this is precisely what technologies based on artificial intelligence are best suited for. When developing new approaches to the use of AI in the field of IoT, the support of industrial partners is therefore crucial for the University. They can correctly set the task for our experts. Such cooperation will contribute to developing effective solutions to benefit the development of Russia’s industry and economy. 

Apart from developing software, the University specialists will develop specialised standards for new software and work on the ethical and legal aspects of using information systems to ensure their successful implementation at high-tech enterprises in Russia, the BRICS countries and other countries. 

The draft application of St Petersburg University was presented during a round table at St Petersburg University. It brought together representatives of industrial partners of St Petersburg University; heads of companies and industry associations; and Professor Ovanes Petrosian, Director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at St Petersburg University, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics. The previously established research and education centre ‘Mathematical Robotics and Artificial Intelligence’ brings together St Petersburg University scientists engaged in research in the field of intelligent control, mathematical and educational robotics. One of the centre’s projects was developing a new method of searching for people lost in the wilderness using drones. 

Acceleration programme for aspiring entrepreneurs 

In December, the University hosted a final event of the St Petersburg University Acceleration Programme, i.e. a demonstration day "Surprise an investor". The members of the teams who had been working on their innovative projects for three months told business representatives and experts about their results. 

Previously, the University offered business training for the annual start-up contest. In September 2023, St Petersburg University for the first time launched an accelerator to support youth technology initiatives. During the implementation of the Acceleration Programme, 33 workshops were held by St Petersburg University experts, i.e. investors, entrepreneurs and consultants, who spoke about the tools and methods of creating, developing and scaling start-ups, generating ideas, and entrepreneurial thinking. More than 580 University students attended the training sessions, forming a community of people interested in entrepreneurship at St Petersburg University. As a result of the meetings, they built more than 70 teams to work on innovative projects and spent two months developing business models under the guidance of experienced tracker mentors. As a result of an examination carried out by the University specialists, 15 of the strongest teams were selected and were invited to present their results to investors in the finals of the Acceleration Programme. 

The Acceleration Programme at St Petersburg University was launched with the support of a grant received by the University as a result of winning a competitive selection within the framework of the federal project "University Technological Entrepreneurship Platform" and the St Petersburg University Endowment Fund. According to Alekdandr Sergeev, Head of the Acceleration Programme and Director of the St Petersburg University Business Incubator, combining studies, science and entrepreneurship is extremely difficult, but the accelerator participants successfully managed to cope with this challenge with the support of reliable mentors from the tracker team. 

The teams worked on such tasks as creating a geoinformation data centre for solving applied cartographic problems, an agricultural scout robot, and an online Chinese language school with gamification of learning to name just a few. During the demo day, start-up participants had to present their projects to investors in five minutes, talking about their teams, the technology they used, differences from competitors and the state of the market in their industry. 

The winner of the demonstration day of the St Petersburg University’s Acceleration Programme was a team "Heart aorta saviors", which was developing a web application with a personal account for cardiac surgeons to help diagnose pathologies of the cardiac aorta using artificial intelligence. 

The establishment of the Institute of Medicine at St Petersburg University 

By Order No 14297/1 dated 8 November 2023, the University established the Institute of Medicine. It unites the departments of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Medical Technologies, the Medical College, and the Educational Resource Centre of High Medical Technologies "Centre of Medical Accreditations". Professor Andrey Sarana is appointed Director of the Institute of Medicine. 

Iurii Shcherbuk, who headed the Faculty of Dental Medicine and Medical Technologies, and Anna Germer, who headed the Medical College at St Petersburg University, were commended by the Rector’s order. 

Attracting international scholars to cooperate with St Petersburg University 

The results of the participation of international scholars in research projects conducted at St Petersburg University in 2023 are summed up. According to Vladimir Eremeev, Vice-Rector for Human Resources at St Petersburg University, over the year the number of such scholars increased by more than 1.5 times. In 2023, 106 scholars from more than one and a half dozen countries were involved in cooperation with the University. A year earlier, 68 international scholars participated in scientific activities. 

The main increase in international participants is associated with the joint research projects with research centres from the BRICS countries (primarily the People’s Republic of China) and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The number of international scholars participating in the relevant projects has more than tripled over the year, i.e. from 9 participants to 33 participants. The number of international specialists in scientific teams conducting research at St Petersburg University under the grants from the Russian Science Foundation has increased significantly; i.e. from 23 teams to 31 teams. A slight negative trend in the number of international citizens was noted in the teams of world-class laboratories and research centres at St Petersburg University. In 2023, the number of international scholars from unfriendly countries in these teams decreased by two people, which is an insignificant percentage of the total number, especially considering the pressure that the leadership of unfriendly countries has recently put on them. 

The majority of international scholars currently engaged in scientific research at St Petersburg University represent the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, the CIS, and BRICS. 

Amendments to the Federal Law "On education in the Russian Federation" 

Taking into account the amendments made on 25 December 2023 to the Federal Law "On education in the Russian Federation", education should be based precisely on traditional Russian spiritual and moral values. According to the amendments, one of the basic principles of the state policy and legal regulation of relations in the field of education is the humanistic nature of education in accordance with traditional Russian spiritual and moral values and the scientific validity of the development of the education system of the Russian Federation, taking into account its historical heritage, long-term objectives of the development of the state and society and providing favourable conditions for interaction with the education systems of other states and international cooperation in the field of education on an equal and mutually beneficial basis. 

It is established that teaching and academic staff are obliged to carry out their activities at a high professional level precisely on the basis of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values, rules and norms of behaviour accepted in the Russian society in the interests of an individual, family, society and the state, to ensure the full implementation of the curricula, courses, disciplines (modules), a syllabus for educational activities to form in students a sense of patriotism, respect for the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland and the exploits of the heroes of the Fatherland, law and order, working people and the older generation, mutual respect, respect for the cultural heritage and traditions of the multinational people of the Russian Federation, and responsible attitude towards professional, voluntary (volunteer) activities. 11. 

Amendments to the law of St Petersburg "On tax benefits" 

On behalf of Nikolay Kropachev, Rector of St Petersburg University, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the University staff has initiated amendments to Law of St Petersburg No 81-11 "On tax benefits" dated 14 July 1995. Supported by Alexander Beglov, Governor of St Petersburg, Member of the Board of Trustees at St Petersburg University; Alexander Belsky, Chairperson of the Legislative Assembly of St Petersburg; Aleksei Korabelnikov, Vice-Governor of St Petersburg, Chairperson of the Board of the Endowment Fund "Development of St Petersburg University"; and Denis Chetyrbok, Chairperson of the Budgetary and Financial Committee of the Legislative Assembly, Law of St Petersburg No 696-142 "On amendments to certain laws of St Petersburg on taxes and fees" dated 23 November 2023 amended paragraph 4 of Article 11-7-1 of the Law of St Petersburg No 81-11 "On tax benefits" dated 14 July 1995. 

On the one hand, in accordance with the provisions of the regional law, until 1 January 2024, leasing even one square metre out of hundreds or thousands of metres of the total area of the building deprived any organisation of the right to a land tax benefit in relation to the land plot on which this building is located. On the other hand, federal legislation in a number of cases imposed and imposes on educational organisations the obligation to provide employees and (or) students with access to various non-core services, the quality provision of which requires the involvement of third parties, including under lease agreements: for example, in order to ensure catering or health care. At the initiative of St Petersburg University, this contradiction between regional and federal standards was successfully resolved. 

Now, the leasing of real estate will not be a basis for refusal to apply land tax benefits in the form of the right to pay an incomplete amount of tax in relation to land plots used for educational facilities, and those intended and used for healthcare or social security facilities, recreational facilities, facilities for medical and health purposes, occupied by housing stock. According to the calculations based on the currently valid lease agreements, the University will save up to 10.9 million roubles annually starting from 2024, as the forecast predicts. 

Cultural events at St Petersburg University during January 

Elena Lebedkina, Head of the Main Department for Exhibitions, Museum, Library and Publishing Activities, has presented the digest of cultural events of the University, which will take place in January. 

Opening of the virtual exhibition "Ancient memory" 

On 15 January, the Diaghilev Museum of Modern Art opened the virtual exhibition "Ancient Memory" by artists and lecturers from the St Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design. The exhibits refer to the tradition of the Nabokov family to decorate the New Year tree in the dining room. Using glass objects and working with light, the artists will create the image of a ghostly magical Christmas tree filled with memories. 

Children’s programme "Christmas" 

On 17 January, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University will host the children’s programme ‘Christmas’ dedicated to the traditions of celebrating Christmas in Russia. The programme is a meeting with the artist Mariia Gadalova. It focuses on the traditions of celebrating Christmas in Russia, gifts and wishes. 

Finissage of the exhibition "Genealogy of Little Red Riding Hood" 

On 20 January, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University will host the finissage of the exhibition ‘Genealogy of Little Red Riding Hood’. Moscow artists Mila Kalnitskaia and Mikhail Maslennikov have prepared a new literary and jewellery project. 

Opening of the online exhibition "Pitirim Sorokin as one of the founders of theoretical sociology of the 20th century" 

On 23 January, the M Gorky Scientific Library at St Petersburg University opens an online exhibition from the cycle ‘Famous Alumni’. The exhibition ‘Pitirim Sorokin as one of the founders of theoretical sociology of the 20th century. To the 135th anniversary of his birth’ (1889-1968)’ is to mark the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University. 

Musical and poetic programme to mark the 80th anniversary of the complete lifting of the Siege 

On 24 January, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University will host events of the musical and poetic programme "Poetic word about the feat of Leningrad: on the 80th anniversary of the complete lifting of the Siege". It is prepared jointly with the Pushkin Project cultural and educational society. 

Final part of the online exhibition "The Brendel botanical models. Nature and art"

On 25 January, the Herbarium of St Petersburg University presents the final part of the online exhibition "The Brendel botanical models. Nature and art". 

Opening of the exhibition "On the 80th anniversary of the complete lifting of the Siege of Leningrad" 

On 27 January, the M Gorky Scientific Library at St Petersburg University opens the exhibition "On the 80th anniversary of the complete lifting of the Siege of Leningrad". The exhibition will be divided into three parts: the virtual exhibition "Fighting University"; the exhibition "Publications during the Siege from the collections of the M Gorky Scientific Library"; and the exhibition "The Scientific Library at Leningrad State University during the Great Patriotic War and the Siege". 

Opening of the online exhibition "The University academics in besieged Leningrad"

 On 27 January, to mark the 80th anniversary of the lifting of the Siege, the St Petersburg University History Museum opens the online exhibition "The University academics in besieged Leningrad". 

Opening of the exhibition "The secret pattern in clear fate" about the first woman pilot of Russia 

On 29 January, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University opens the exhibition "The secret pattern in clear fate". It is dedicated to Lydia Zvereva, the first certified woman pilot of Russia. The exhibition is a life story of the woman who dreamed of flying since her childhood: first in a balloon and then, when airplanes conquered the world, in airplanes. 

Finissage of the exhibition "Ancient Memory" and meeting with artists 

On 30 January, the Vladimir Nabokov Museum at St Petersburg University will host the finissage of the exhibition "Ancient Memory" and a meeting with artists.