Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting

St Petersburg University scientists received Golitsyn Prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences

On 18 May, by the decision of the Executive Committee of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Golytsyn Prize for outstanding research in the field of geophysics was awarded to the following

St Petersburg University scientists: Konstantin Titov, Doctor of Geology and Mineralogy; Grigory

Gurin, Candidate of Geology and Mineralogy; and Pavel Konosavskiy, Candidate of Geology and Mineralogy for a series of research papers on ‘Developing the theory, experimental basis and methodology of applying polarisation methods in geo-electrics (natural electric field and induced polarisation)’.

The series of research papers on ‘Developing the theory, experimental basis and methodology of applying polarisation methods in geo-electrics (natural electric field and induced polarisation)’ includes 37 articles in Russian and international reviewed top-rated journals. It is the result of basic and applied research of a collaborative team in the field of polarised geo-electrics, a dynamically developing area of geophysics.

Current issues with organising the teaching and learning process

The participants emphasised the importance of observing the epidemic safety measures including wearing masks, social distancing, etc. From the beginning of the pandemic, 668 University employees have been infected by coronavirus, of which 608 people have recovered. The disease and its consequences have taken the lives of 18 people. During the same time period, 405 students have been infected, but no fatal cases have been registered (Table).

Vice Rector for Human Resources reminded that the University employees, who have completed the vaccination, should inform the Human Resources office about it in a timely manner. This information is considered when taking the decision about the format of operation. As of the Rector's meeting date, 1,624 University employees have been vaccinated. The number of students with complete vaccination is 542 according to the information received from the students.

Last week, the Virtual Reception received 37 enquiries from students and teachers including 12 enquiries on academic issues addressed to the Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities and Teaching Methods. 30 messages were sent to the e-mail of the Vice-Rector.

There were enquiries on various issues: the timeframe of uploading the graduation project reviews into the Blackboard system; student transfer and reinstatement procedures; the possibility of a credit transfer; the number of tests per semester and per academic year; the difference of academic programmes at the University; the graduation ceremony for the 2021 graduates; the possibility of receiving information on the graduation project; receiving information about the University accreditation; disagreement with the interim assessment results – 15 enquiries; changing the format of tests and examinations with the use of information and communication technologies (both requests to hold examinations / tests in the online and offline format) – 6; providing an individual schedule of taking state final assessment; receiving the diploma from the personal educational record; the possibility of receiving a diploma with honours; and the graduation project defence procedure. All enquiries are being addressed by the specialists of various services of the University.

The most urgent issues are addressed in detail. For example, a fourth-year bachelor’s student in Geology expressed concern that every year the students who have field work leave the city. Thus, a part of graduates is not able to attend such an important event as the graduation ceremony. She is inquiring if there is a possibility to give the diplomas to the graduates in June.

St Petersburg University delivers its own educational credentials and qualification certificates in Russian and English with the official symbols of the Russian Federation. The academic progress information (the list of the academic disciplines sating the total number of academic hours, the number of credits and final grade) is inserted into the educational credentials before the meeting of the State Assessment Committee on the graduation project defence. It is also necessary to insert other important information into the educational credentials including the information on the final assessment results: state final examination and graduation project defence. The insertion of the final assessment results can be performed only after the meetings of the State Assessment Committees. The meeting of the State Assessment Committee on the student’s academic programme is scheduled on 17 June 2021. The information processing and educational credential printing takes about two weeks. The educational credentials are signed by the State Assessment Committee members and by the Rector or Rector’s authorised representative. The representatives of employer organisations are the chairpersons of the State Assessment Committee. Sometimes they can be located outside St Petersburg, so it takes additional time for them to sign the relevant documents.

The educational credentials are delivered to the graduates after the document has been printed on the official form, signed by all the required persons, stamped in due manner and scanned for further storage and uploading into the federal information system. On average, the preparation of educational credentials of St Petersburg University takes at least three weeks.

According to the schedule of delivering the educational credentials and qualification certificates to the graduates of 2021, the graduation ceremony in the field of ‘Geography, Geology, Geoecology and Soil Science’ has been scheduled on 9 July 2021. If the students are not able to attend the graduation ceremony, they can receive their diploma in person or via an authorised representative on the basis of a power of attorney certified in due order from the specialists of the final assessment division at the Academic Affairs Department of the University at any time after the diploma has been issued.

A first-year master’s student in the ‘History’ field of study in the academic programme of ‘Russia and France in Historical and Cultural Context / La Russie et la France dans l’espace de l’histoire et de la culture’ is interested in the allowed number of tests taken by students per semester and per year. According to the student, she took six tests in the first semester and all of them are graded in the ECTS system including two tests in practical courses. In the spring semester, there were 12 tests according to the curriculum. The tests are listed in the timetable, while classes in other disciplines continue. In the student’s opinion, such conditions of taking the tests are problematic.

The enquiry was clarified in the following way: the listed programme is implemented according to the model of double diplomas together with the Sorbonne. According to the approved curriculum 20/5830/1 ‘Russia and France in Historical and Cultural Context / La Russie et la France dans l’espace de l’histoire et de la culture’, the number of disciplines with the assessment in the form of ‘test’ is 11. There is also one elective course.

In accordance with Federal Law No 273-FZ dated 29 December 2012 ‘On education in the Russian Federation’ and the Order of organising and implementing educational activity in the academic programmes of university education – bachelor's, specialist’s and master’s programmes approved by Order No 301 dated 5 April 2017 of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, the forms and order of interim assessments are determined by the educational organisation. The limits in the number of tests and examinations are not provided by the listed normative legal acts and by-laws of the University. At the same time, all the limits in the number of academic hours in the curriculum of the relevant academic programme have been observed.

The second semester has been assessment-intensive, since the stated programme includes the requirements of two universities (St Petersburg University and the Sorbonne). During the second year (the third and fourth semesters), the students that have successfully submitted the research project text in French are selected to be directed to the Sorbonne in order to continue the education there. During the first year of studies, it is necessary to cover all the required disciplines to form the competences provided by the St Petersburg University educational standard that cannot be lower than the current Federal Educational Standard.

The curriculum that defines the interim assessment for each semester can be viewed on the St Petersburg University official website in the course of the application process. Even before applying to the relevant academic programme, it makes sense for the applicants to estimate their readiness to cover a special curriculum with the prospect of receiving diplomas from two universities.

According to the information from the majority of academic subdivision directors, the interim and final assessments are held according to the timetable and no special problems have emerged.

The directors of many academic subdivisions said that during the previous week no meetings with the Student Councils were held. At the meeting of the Director of the High School of Journalism and the Dean of the Faculty of Sociology with the Student Councils, the issues of the interim and final state assessments, as well as the diploma delivery format were discussed.

From 28 May to 4 June, 1,247 students in bachelor's, specialist and master's programmes had their graduation project defences.

No	Field	Bachelor's programme	Master's programme	Specialist’s programme	Total
1	Biology	39	24		63
2	Journalism and Communications Mass	94	31		125
3	Earth Sciences	38	9		47
4	Arts	24	9		33
5	History	13	26		39
6	Mathematics and Mechanics	12	7		19
7	Political Science	0	32		32
8	Control Processes	54	9		63
9	Psychology	0	32	9	41
10	Liberal Arts and Sciences	111	46		157
11	Sociology	50	14		64
12	Physics	13	23		36
13	Philology	0	52		52
14	Philosophy	24	33		57
15	Chemistry	57	45		102
16	Economics	128	57		185
17	Law	0	132		132
	Total	657	581	9	1247

The meetings of 234 State Assessment Committees took place:

No	Field	State Assessment Committee on the state examination	State Assessment Committee on the graduation project defence	Total
1	Biology		10	10
2	Journalism		16	16
3	Arts		3	3
4	History		6	6
5	Mathematics and Mechanics		3	3
6	International Relations	14		14
7	Earth Sciences	4	14	18
8	Political Science		10	10
9	Control Processes		12	12
10	Psychology	9	9	18
11	Liberal Arts and Sciences		23	23
12	Public Relations		4	4
13	Sociology		8	8
14	Dentistry and Medical Technologies	2		2
15	Physics		6	6
16	Philology		9	9
17	Philosophy		13	13
18	Chemistry		11	11
19	Economics		20	20
20	Law	2	26	28
	Total	31	203	234

From 1,247 graduation project defences, 920 people (73.8 %) were graded as ‘excellent’, 275 people (22.1 %) – ‘good’, 50 people (4 %) – ‘satisfactory’, and two people (0.2 %) – ‘unsatisfactory’.

		Bachelor			Master				Specialist		Total
No	Field	Satisfactory	Good	Excellent	Unsatisfactory	Satisfactory	Good	Excellen	Good	Excellen
1	Biology		5	34		1	4	19			63
2	High School of Journalism and Mass Communication	7	15	72			8	23			125
3	Institute of Earth Sciences	1	9	28		1	3	5			47
4	Arts		4	20			1	8			33
5	History	2		11		1	3	22			39
6	Mathematics and Mechanics		2	10				7			19
7	Political Science						7	25			32
8	Control Processes	2	7	45			2	7			63
9	Psychology					1	5	26	3	6	41
10	Liberal Arts and Sciences	2	16	93		1	14	31			157
11	Sociology	2	16	32		4	7	3			64
12	Physics		4	9			1	22			36
13	Philology				1	1	10	40			52
14	Philosophy	1	6	17			8	25			57
15	Chemistry		4	53			4	41			102
16	Economics	11	39	78			19	38			185
17	Law				1	12	49	70			132
	Total	28	127	502	2	22	145	412	3	6	1247

Students filed seven enquiries to the appeal committees:

following the results of the final state examinations: 3 – from bachelor’s students in Psychology
following the results of the graduation project defence: 1 – from a master’s student in Liberal Arts, 2 – from master's students in Law, 1 – from a bachelor’s student in Economics.

The appeals were not satisfied.

Events on the margins of St Petersburg International Economic Forum

On 2–5 June, the 24th St Petersburg International Economic Forum took place. The following St Petersburg University agreements were signed within the framework of the forum:

on cooperation with the Russian society ‘Znanie’ (St Petersburg University and society ‘Znanie’ conclude a cooperation agreement)
with the Administration of St Petersburg – an agreement of intent on the creation and development of the 'Neva Delta' Innovative Science and Technology Centre of St Petersburg University (St Petersburg University and the Administration of St Petersburg conclude an agreement on the creation of the 'Neva Delta' Innovative Science and Technology Centre on the margins of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum)
a series of agreements with large high-tech companies (VTB Bank , Kaspersky Lab, Gazprom Neft , Sistema Public Joint Stock Financial Corporation andALROSA) on their participation in the creation and development of the 'Neva Delta' Innovative Science and Technology Centre (SPIEF’21: St Petersburg University signs agreements on the establishment and development of ‘The Neva Delta’ Science and Technology Centre; VTB Bank and St Petersburg University sign an agreement on participation in the creation of the 'Neva Delta' Innovative Science and Technology Centre; Gazprom Neft and St Petersburg University plan to develop a science and technology centre at St Petersburg; Sistema Public Joint Stock Financial Corporation to support the creation of an innovative centre at St Petersburg University )
an agreement on cooperation with Interfax Group (SPIEF’21: St Petersburg University concludes an agreement on cooperation with Interfax Group )
on the margins of the forum, Rector Nikolay Kropachev held talks and signed an agreement on cooperation that provides for on-site training for students and teachers with the President of Qatar University and the President of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) (Qatar). The Rector also signed a coordination agreement with Microsoft Rus A settlement on concluding an agreement with Philips company was arranged.

St Petersburg University is the best university in Russia in terms of financial management quality

The Ministry of Finance of Russia summed up the results of monitoring the quality of financial management in 2020. Based on the findings, St Petersburg University is among the top rated organisations taking the first place among Russian universities (St Petersburg University is top of 2020 Russian university ranking of financial management).

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation performs monitoring of 94 organisations acting as the major administrators of the federal budget income. In 2020, the average score was 75.7 points. St Petersburg University has been ranked second with a score of 91.05 points in the all Russia ranking, thus, entering the AAA group with the top ranking of financial management quality. Only the Russian Foundation for Basic Research with 95.35 points is ahead. Consider the following numbers for comparison: the next in order AA group with excellent ranking of financial management quality includes the Russian Academy of Science (89.21 points) and the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (81.98 points); the A group with high ranking of financial management quality features Lomonosov Moscow State University (78.44 points), the State Hermitage Museum (72.56 points), the Ministry of Education of Russia (71.09 points), and the National Research Centre ‘Kurchatov Institute’ (70.89 points).

The ranking takes into account multiple criteria of such parameters as: the quality of managing budgetary income and costs (the weight of these areas in the final assessment is 0.5 and 0.2, respectively); the quality of record keeping and budgetary reporting; the quality of internal financial audit; and the quality of assets management. The weight of the last three areas is 0.1 each. Moreover, St Petersburg University was among the seven organisations that provided complete financial reporting for the year. The remaining eight participants of the monitoring failed to provide complete financial reporting or provided it with significant defects.

High efficiency of spending budgetary funds enables the University to apply for additional financial support. Thus, the high ranking in the monitoring achieved by St Petersburg University in 2019 (87.32 points) helped the University to receive additional budgetary funds from the Reserve Fund of the Government of the Russian Federation in 2020 in the amount of 441.2 million roubles. This, for example, significantly exceeded the amount of 94.1 mln roubles received by Lomonosov Moscow State University (Minutes of the Rector’s meeting dated 7 December 2020).

Strategic session devoted to the creation of world-class campuses

On 31 May, Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko, headed a strategic session of the Ministry of Education and Science devoted to the creation of world class university campuses in Russia. The session was attended by: Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education; Irek Faizullin, Minister of Construction, Housing and

Utilities; and rectors of the leading universities. During the meeting, the participants established 10 criteria to be taken into account when creating world class campuses. They include: crossuniversity nature; connection to the development strategies of the Russian subject and university; presence of several universities in the cities of the project implementation; and readiness of the city to provide the campus with utility lines and transport infrastructure. (Dmitry Chernyshenko and Valery Falkov hold a strategic session on creating world class university campuses). By August, at least five territories for the creation of world class campuses will be defined.

It was noted at the Rector’s meeting that although the concept of St Petersburg University territory development was created in 2017-2020, it fully complies with all the established criteria.

The issues related to the St Petersburg University Strategic Plan have been clarified

The discussion of the St Petersburg University Strategic Plan indicators had previously been mentioned (Minutes of the Rector’s meeting dated 17 May 2021). Then, the Rector's meeting participants asked to clarify the content of the indicators. The answers were prepared by the Vice Rectors.

The calculation of indicators No 1, 3, 4, 12, 14, 17, 23 is trivial and features no calculation peculiarities worth mentioning.

Indicator No 2 ‘The proportion of academic staff under 35 years old of the total number of academic staff’ is calculated as a ratio of the number of academic staff that include academic teaching staff and research associates under 35 years old to the general number of academic staff as of 31 December of the reporting year in percentage terms.

Indicator No 5 ‘The proportion of academic staff taking part in the implementation of academic programmes of other organisations performing educational activity based on the programmes of higher education including via online courses’ is calculated as a ratio of the number of academic staff taking part in the educational activity of other organisations to the general number of academic staff as of 31 December of the reporting year in percentage terms. At the same time, membership in the State Assessment Committee is not considered as participation in the implementation of academic programmes. The state final assessment is performed upon completion of an academic programme with the goal to assess if the learning outcomes meet the educational standard requirements. However, a part-time job related to the implementation of academic programmes is considered as such.

Indicator No 6 ‘The proportion of students of full-time bachelor's, specialist’s and master’s programmes that study following individual academic trajectories’ is calculated based on the student’s primary record data in the ‘Student’ module of the ‘Learning’ information system as a ratio between the number of individual academic trajectory students and the general number of students as of 31 December of the reporting year. It should be noted that the individual academic trajectory (St Petersburg University Order No 7828/1 dated 9 August 2018 ‘On approving the Educational Standard of higher education at St Petersburg University’) includes elements of academic programmes of the University and other educational organisations including online courses in due order and on an optional basis. At the same time, studies of obligatory elective disciplines are not considered a part of individual academic trajectory.

Indicator No 7 ‘The portion of academic programmes with a practical focus on a real economic sector providing for professional competencies required by the current labour market’ is calculated as a ratio of the number of academic programmes with a practical focus on a real economic sector to the general number of academic programmes as of 31 December of the reporting year in percentage terms. The list of academic programmes with a practical focus is approved and updated by the Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities and Teaching Methods.

Indicator No 8 ‘The number of implemented non-degree programmes including online learning’ is calculated based on the student’s primary record data on non-degree programmes in the ‘Student-Non-Degree-Programme’ information system as a sum of implemented non-degree programmes including online learning as of the end of the reporting period (in case of quarterly reports) or as of 31 December of the reporting year.

Indicator No 9 ‘The number of degree programmes with public accreditation’ is calculated as a sum of degree programmes at St Petersburg University with current international accreditation as of the end of the reporting period (in case of quarterly reports) or as of 31 December of the reporting year.

Indicator No 10 ‘The portion of teachers implementing academic disciplines, courses (modules) in a foreign language’ is calculated as a ratio of the number of teachers implementing academic disciplines in a foreign language to the general number of teachers taking part in the implementation of academic programmes in accordance with paragraph 3.1.1 of Annex No 2 to St Petersburg University Order No 1708/1 dated 11 March 2021 ‘On approving the list of target indicators of internal assessment of academic programmes and the calculation methodology’ as of 31 December of the reporting year in percentage terms.

Indicator No 11 ‘The number of international citizens studying in full-time programmes’ is determined based on the student’s primary record data in the ‘Student’ module of the ‘Learning’ information system as of the end of the reporting period (in case of quarterly reports) or as of 31 December of the reporting year.

Indicator No 13 ‘The target number of deals on commercialisation of developments, useful models, pilot products, know-how, software programmes, data bases with St Petersburg University copyright (including joint copyright) for the reporting year’ and indicator No 14.1 ‘The number of patents of invention, useful models, pilot products registered during the reporting year’ are volumetric indicators formed during the reporting year as soon as the contracts are concluded and the copyright protection is received as of 31 December of the reporting year.

Indicator No 14 ‘The general number of patents of invention, useful models, pilot products, software programmes, data bases registered during the reporting year’ is determined based on the primary record data of the intellectual property items and formed on an accrual basis taking into account previous periods as of 31 December of the reporting year.

Indicator No 15 ‘The number of St Petersburg University journals included into international data bases (Web of Science, Scopus) on an accrual basis is calculated based on the primary editorial records as of the end of the reporting period (in case of quarterly reports) or as of 31 December of the reporting year.

Indicator No 16 ‘The number of newly created groups of academic staff, of which at least 30% are headed by young promising researchers under 39 years old, during the reporting year’ is calculated based on the primary human resources record as of 31 December of the reporting year.

Indicator No 18 ‘An increase in the portion of aspirantura students that submitted their dissertation for defence seeking a candidate of science degree, when taking the aspirantura programme as compared to the indicators of 2018’ is calculated based on the student’s primary record data (in the course of revising the lists of aspirantura graduates and the lists of people who submitted or defended their dissertations in the University dissertation councils in the reporting year provided by the specialists of the Department for the Support of Dissertation Councils) and Annual Report No 1-NK as of 31 December of the reporting year as an overrun of the portion of aspirantura students that submitted their dissertations for defence when covering the aspirantura programme during the reporting year as compared to the analogous portion of aspirantura students as of the end of 2018 in percentage terms.

Indicator No 19 ‘The technical capacity of the R&D sector (balance cost of the machinery and equipment calculated per one researcher)’ is determined based on the primary accounting and human resources records as of 31 December of the reporting year.

Indicator No 20 ‘The number of created domestic technologies with the use of the R&D results demanded by the real economic and public sectors’ is calculated based on the primary record data on the intellectual property items as of 31 December of the reporting year; the register of soughtafter technologies is approved and updated by the Vice Rector for Research.

Indicator No 19 ‘The ratio of extra-budgetary and budgetary resources in the internal costs for research and development’ is calculated based on the financial records and scientific research records as a ratio of the volume of expenses related to conducting research ordered by external organisations and physical persons during the reporting year to the volume of expenses related to conducting research within the framework of the St Petersburg University governmental assignment, the grants received for research support, and the grants from the ministries and agencies as of 31 December of the reporting year. It should be noted that the resources of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Russian Science Foundation are not considered and accounted for as extra-budgetary sources of funding according to the methodology of the Federal State Statistics Service and the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.

Indicator No 22 ‘The number of publications in top-rated journals, indexed by international systems of scientific citation’ is calculated based on the data of science-metric resources for the reporting period with a technological lag of six months caused by the need to finalise the procedure of publication indexation.

In conclusion, it should be noted that presently we are preparing an enquiry to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia that controls the Programme implementation on the approval of the calculation methodology of the programme target indicator values developed by the University specialists. The programme is focused on easily verifiable data from regular statistic monitoring reports. The representatives of research and academic groups will be immediately informed, once the approval from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia is received, and will be forwarded the information on the order of the reporting data collection (quarterly or annually). For the purpose of ensuring prompt feedback, it is offered to organise a methodological section on the St Petersburg University official website, where the programme related information will be published including the current methodological materials and responses to the frequently asked questions, the list of practical programmes, the register of sought-after technologies, etc. It is planned to introduce special tags in the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) 'Delo’ in order to simplify the search for information and official correspondence on the programme.

The cooperation between St Petersburg University and Lomonosov Moscow State University in the field of distance learning

In accordance with the agreement concluded between Lomonosov Moscow State University and St Petersburg University, a list of online courses is offered to the students of the partner university every year.

In 2020/21 academic year, Lomonosov Moscow State University offered the following online courses to the students of St Petersburg University:

The following St Petersburg University online courses are available for the students of Lomonosov Moscow State University:

Transcription and the RNA World
Genetics of Plant Development
Fundamentals of Sustainable Use of Agricultural Landscapes
Genetics of Symbiosis: Principles of Formation of Plant–Microbe Genetic Systems

In this semester, over 10 students on both sides used the opportunity to take these online courses. At the same time, the agreement allows to use Moscow State University online courses more actively on condition of including them into the subject syllabi as part of the recommended materials as well as into the general list of online courses recommended for credit transfer at St Petersburg University.

The Teaching Methodology Committees and the teachers are recommended to include Moscow State University’s online courses into the subject syllabi more actively. The list of Moscow State University’s and St Petersburg University’s online courses available free of charge to the students of both universities is updated and approved on an annual basis.

Who will receive the scholarships of the Russian Federation Government?

In order to receive the scholarships of the Russian Federation Government in the academic year of 2021/22, in May, St Petersburg University submitted the documents on 34 students and 20 aspirantura students selected from several hundred honours students to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia. In this regard, the University announced a competitive selection of candidates for over 20 types of personal/notable scholarships established by the Russian Government, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia and the Government of St Petersburg.

According to the legal normative acts providing for the relevant scholarships, the following stipend amounts have been established:

Russian Presidential Scholarship	students	2,200 roubles per month
	aspirantura students	4,500 roubles per month
Russian Government Scholarship	students	1,440 roubles per month (higher education), 840 roubles per month (vocational education)
	aspirantura students	3,600 roubles per month
Russian Presidential Scholarship in the priority fields	students	7,000 roubles per month
	aspirantura students	14,000 roubles per month
Russian Government Scholarship in the priority fields	students	5,000 roubles per month
	aspirantura students	10,000 roubles per month
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Scholarship	students	1,500 roubles per month
Yegor Gaidar Scholarship	students	1,500 roubles per month
Dmitry Likhachov Scholarship	students	5,000 roubles per month
Anatoly Sobchak Scholarship	students	5,000 roubles per month
Vladimir Tumanov Scholarship	students	2,000 roubles per month
Andrei Voznesensky Scholarship	students	1,500 roubles per month
Personal/notable scholarships of the Government of St Petersburg including the following:
Personal scholarship of the Government of St Petersburg	students	2,000 roubles per month (higher education), 1,600 roubles per month (vocational education)
Galina Starovoitova Scholarship	students	2,000 roubles per month
Scholarship to the fellow students from the Baltic States	students	2,000 roubles per month
Scholarships to the students from among children-orphans and abandoned children	students	2,000 roubles per month
Andrey Petrov Scholarship	students	2,000 roubles per month
Daniil Granin Scholarship in the field of linguistics and literature	students	2,000 roubles per month
Zhores Alferov Scholarship in the field of physical sciences	students	2,000 roubles per month
Personal scholarship in the field of information technologies	students	5,000 roubles per month
Personal scholarship in the field of physics	students	5,000 roubles per month
Personal scholarship in the field of mathematics	students	5,000 roubles per month
Personal scholarship in the field of chemistry	students	5,000 roubles per month
Personal scholarship in the field of the Russian language	students	5,000 roubles per month

The information on the competitive selection order and time frame for every scholarship is published on the University portal in the section on Extracurricular activities.

The Russian Government Scholarship is one of the traditional scholarships for undergraduate, graduate and aspirantura students. The applications were accepted in February and March. In April, the candidates were approved by the Academic Council of St Petersburg University. In order to receive the scholarships of the Russian Federation Government in the academic year of 2021/22, in May, the University submitted the documents on 34 students and 20 aspirantura students selected from several hundred honours students to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia. Students in the fields of Chemistry (7 candidates), Biology (6 candidates), Applied Mathematics and Control Processes (4 candidates) and Earth Sciences (4 candidates) were most active. Aspirantura students in the field of Physics (6 candidates), Mathematics (3 candidates) and Chemistry (3 candidates) were most active.

It was noted that although the students are annually informed about the competitive selection and the application process has been completely transferred online, the number of candidates for this personal scholarship has reduced in comparison to the 2020/21 academic year by 37% among undergraduate and graduate students and by 16% among aspirantura students.

In this regard, the meeting participants noted that many undergraduate, graduate and aspirantura students express dissatisfaction with the amount of ordinary and even increased academic scholarship. At the same time, the majority of them do not even try to take part in the scholarship competitions they are eligible for. The meeting participants underscored the importance of work among the academic staff of institutes and faculties aimed at motivating undergraduate, graduate and aspirantura students to take part in scholarship competitive selection and helping them with the application process.

The achievements of St Petersburg University students in the field of sport

On 29-30 May, the final stage of St Petersburg University student competition in rugby-7 took place with the participation of 12 teams. The University combined team won the championship among the higher education establishments of St Petersburg beating the team of the Military Institute of Physical Culture in the finals with the score 24:12. The team players were: Leonid

Artemev, Georgii Dolgopolov, Artem Zhuravlev, Mikhail Zaritskii, Kirill Knel, Mikhail Kondzhariia, Anton Kunchuliia, Ilia Makhin, Nikita Makhin, Artem Morozov, Denis Semikov, Nazar Sergeev, Gleb Starodubtsev.

The University rugby players have reached the final of the Student Rugby League that will take place in Moscow in July 2021. 16 teams from all over Russia will compete for the title of the best student rugby team.

On 28-31 May, the Russian Championship in diving among women and men born in 2003 and younger took place in the ‘Nevskaya Volna’ Water Sports Centre (St Petersburg). Elizaveta Sadykhova, first-year master's student in Business Informatics, took first place in the Obstacle Course for 100 metres. Elizaveta is a member of the Russian Federation diving team, an international master of sports, frequent winner and laureate of Russian and international championships.

The St Petersburg University Collegium of Honorary Professors discussed the activity of the Alumni Association

Gennady Bogomazov, Chairperson of the St Petersburg University Collegium of Honorary Professors, reminded the meeting participants that on 24 December 2020, the University representatives held a meeting with the Alumni Association under the initiative of the Rector. The issues of electing the president and the board of the association were discussed (Minutes of the Rector's Meeting dated 28 December 2020 ). On 14 January, a meeting of the Association

Board took place, where the Rector and other University representatives were invited. At that time, the colleagues from the Association expressed concern that the local acts of this organisation fail to comply with the current legislation. However, this issue was not discussed, since Sergei Belov, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Chairperson of the Permanent Committee on Legal Issues of the University’s Academic Council, was denied the floor, after which the University representatives had to leave the meeting (Minutes of the Rector's Meeting dated 18 January 2021).

The Charter of the St Petersburg University Alumni Association was approved in the course of establishing the organisation in 2014 at the general meeting of the founders. The draft of the Charter was widely discussed in the University community. The Charter (The Charter of the St Petersburg University Alumni Association dated 8 August 2014) established that the highest governance body is the general meeting of the association members. In general, the governance structure was defined in paragraph 7.1 of the Charter in the following way:

General Meeting of the Association members
Executive Director – single executive body
Board – collective executive body headed by the Executive Director
Advisory Council – expert counselling body headed by its chairperson
Auditor – control and auditing organ
The President is not a governance body of the Association

As the highest governance body, the general meeting of the Association members had the following competences: changing the Association Charter; defining the priority fields of activity; forming the Association Board for the term of seven years; and electing the Association President (paragraph 7.3 of the Charter). The decision was made by the majority of votes with the presence of a quorum (over a half of participants listed among the Association members present at the general meeting) (paragraph 7.5 of the Charter).

The President is elected for five years (paragraph 7.28 of the Charter). Upon the registration of the Association, the governance bodies were formed. The Association President was also elected for the term of five years. In 2014, the University and the Association signed an agreement.

In 2016, the general meeting of the Association introduced changes into the Charter (Minutes of the general meeting of the St Petersburg University Alumni Association members dated 13 February 2016 ). As a result, the governance structure of the Association was described in paragraph 7.1 of the Charter in the following way:

General Meeting of the Association members
Executive Director – single executive body
Board – collective executive body headed by the Executive Director
Advisory Council – expert counselling body

The competence of the general meeting of the Association members and the decision-making order were generally preserved. The term of the Board was reduced to five years (paragraph 7.10 of the Charter).

The Charters of the Association from 2014 and 2016 provided for the possibility to hold a general meeting of the Association members in the form of a conference, but the procedure of organising the conference was not specified. In accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, the Charter should specify the procedure of organising the conference. The Association website has no information about any normative acts of the Association regulating the conference organisation at that time. There is also no information about the conference on the website of the Association.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that in accordance with paragraph 7.3.1 of the Charter (Charter of the St Petersburg University Alumni Association dated 13 February 2016 ), the ‘approval and change of the Association Charter’ is within the competence of the general meeting of the Association members, the subsequent and current Charter of the Association was approved in 2019 by the decision of the conference (Charter of the St Petersburg University Alumni Association dated 18 May 2019) instead of the general meeting of the Association members.

There is no information whatsoever on the website of the Association on the order, participants and grounds of holding the conference. There is also no information why the conference was held instead of the general meeting of the Association members. At the same time, the Association website features a document in Word format (without any signatures and stamps) with the information about the decisions taken at the general meeting of the Association members.

The governance structure of the Association was radically changed in the new Charter ‘adopted by the conference’. The structure looks in the following way (paragraph 7.1 of the Charter):

Conference of the Association members – supreme body
Executive Director – single executive body
Board – collective executive body headed by the Executive Director
Advisory Council – expert counselling body

Thus, the conference became the highest governance body instead of the general meeting.

What is the procedure of selecting the conference delegates? In accordance with paragraph 7.2.2 of the Charter, an Association member elected by the delegate to take part in the conference has the right to participate in the conference. The procedure and order of electing the participants by the delegates is specified in the Provisions on the order of organising and holding the conference approved by the Board.

The Association Board has approved the Provisions. The Provisions state that the delegates to take part in the conference are elected based on the following quota: one representative on the part of 100 Association members (paragraph 2.2 of the Provisions).

The information who are those 100 Association members electing the delegate is missing both in the Provisions and on the Association website. The information on the order of defining the ‘voter districts’, which district the candidate runs for, and if there are any districts at all is missing. The information on the number of votes collected by the conference delegated is also missing.

Apollinariia Avrutina took part in the election of the conference delegates and witnessed the way the delegate elections were organised. It turned out that it was enough for Apollinariia Avrutina to receive three votes (one of which was her own vote, since you can vote for yourself) to be granted the status of the conference delegate. It remains unknown who are those 100 Association members that elected her. The Association website still has no information on the details of the voting results including the list of participants. The website has no information on any details of the voting that took part after 2018.

The Association President is elected for the term of five years based on the Charter version adopted at the general meeting in 2014 and 2016, and even based on the Charter version ‘adopted by the conference’. Thus, the President appointment term terminated no later than the spring of 2020 even if we take into consideration the time of the Association registration.

However, the person previously elected the Association President continues to call themselves a president after the appointment termination, namely, at the end of 2020. At least, the Association President is not its governance body.

A single executive body of the Association is its Executive Director. This person is entitled to perform administrative work on behalf of the Association. Upon the resignation or appointment termination of the executive director, the elections of a new executive director should be organised. It means that a general meeting of the Association members or a conference should be conducted as provided by the Charter ‘adopted by the conference’ in 2019. However, if the Charter of 2014 and 2016 states that new elections should be organised after the resignation of the executive director, the Charter ‘adopted by the conference’ in 2019 allows not to hold such elections. The Charter ‘adopted by the conference’ in 2019 states that the elected executive director can appoint an acting executive director with the delegation of authority not only for the period of temporary absence (business trip, vacation, temporary incapacity), but also for the period after the resignation of the elected executive director. The Charter ‘adopted by the conference’ in 2019 specifies no time limit for the appointment term of the acting executive director and no restrictions in his or her authority.

In essence, the acting executive director should organise the conference on electing a new executive director. However, according to the rules specified by the Association Board, it is the executive director (in this case acting executive director) who should approve the conference agenda than cannot be changed by the conference. At the same time, the general meeting of the association members or the conference are the highest governance bodies with the right to consider any issue of importance within their competence.

During the last conference, the delegates were refused to consider the issue that had not been included into the agenda by the acting executive director. The issues in adjusting the agenda were not even put to a vote. The Chairperson of the conference stated that the agenda had been previously approved in due order and was not subject to changes.

The authority of the conference was limited in another field as well. 10 candidates wanted to take part in the competition for the executive director position. However, the conference delegates were given only one candidate to vote for, since this candidate had previously been selected and approved by some committee formed by the Board and headed by the acting executing director. The chairperson provided no explanation to the conference delegates of such decision and no reasons for excluding all the candidates from the elections. At the same time, the Association website features no information on the formation of such a committee. Thus, some unknown committee authorised with advisory and other capacity elected one predetermined candidate from 10 candidates for the executive director position. Then, the acting executive director stated in the agenda that there was only one candidate for the position of the executive director and the voting took place only with that candidate. It should be emphasised one more time that the executive director as the single executive body performs all the current administrative work of the Association. Thus, the general situation presents a violation of the basic democratic principles of the Association management. And if at the moment of establishing the Association the democratic principles were its main focus, in the recent years the situation has changed dramatically.

Professor Bogomazov said that on 7 July, the St Petersburg University Collegium of Honorary Professors held a meeting, where Doctor of Philology, Professor Аpollinariia Avrutina shared the following information. Previously, she had put forward her candidacy for the position of the executive director of the St Petersburg University Alumni Association. Having seen the violations in the procedure of electing the delegates for the general meeting and the procedure of the association governance body election, Apollinariia Avrutina turned to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation with a request to inspect the activity of the St Petersburg University Alumni Association. The Ministry of Justice responded and confirmed that a number of violations of the current legislation were found during the inspection (Response ).

The letter from the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation in St Petersburg states the following:

The Association Charter fails to comply with the requirements of the current legislation of the Russian Federation.
In violation of paragraph 2 of article 65.3, paragraph 3 of article 123.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the definition of the standard operating procedure of the supreme governance body has been transferred to the Board and the approval of the agenda has been transferred to the executive director.
In violation of paragraph 2 of article 14 of the Federal Law No 7-FZ ‘On nonprofit organisation’ dated 12 January 1996, during the inspected period the Association did not comply with the charter provisions regulating the order of the Advisory Council formation and operation.
In violation of paragraph 1 of article 65.2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the approval of one candidate suggested by the HR committee to be elected for the position of executive director based on the interview results violates the right of the association members to take part in governing the association and electing the executive director.
In violation of paragraph 1 of article 65.2 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the existing provisions of organising the conference and electing the delegates determined by the Board (the Provisions) violate the right of the association members to take part in the association governance:
- Not all association members have the information on the conference, since paragraph 3.6 of the Provisions determines different procedures of informing the members (via the provided e-mails of the association members and/or via publication of the information on the official website of the association).
- The existing procedure of electing the delegates does not allow to determine who exactly those 100 members represented by the delegate are
- The election of the delegate is limited by the order of application (in case of an equal number of votes for the candidate, only those candidates who had formed their applications earlier become delegates); the quorum on the number of members that should take part in the vote to elect delegates for participation in the conference has not been established.

Having discussed these issues, the St Petersburg University Collegium of Honorary Professors took the recommendations to establish a new Alumni Association of St Petersburg University and Leningrad State University by forming a relevant committee and initiate work on terminating the agreement between St Petersburg University and the old Association.

The participants of the Rector’s meeting supported the proposal.