11 October 2021 Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting

Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting

№ 494
dated 11.10.2021

    Establishing ‘St Petersburg University Representative Office’ in the Federal Republic of Germany

    The agreement on opening a representative office of St Petersburg University in the Federal Republic was signed by both parties. On 4 October 2021, an in-person meeting with Tobias Stüdemann representing the Freie Universität Berlin took place. The issues of holding an opening ceremony, the date of opening and promising spheres of cooperation were discussed.

    The representative office of St Petersburg University is located on campus in an old ‘International House’ mansion at the Freie Universität Berlin. It is planned to hold the grand opening of the University on the birthday of the Freie Universität Berlin (the foundation date is 4 December 1948). The 53rd anniversary of cooperation between St Petersburg University and the Freie Universität Berlin is planned to be held in mid-November. The grand ceremony scenario is being developed.

    The office premises are ready and equipped with the necessary furniture and devices. St Petersburg University is preparing for the opening by collecting and shipping books on studying Russian as a foreign language, St Petersburg University brand products and souvenirs. The work on developing and publishing a webpage of St Petersburg University representative office on the Freie Universität Berlin website is near completion. It is planned to publish and maintain the webpage in three languages: Russian, German and English.

    The directors have been asked to send proposals on joint events with the German colleagues: round tables, open lectures, participation of representatives of the Freie Universität Berlin in the councils of academic programmes in the relevant fields, book presentations, etc.

    Publications devoted to the 300th anniversary

    The work on preparing publications to the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University continues (https://spbu.ru/openuniversity/documents/materialy-rektorskogo-soveshchaniya-483«>Minutes of the Rector’s meeting dated 26 July 2021). The work is performed in two directions:

    • Several books are being prepared for publication at the University Publishing House. The memories about the University by its contemporaries titled ‘St Petersburg Imperial University in Memoirs’ will be the largest publications at least in four volumes. The work on the first volume has been completed for the most part.
    • The second direction of work should contribute to promoting the information on the University achievements in various fields of science. To this end, teaching staff are writing a series of articles for various journals around the world. In the first place, these are scientific journals indexed in international scientometric databases. The first publications are expected in 2022.

    All meeting participants supported the proposal of Igor Tikhonovich, Dean of the Faculty of Biology and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to devote their scientific publications to the anniversary of the University in the pre-anniversary years.

    Current issues with organising the teaching and learning process

    During the past period, the Virtual Reception received 26 enquiries from students and faculty (including eight questions on educational and methodological issues) to the Senior Vice Rector for Academic Affairs. 31 enquiries were registered in the student’s enquiry register.

    The enquiries covered various topics: possibility of transfer to St Petersburg University; resitting exams in a distant format; getting certificates of education; getting advance training at St Petersburg University; changing the field of study; taking part in the Russian Census (I would like to take part in the Russian Census but I was not assigned for this activity. What should I do?); postponing the payment under the aspirantura programme agreement; getting a record from the electronic student record book; plagiarism check in SafeAssign; dissertation defence in English; receiving a scholarship from a private company; hybrid format of studies (The format of studies); and vaccination for international students and receiving a vaccination QR-code. All enquiries are being addressed and responded in a timely manner.

    According to the information from the heads of the majority of academic and research departments, no issues have been found in the educational process organisation. Classes take place according to the timetable in a hybrid mode. No enquiries, comments and complaints have been received from students and teachers.

    According to the information from the Dean of the School of International Relations, due to holding international forum ‘Russia and Ibero-America in a Globalizing World’ some groups were transferred into the distant format with the use of information and communication technologies on 4 to 6 October to avoid massive transfer of classes.

    Several replies have been published in the Virtual Reception including the one confirming the obligatory nature of practical work for students (Is the practice as part of the Russian Census obligatory for St Petersburg University students?, On practical work as part of the Russian Census). At the same time, taking part in the Russian Census is possible only on the basis of a voluntary independent contractor agreement between the parties. If any of the parties refuses to conclude such a contract, the student cannot take part in the Russian Census (Will there be a response to the appeal of the Student Council regarding the practice within the framework of the Russian Census?). In this case, practical work will be organised in a different format, for example in Petrostat in April-May of the following year.

    It was pointed out that the University had accepted various student’s activity including extracurricular activity as academic programme components including, for example, studies in an international university. Thus, following Order 7971/1 ‘On accepting the results of extracurricular activity of St Petersburg University students’ dated 12 August 2021 and issued by Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities and Teaching Methods, the results of extracurricular activity that can be accepted as academic results include the results of project, volunteer and other socially important activity organised by St Petersburg University for the students in the course of studies in the relevant field at St Petersburg University. The results of such activity are accepted as the results of studying the disciplines (modules), practical work within the academic programme and personal development activity. At the same time, the changes are not introduced into the teaching methodology documentation. Concluding new agreements on practical work with the organisations does not require introducing any changes into the syllabi for practices (Will the University change the teaching materials in the middle of the academic year?).

    There was an enquiry on changing the bachelor’s programme curricula in the part of mastering the ‘Foreign languages’ block. The student noted that ‘the pre-2020 curricula included trajectory 4.2 in the «Foreign Languages» block implying the studies of a second foreign language after two semesters of English (a general course). Now the curricula for students entering the University in 2020 and 2021 feature trajectory 4 instead of 4.2 that implies studying English for four terms. Thus, the students with the level higher than B2 have to continue studying a general course of English instead of a possibility to study a new language’. The student asks to clarify this change related to the studies of foreign languages.

    The following reply has been prepared to this enquiry: starting 2020, the concept of teaching the common discipline of English in the bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes has changed. The trajectories of studying English are related to common disciplines only: (№ 001000) English for degree programmes before the admission year of 2020 and (№ 700000) English starting the admission year of 2020. Both disciplines imply studying English from a certain level following a specific trajectory and at least to the level corresponding to B2. In particular, trajectories 4.2 and 4 correspond to trajectories В2—В2+. At the same time, following the equal opportunity approach, a possibility to study a second foreign language should not be provided based on the initial level of English when it comes to the fields of study with the major other than a foreign language. A second foreign language has been excluded from non-language majors also to avoid artificial increase of work load by disciplines unrelated to the development of professional competencies in the fields of study with the major other than a foreign language.

    Moreover, the programmes of the trajectories in discipline № 700000 (English) include the Academic English component. The scope of this component significantly increases from trajectory 1 to trajectory 4, which provides for the development of communicative competencies for the students in each of the trajectories. It should be taken into account that internationalisation of education and alignment of the degree programme with the realities of modern labour market also imply a foreign language training in the scope of professional and academic competencies. Learning a second foreign language within non-linguistic fields of study cannot and should not be at the basic level or just for familiarisation. The academic and profession-oriented level implies a high initial second foreign language competency among the majority of students in this field. Introducing a profound study of a second foreign language ‘from scratch’ will adversely affect the scope of special disciplines of non-language cycle and, consequently, the level of acquiring professional and research competencies, which does not correspond to the modern requirements to the academic programmes at St Petersburg University.

    Some directors held no meetings with the representatives of student councils over the past week.

    During the meeting between the Director of the Institute of History and the chairperson of the Student Council and monitors of the fourth year, monitors of two groups reported one confirmed and two non-confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses. The students were requested to forward this information to the Academic Office to introduce changes in the learning format in these groups for the time of quarantine. The students were requested to confirm the diagnosis with a doctor. The students of group 18.Б03-ии expressed a desire to hold classes in ‘Modern and Contemporary History’ (workshop) delivered by Anatolii Smolin in a distant format with the use of information and communication technology. The students were informed of the orders and conditions that determine the choice of a distant format.

    During the meeting of the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Political Science with the representatives of the Student Council and monitors of the third year, current issues of organising the teaching and learning process, a hybrid format in the autumn term and introduction of a distant mode with the use of MS Teams on the basis of confirmatory documents only (for example, medical certificate) were discussed.

    Organising and holding practical work for third-year bachelor’s students during the autumn term of the 2021/22 academic year and participation in the Russian Census were discussed. The Student Council representatives inquired about the format of studies during the practical work in the capacity of census takers at the Russian Census. A distant format of studies with the use of MS Teams was proposed. A relevant proposal was forwarded to Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs. Questions on possible practical work options were answered.

    The questions of student participation in the Russian Census were also discussed at the meetings of the Dean of the Faculty of Sociology with the Student Council members, the management of the Faculty of Philology with the third-year bachelor’s students, the management of the Faculty of Economics with the students at the meeting with the students.

    The management of the Graduate School of Management discussed the new experience of living in the halls of residence at the Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus with the Student Council representatives. Failures in the Electronic Timetable operation were mentioned. This issue is being examined.

    During the meeting, the Dean of the Faculty of Physics and the Chairperson of the Student Council discussed current issues in organising the teaching and learning process. The Student Council representatives reported that on the night of 18 to 19 September several students residing at the halls of residence in the Petrodvortsovy District were detained by the police for violating public order in the territory of the halls of residence. A student of the bachelor’s programme ‘Applied Physics and Mathematics’ was among the detained. A representative of the Student Council expressed an opinion that the disciplinary measure of expulsion from the University anticipated for student A.A. Khutsutdinov is excessive. The opinion of the students was taken into consideration.

    The management of the Faculty of Economics held a meeting with the students. A hybrid format of studies was discussed. Presumably, the interim assessment will also be held in a hybrid mode. In-person tests and exams can be held in the disciplines taught in the forms of on-campus workshops. The groups with coronavirus cases will be transferred to a distant format for the quarantine period. All cases of coronavirus should be immediately reported to the Academic Office.

    On the elections to the Student Council. The elections to the panel of the Student Council will be held after including first-year student representatives.

    Participation in open lectures and conferences was discussed. It was clarified that participation in regular research events, open lectures, career counselling events is free, but requires registration. The University has agreements with Peking University and Ningbo University that imply field practical work for the students of ‘Economics (with Advanced Studies in Chinese Economy and Language)’, which is currently impossible due to the pandemic. However, the participants were informed about the possibility of a joint Russia—China online conference.

    The Director of the College of Physical Training and Sports, Economics and Technology held meetings with third-year students discussing practical work in the related field of the discipline.

    It was noted that the Information Technology Service at St Petersburg University is getting enquiries from students and faculty related to the use of information and communication technologies during classes. Some of them are related to the MS Teams failures. Diagnostics performed by the University Information Technology Service specialists shows that in most cases these issues are caused by non-satisfactory condition of personal devices and Internet connection. As a rule, a personal computer or device do not correspond to the requirements to such equipment, while the Internet connection with the use of mobile Internet is unstable.

    The specialists of the University Information Technology Service recommend that the equipment should be examined in advance with the help of technical Support Service of the University Information Technology Service. The process of enquiry and contacts are listed on the St Petersburg University portal in the University Information Technology Service section with the instructions published here.

    Online courses on the ‘OpenEdu’ platform

    Vladimir Starostenko, Director of the Centre for E-learning Development, reported that St Petersburg University continues to hold leadership on the Russian online education market. In the first decade of September, St Petersburg University was the first university at the National educational platform ‘OpenEdu’ to expand beyond 2 million records with the general number of records slightly exceeding 9 million. As of today, St Petersburg University holds the first place not only in the number of students, but also in the number of published courses with 155 courses out of 752. The number of students of St Petersburg University online courses on the ‘OpenEdu’ platform has exceeded 2 million.

    Top 10 most demanded courses of St Petersburg University on the ‘OpenEdu’ platform

    №

    Course

    Head of the group of authors

    Number of students

    1

    Chinese for Beginners

    Natalia Vlasova

    82,943

    2

    History of Russia

    Iurii Krivosheev

    77,277

    3

    Psychology of Consciousness

    Viktor Allakhverdov

    70,688

    4

    Psycholinguistics

    Tatiana Chernigovskaya

    62,651

    5

    Latin Beginner Course

    Olga Budaragina

    52,408

    6

    English: Preparation for the Candidate’s Examination

    Svetlana Rubtsova

    51,986

    7

    Japanese for Beginners

    Inga Ibrakhim

    49,282

    8

    Design Methodology. Inspiration Management

    Galina Lola

    45,432

    9

    Philosophy

    Nikita Kuznetsov

    42,942

    10

    Language of Modern Advertising and Mass Media

    Svetlana Drugoveiko-Dolzhanskaia

    42,782

    Apart from continuous inflow of external students, the number of the University students with online courses being a part of their curricula is growing. In the spring term of the 2020/21 academic year, over 11,000 students at St Petersburg University attended online courses as part of their degree programmes. The number of students enrolled in 16 obligatory courses on the ‘OpenEdu’ platform exceeded 13,000.

    The number of students enrolled in the courses during the autumn term of the 2020/21 academic year as of 11 October has already exceeded 38,000 having increased threefold. 17,000 of unique students of St Petersburg University have been enrolled in 37 online courses. Following the proposals of Directors/Deans, 27 online courses have been included into the list of online courses that can replace attending the discipline fully or partially.

    Besides, the portfolio of partners is growing. Despite and in many instances due to difficult epidemiological situation, St Petersburg University managed not only to keep the pace, but also to strengthen its leading position in creating and implementing online courses. Thus, in 2020 the general number of St Petersburg University students under online agreements was twice as high as the general number of students under online agreements in 2015–2019. In 2021, the number of students under online agreements has grown twofold. By now, St Petersburg University has over 30 partner universities. Moreover, in 2020, during the pandemic about 13,000 students and teachers were additionally enrolled based on recommendations from 66 Russian universities, while students from 23 educational institutions applied individually. Thus, St Petersburg University helped regional universities to finish the term without losing the quality of education during the lockdown.

    Another important event happened last week. The national educational platform ‘OpenEdu’ introduced a new service: online programmes that make it possible to publish courses or specialisations for various levels of education including non-degree programmes. Every programme is focused on getting real-life skills that are highly demanded in the labour market. This enables the students to find a more promising field and get a new profession. Currently, the platform features eight programmes and half of them are the programmes of St Petersburg University: ‘Creative Thinking in Business’; ‘Legal English’; ‘Blockchain: Aims, Business Models and Regulation’; and ‘Blockchain: Architecture and Operation principles’. All these programmes will be implemented in a distant format.

    St Petersburg University continues to develop its own platform integrated with the federal portal ‘Modern Digital Educational Environment’. At the moment, the platform is being tested with a number of courses. Programme functions are partially used as independent blocks. Thus, separate blocks are used for learning and taking final tests in Russian as a Foreign Language within the activity of the Language Testing Centre at St Petersburg University. This block is registered by Rospatent as a programme. In the near future, the platform will make it possible to scale new educational technologies for students related to building flexible educational trajectories, efficient implementation of the teaching and learning process with the use of e-learning and forming non-degree programmes in a distant format.

    Sergei Belov, Dean of the Faculty of Law, asked how the promotion of online courses taught by the University lawyers is organised. In his opinion, the audience of these courses is not very large. Vladimir Starastenko explained that the audience of these online courses is quite narrow due to professional requirements in comparison to ‘Chinese for Beginners’, for example. However, the number of students who complete the studies and pass the test to get the certificate is quite large. This confirms the success of the course.

    The Rector’s meeting participants discussed the options of promoting St Petersburg University online courses with the use of the University and partner resources. The following options were proposed: informing the audience in reports and presentations at scientific conferences, scientific articles, published books (monographs and study books), on the webpages of institutes and faculties, on the webpages of the University partners including professional associations, in social networks including student communities and teacher groups, in mass media interviews, etc.

    Resettlement and outcomes of a meeting with the Student Council. Mailing the minutes of the Rector’s meetings.

    On 5 October, Dmitrii Mikhailov, Head of the Department of Maintenance and Operation of Halls of Residence at the University and Vice-Deputy of Deputy Senior Vice Rector for Material Assets Management, held a meeting with the members of the Student Council committee on the work with the halls of residence. Vladimir Savinov, Head of the Department for Youth Affairs, took part in the meeting.

    The meeting participants asked their questions including the ones prepared on the basis of a survey held with the residents of the halls of residence. They were related to the work of the halls of residence and services located on campus and leisure and extracurricular activity for the students who live in halls of residence.

    Dmitrii Mikhailov informed the students about the leisure activity options in the territory of the halls of residence that include a gym, rooms for creative group classes in the Palace of Culture and Science, sport grounds, street gym equipment, and lounge area with benches. He also mentioned the activity related to returning the majority of classes to an on-campus format in the recent months: opening a co-working area in Hall of Residence № 16 and reconstructing the former store into a leisure space for students in Hall of Residence № 12 in the near future. Dmitrii Mikhailov said to the meeting participants that he is ready to consider proposals on the functions and equipment of these spaces. He also informed about other rooms that can be used for various events. The students promised to submit their proposals within a week.

    The meeting participants said that they are aware of the current leisure options in the territory of the halls of residence including the rehearsals of art groups at the Palace of Culture and Science, a billiard room with additional space for table tennis and board games, sport grounds in the territory of the halls of residence. At the same time, in their opinion, almost half of the students in the halls of residence are not aware of these options since not everyone consults with the University portal sections getting the information from social networks instead. Many first-year and second-year students have arrived to the halls of residents only this year due to coronavirus. Dmitrii Mikhailov asked to analyse the portal section with the information on the halls of residence to make its structure and interface more convenient and understandable. It was also proposed to mail the Minutes of the Rector’s meetings to the students’ corporate e-mails.

    Dmitrii Mikhailov also informed the students of the plans to: replace lifts in Halls of Residence № 1, 2, 3 (Korablestroitelei Street), № 4 (25 Shevchenko Street) and № 18 (77, 8th Line, Vasilyevsky Island); and repair the cover of the sport grounds in the territory of the halls of residence in Peterhof before the end of the year.

    A question about holding events in the Palace of Culture and Science was raised. Vladimir Savinov showed a webpage on the St Petersburg University portal, ‘Extracurricular Activities’ section, with the current timetable of all art groups and classes of students at the Palace of Culture and Science with the contact details of organisers and administrators. Vladimir Savinov also said that the posters with this information will be put up on the walls of the halls of residence in the near future. A joint calendar of all activities and events in the Palace of Culture and Science is being prepared.

    If students want to organise an event in the Palace of Culture and Science or inquire about the activity of art groups, they can contact the relevant officers at the Department for Youth Affairs. Since the Palace of Culture and Science is limited in resources in terms of providing the students with access to the rooms due to the tight daily schedule of the events and rehearsals, Vladimir Savinov recommended the students to contact the officers in advance with their proposals on the new events thinking them through in their communities with the participation of the Student Council committee working with the halls of residence.

    The process of resettlement between the halls of residence is underway. As of today, 416 students have used this opportunity. After putting into operation the halls of residence in the ‘Mikhailovskaya Dacha’ palace and park area, the resettlement of the students of the bachelor’s programmes in ‘Management’, ‘International Management’, ‘Public Administration’ is underway. The settlement and resettlement of students from other halls of residence at St Petersburg University is performed on the basis of applications submitted pursuant to the Regulations on the halls of residence at St Petersburg University. As of today, 217 students live in these halls of residence. On 7 October, students started to resettle from the halls of residence located in Peterhof to the halls of residence located in the Vasileostrovsky and Nevsky Districts of St Petersburg based on the lists published on the webpage of the Department for Youth Affairs at St Petersburg University. Seven students have already relocated. This process will last till 20 October.

    At the same time, the staff of the Department of Maintenance and Operation of Halls of Residence make sure that the anti-epidemic measures are observed, while analysing changes in the epidemiological situation. In this regard, the decision on lifting access restrictions between the halls of residence has been postponed till 20 October in order to take an informed decision.

    Violations of the legislation of the Russian Federation, University by-laws, employment agreements and other documents by students and staff

    In June—September 2021, 60 violations of the by-laws of St Petersburg University were recorded (June—15, July—8, August—5, September—32).

    The distribution of violations among the educational levels: secondary vocational training — 5, bachelor’s programmes — 36, specialist’s programmes — 11, master’s programmes — 5, doctoral programmes — 2, medical residency programmes — 1.

    The distribution among the fields of study: Biology — 1, African and Asian Studies — 2, Journalism — 1, History — 2, Mathematics and Computer Science — 1, Mathematics and Mechanics — 15, Medicine — 1, International Relations — 3, Political Science — 2, Applied Mathematics and Control Processes — 5, Psychology — 1, Liberal Arts and Sciences — 1, Sociology — 2, Physics — 5, Physical Education (non-university level higher education) — 5, Philology — 4, Philosophy — 2, Economics — 3, Law — 4.

    The types of violations (some students have violated several provisions of different rules):

    1. paragraphs 6.1.3, 6.1.6, 6.1.9 of the Internal Regulations at St Petersburg University, namely: observe discipline; keep the territory of the University clean; avoid alcoholic and low-alcohol drinks; avoid walking around under the influence of alcohol; avoid making excessive noise in the halls of residence; and avoid violating legitimate interests of other residents — 22;
    2. paragraph 1 of the Order on the ban of smoking in the territory of St Petersburg University, namely, smoking tobacco — 3;
    3. paragraph 2.1.11 of the Internal Regulations at St Petersburg University, namely: observe the established access control procedure; avoid giving personal access card including electromagnetic access card (student ID, personal ID) to third persons; and avoid using the access card of a different person (student ID, personal ID) — 1;
    4. paragraph 10.1.3 of the Accommodation rules in the halls of residence at St Petersburg University, namely, following the rules of keeping the living space in order — 2;
    5. paragraph 2.3 of the Internal Regulations at St Petersburg University, paragraph 10.1.9 of the Accommodation rules in the halls of residence at St Petersburg University approved by Order 8468/1 dated 28 August 2019, paragraph 4.3 of the Tenancy Agreement for a specialised residential space in the halls of residence at St Petersburg University, namely, failure to pay for the residential space and utilities for over six months — 12;
    6. paragraph 10.2.6 of the Accommodation rules in the halls of residence at St Petersburg University, namely: avoid smoking in the residential areas and common spaces; drinking alcohol; using drugs and toxic substances; staying in the territory of the halls of residence of St Petersburg University under alcoholic, drug, toxic and similar intoxication; keeping and selling drugs, toxic substances and other prohibited agents; and keeping large-scale things in the rooms, which prevents other residents from using the allocated spaces — 4;
    7. paragraph 2.1.2 of the Internal Regulations of St Petersburg University, namely, follow the requirements of the legislative acts in the sphere of education regulating the learning and scientific processes (wearing a mask) — 12;
    8. paragraphs 10.2.3, 10.2.5, 10.2.9 of the Accommodation rules in the halls of residence at St Petersburg University, namely, non-approved mounting of equipment in the halls of residence — 1;
    9. paragraph 2.1.7 of the Internal Regulations, namely: follow ethical and cultural traditions and values of the University including the general moral and ethical standards; and follow the University Student and Staff Code of Conduct — 1;
    10. paragraph 10.2.13 of the Accommodation rules in the halls of residence at St Petersburg University: committing actions leading to disciplinary measures, monetary, civil, administrative and criminal liability (violating self-isolation regime) — 1;
    11. paragraph 10.2.1 of the Accommodation rules in the halls of residence at St Petersburg University, namely, voluntary resettlement from one living space to another within the halls of residence — 1;

    Disciplinary actions following these violations have been announced to 19 students (4 comments, 12 reprimands, 3 expulsions). Three students are on academic leave, so the disciplinary measures will be effected upon their return. Full cases supporting disciplinary actions have been drawn on 33 students. Currently, the materials are examined by the Student Council of St Petersburg University. The cases supporting disciplinary actions for three students are being prepared. Upon completion they will be forwarded to the Student Council of St Petersburg University.

    It was additionally mentioned that mass media published several articles on a theft committed by a University student and a criminal case initiated in this regard. The University has not received any information from the law enforcement authorities on this issue. Personal data of the perpetrator were not mentioned in the articles, which makes it impossible to determine whether it is a student of the University. It should be taken into account that in accordance with the University by-laws, if a student is convicted of a criminal offence, he or she is subject to expulsion from the University.

    During the last three months, 23 violations committed by the University staff were recorded. Upon internal investigation, relevant measures were taken. In comparison, 24 violations were recorded in 2020.

    Some of the violations are repeating like smoking in the territory of the University. A warning was made to system administrator S.V. Chizhova at the University Information Technology Service and Iu. V. Zhelezniak at the Distributed Ledger Technologies Centre for smoking in the territory of the University.

    Punishments to the University staff were announced. Thus, a reprimand was announced to already former Deputy Head of the Real Estate and Land Division A.P. Chuprak for illegal assignment of rental payments. A warning was announced to Evgenii Barykov, Head of Care and Maintenance Department № 7 of the Chief Engineer’s Office, for the failure to perform the order on directing staff to regular training in ‘Operation and safe maintenance of electric systems’. A reprimand was announced to Konstantin Krotov, Executive Director of the Graduate School of Management, for failure to timely provide the information to students on the alleged obligatory resettlement to the halls of residence in the Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus, which ignited a discussion in social networks. Mikhail Kudilinsky, Vice-Rector for Economic Development, was given a warning for the violations of the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor) regulation related to putting into operation the halls of residence in the Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus. The relevant work results were mentioned in two more orders, where he was pointed at the need to perform job duties in a proper manner.

    The sources of information about violations are different, but every piece of information is examined. Upon voicing the violations, the meeting participants took the decision based on the severity, circumstances, previous conduct of the worker and his or her attitude to job duties.

    Enquiry of Maksim Drozhzhin to the Ethics Committee at St Petersburg University

    On 8 October, the Ethics Committee discussed an enquiry of Maksim Drozhzhin, a first-year master’s student in ‘Anthropology and Ethnology’, in relation to the conduct of Ekaterina Golovkina, Art Director of the Folk Music Group. In view of receiving additional information on the enquiry, the Ethics Committee members decided to conduct an additional discussion of the situation. No decision has been taken yet (Who distributes false information about the meeting of the Ethics Committee on the enquiry from student Maksim Drozhzhin?, On the Ethics Committee decisions).

    Access control for the persons diagnosed with COVID-19 to the territory of St Petersburg University. Epidemiological situation at the University.

    On 4 October, the following article was published in mass media ‘Without an ID and «vizard»: St Petersburg University students laugh at the new COVID-19 restrictions’:

    At the same time, since the beginning of the academic year the Virtual Reception has received complaints from the University students for untimely unblocking of ID access cards that were previously blocked due to contracting coronavirus disease (COVID-19) or contacting with an infected person:

    • Enquiry to the Virtual Reception № 119023 dated 3 September 2021 from student A. Manokhin
    • Enquiry to the Virtual Reception № 119071 dated 8 September 2021 from student M. Eremeeva

    The algorithm of providing the information on contracting coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by the University students was specified in Order № 4430/1 dated 29 April 2021‘The procedure of informing about the cases of contracting coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and vaccination from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by the students at St Petersburg University’.

    The decision on the access control restrictions for the persons infected with coronavirus (COVID-19) to the premises of St Petersburg University were taken by the emergency response centre of the University established by Order № 2194/1 dated 19 March 2020. Thus, all students and staff at St Petersburg University infected with COVID-19 had their access cards blocked until the provision of medical certificates confirming recovery to the Academic Office in the relevant field of study or to the Human Resources department, respectively.

    On 24 September, Order № 3238/1r ‘Organising the work on blocking/unblocking access cards in case of contracting coronavirus disease’ was issued to reduce the information exchange time between the University officials.

    Unfortunately, in the past two weeks the epidemiological situation at the University has been deteriorating. If on 20 to 26 September 2021, two staff members got ill (no hospitalisation), from 27 September to 3 October 21 persons got ill (one person was hospitalised).

    43 students are currently going through the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). From 1 September 2021, 61 persons have gone through the disease including 49 persons in the halls of residence. Nine groups are currently on a self-isolation regime. The self-isolation regime was provided for 21 persons in the halls of residence. As of 11 October, the number of students that have provided information on vaccination from coronavirus is 3,158. 183 international students have been directed to vaccination.

    Iurii Guzov has been released from the position of First Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics

    Due to harsh statements on the part of Iurii Guzov, First Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics, related to volunteers and students (Is it true that Acting Dean of the Faculty of Economics called volunteers ‘squalid’?). Iurii Guzov has been released from the position of First Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics as requested by Dean of the Faculty of Economics Otar Margania. The students addressed the Ethics Committee with a request to assess the actions and statements of Associate Professor Iurii Guzov.

    St Petersburg University was refused in initiating a criminal case. However...

    In the ‘University: A Fresh Start’ section on the University website, it has already been told about rental relations at the University from the early 1990s to almost 2006. For example, ‘Collective irresponsibility and lost millions’ and ‘The University property rent: past and present’. The problem was that due to artificially low rent (sometimes by 10 times), the University did not receive millions of roubles at the same time covering all the maintenance costs for buildings and premises.

    The premises at 2/11a 9th Line, Vasilyevsky Island, St Petersburg, were rented at artificially low prices. Several officials were involved in the offence: Deputy Head of the Main Department for Material Assets Management Vadim Polonskii; Deputy Vice-Rector for Material Assets Development Nikolai Kukso; and Head of the Rental Agreement Department I.V. Sorochenkov. The University administration became aware of the fact in 2017 after firing Sergey Bogdanov, Vice-Rector for Asian and African Studies, the Arts and Philology, when the aforementioned officials did not work at the University. Thus, on 19 January 2018, St Petersburg University sent a request to the management of the Directorate of Economic Security at the Department of the Russian Ministry of the Interior in St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region to perform an investigation of the actions of former employees related to concluding rental agreements with artificially low rental payments to rent St Petersburg University buildings at the following address: 2/11a 9th Line, Vasilyevsky Island, St Petersburg.

    In all the explanatory notes, Sergey Bogdanov stated that the ‘Dean of the Faculty could not take the decision on managing the Faculty premises’ and ‘the Rector was aware of all the decisions taken by me’. In other words, the Rector was well aware of the actual status of the case back at the beginning of the 2000s. Thus, the University administration could and had to initiate a relevant claim at the beginning of the 2000s, which was not done for some reason.

    Correspondence with the law enforcement authorities lasted for over three years. The University appealed against the illegal decision to stop the inspections based on ‘the absence of violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation in the actions performed by the University officials’. As a result, on 1 September, the University was refused to initiate a criminal case due to the expiration of the statute of limitation. However, the text of the resolution states the following: ‘The actions of Vadim Polonskii, Deputy Head of the Main Department for Material Assets Management, Nikolai Kukso, Deputy Vice-Rector for Material Assets Development, and I.V. Sorochenkov, Head of the Rental Agreement Department, contain essential elements of an offence provided by part 4, article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Resolution).

    Decision of the Vasileostrovsky District Court

    Elena Skvortsova was a student of the bachelor’s programme in ‘Journalism’ (‘Periodical press’ profile) at St Petersburg University. In February 2021, she was expelled from the fourth year due to a ‘non-satisfactory’ grade in the ‘Internship’ discipline.

    After Elena Skvortsova’s expulsion, mass media published many publications saying that the order was illegal and ungrounded. The entire number of publications on this topic in mass media starting February 2021 till the present moment has amounted to 105 cumulatively viewed by no less than 1,700,000 people. The information was also widely spread on the social networks with the general number of publications on the social media on this issue from February 2021 till the present moment being 324 cumulatively viewed by about 1,900,000 people. Discrimination motives and the interim assessment procedure violation were noticed in such an expulsion without any grounds whatsoever. Complaints on illegal expulsion were sent to the Prosecutor’s Office, Rospotrebnadzor, the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of Russia. The regulatory authorities accepted the order to be legal.

    In May, Elena Skvortsova submitted a claim to the Vasileostrovsky Regional Court of St Petersburg requesting to rule the expulsion order as illegal, return her student status, award a compensation for moral harm. The court considered the case materials, studied the arguments of the parties and ruled the order as legal and well-grounded. On 4 October, the court passed the judgement to refuse in satisfying the claims by Elena Skvortsova in full.