18 October 2021 Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting

Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting

№ 495
dated 18.10.2021

    Evacuation of students from a hall of residence at St Petersburg University

    Dmitry Gryaznov, Deputy Rector for Security, reported that on 17 October at 9.40pm, the main security post at St Petersburg University received a call from an unknown person. The person said that there is information that a person with a bomb entered the hall of residence located at 27 Solidarnosty Prospect. A crime scene investigation team arrived at the hall of residence. The residents were evacuated from the building. Police officers inspected every floor of the building. The inspection was completed on 18 October at 3.15am. No explosives or other prohibited items were found. The residents were allowed to return to their rooms.

    According to unconfirmed sources, the person calling to the guard post was a representative of a well-known mass media, who introduced himself as an officer of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.

    St Petersburg University received the Order of the Polar Star, a state award of Mongolia

    On 12 October, a grand ceremony of granting the highest state award of Mongolia — the Order of the Polar Star — took place in the Petrovsky Hall of the Twelve Collegia building. St Petersburg University was granted the award following Order № 98470 dated 15 June by President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga. The order was established in 1936 to be granted for merit to Mongolia including merit in the sphere of education (St Petersburg University receives the highest award of Mongolia ).

    The Order was given by Saldangiin Odontuya, Deputy Speaker of the State Great Khural of Mongolia, Chairperson of the parliamentary group ‘Mongolia—Russia’, graduate of Leningrad State University in ‘International Economics and International Relations’ in 1988. The ceremony was attended by: Tsogsurengiin Ganbold, Counsellor of the Embassy of Mongolia to the Russian Federation, graduate of the Faculty of Journalism at Leningrad State University in 1983; and Bizyaa Radnaa, Counsellor of the Embassy of Mongolia in the Russian Federation .

    In his speech, Rector Nikolay Kropachev proposed to continue cooperation in the following directions:

    • create a joint online course in the Mongolian language, history and current status together with the leading Mongolian university and with the support of the government of Mongolia
    • create a Mongolian Cabinet at St Petersburg University with the support of the Government of Mongolia
    • invite a teacher of the Mongolian language to work at St Petersburg University
    • organise a meeting with Mongolian businessmen and directors of large corporations represented in the Russian market with the support of the Government and Embassy of Mongolia in Russia
    • attract representatives of Mongolian companies and other organisations as members of the Councils of academic programmes at St Petersburg University
    • publish an album of Mongolian manuscripts from the collection of the Scientific Library of St Petersburg University
    • create a Russian language testing centre in one of the leading universities in Mongolia
    • Organise interaction between the Mongolian Alumni Association of Leningrad State University/St Petersburg University and the Department for Alumni Affairs at St Petersburg University.

    Current issues with organising the teaching and learning process Resettlement of students

    Over the past time period, the Virtual Reception received 33 enquiries from students, faculty and applicants (including 10 questions on educational and methodological issues) to the Senior Vice Rector for Academic Activities. 21 enquiries were registered in the student enquiry register.

    The enquiries covered different topics including the following: possibility of distant learning at St Petersburg University; possibility of choosing the electives; possibility of getting benefits in paying the tuition; directing students to the Russian Census (On directing students to 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?); possibility of resitting the disciplines in a remote format; the procedure for choosing the graduation project topic; possibility of transfer to St Petersburg University; learning with the use of information and communication technologies in the field of Philology and History; going on an academic leave; absence of the test results in an online course; academic lists required to cross the border of the Russian Federation; replacing a research supervisor; introducing changes into the academic programme ‘Personality Psychology’; and teaching English to third-year students in History. All enquiries are being addressed and responded in a timely manner.

    According to the information from the majority of directors of the academic and research departments, the classes are conducted in a hybrid mode following the timetable. No enquiries, complaints or comments have been received from students and teachers.

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

    During the meeting, the Dean of the Faculty of Sociology and the members of the Student Council discussed the participation of students in the Russian Census. The meeting participants were informed about the work conducted together with the Sociological Clinic at St Petersburg University on preparing the students in Sociology for practical training during the Russian Census. The conclusion of contracts between Petrostat and every participant working in the Russian Census is near completion. Changes in the timetable of the second- and third-year bachelor’s students have been introduced to allow for combining the studies with the participation in the census of population. Other issues regarding practical work as part of the Russian Census were discussed.

    The Dean of the Faculty of Political Science also discussed the enquiries on the Russian Census sent to the Virtual Reception during the meeting with the third-year students. All the questions were answered in detail. No follow up questions were raised. The administration of the Faculty of Economics replies to the enquiries of the students of Economics on the Russian Census on an ongoing basis.

    The issues of organising the learning process and the possibility of recreating and developing the Krymskaya research and educational centre were discussed at the meeting between the Director of the Institute of Earth Sciences and members of the Student Council.

    The Director of the Academic Gymnasium held a meeting of the Parent Council. A chairperson and a deputy chairperson of the Council were elected.

    The Technical Support Service of the University Information Technology Service keeps receiving enquiries to resolve the issues related to the use of MS Teams. Since the beginning of the academic year, 126 enquiries on the use of MS Teams have been received. 42 of them are related to the account (the initial access error), while the majority of other enquiries are related to methodological issues. During the past two weeks, the enquiries on providing support to the MS Teams users in their own equipment became more frequent.

    The resettlement of students between the halls of residence is underway. At the moment, 453 students have used this possibility (Minutes of the Rector’s meeting dated 11 October 2021). Based on the resettlement results, the decision on opening access for student to enter other halls of residents will be taken.

    Promotion of the University academic programmes in other countries

    During the autumn of 2020 and spring of 2021, despite the restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, St Petersburg University held a large-scale international campaign aimed at: developing partner relations with international educational institutions; increasing the awareness of St Petersburg University brand worldwide; promoting academic programmes of the University; attracting the most gifted students; and increasing the number of international students with the goal to make St Petersburg University more competitive in the international market of educational services.

    From October to December 2020, St Petersburg University officers took part in 14 international online exhibitions as well as organised and held 15 webinars. The general audience of the career building events during the autumn session was about 30,000 international citizens. From January to May 2021, over 50 online events with the general audience of about 15,000 international citizens were held.

    The University cooperation with the representatives of the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) in other countries is underway. In October 2020, the University took part in two international projects aimed at promoting Russian university education abroad. Thus, within the framework of the project ‘Study in Russia’ aimed at promoting Russian universities in European countries, online exhibitions were held in the Republic of Slovenia, Romania, the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Besides, the University took part in the exhibitions on the margins of the Rossotrudnichestvo project ‘Go to Russia for Education’ in the Kingdom of Thailand, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, and the Republic of India. As a result, the University was introduced to the audience of several thousand participants across ten countries.

    It was noted that within the framework of cooperation with the representatives of Rossotrudnichestvo in foreign countries, in-person events were held despite the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, on 14 May 2021, the day of St Petersburg University was held in Minsk, the Republic of Belarus. During the event, the grand ceremony of signing the Roadmap was conducted. The Roadmap is a plan specifying the list of key joint events for Belarussian secondary school and university students as well as their parents. These include: the University Olympiads for secondary school students; career building lectures; student Olympiad ‘Petropolitan Science (Re)Search’ of St Petersburg University; and many other events (St Petersburg University expands cooperation with the representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo in the Republic of Belarus). The development of cooperation with the representatives of Rossotrudnichestvo in the Republic of Belarus is even more important given that St Petersburg University is the most popular university in Russia for the applicants from the Republic of Belarus (St Petersburg University is the most popular university among the applicants from Belarus).

    A series of online events ‘The days of St Petersburg University in foreign countries’ was held in spring together with the colleagues from the Russian centres of science and culture in other countries. The list of countries includes Cyprus, Japan, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Latvia, Turkey, the Republic of Tajikistan, Serbia, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, Cambodia, and the Republic of Belarus.

    Apart from the Rossotrudnichestvo events, the University representatives took part in other online exhibitions of educational services in various regions worldwide. In October 2020, the University representatives took part in the ‘Eduadvisor’ exhibition covering the regions of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula attracting over 16,000 visitors. About 1,000 people visited the stand of St Petersburg University at the ‘International Education’ exhibition with the participation of applicants from: the People’s Republic of Bangladesh; the Republic of India; the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal; and the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. During four hours, about 1,000 people visited the stand of St Petersburg University at the ‘International Education’ exhibition held in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, and the Republic of Belarus. In November 2020, over 1,500 people expressed interest in the University programmes during the ‘International Education’ exhibition in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan. In November 2020, country-specific exhibitions were held. For example, online exhibition ‘Choosing your profession you choose your future’ attracted over 7,000 students and teachers from the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, while the ‘Russian Educational Exhibition’ was held for the applicants from Mongolia attracting over 6,000 participants.

    From October 2020 to May 2021, the University staff organised and held a series of webinars for foreign citizens in Russian, English, Chinese, Arabic and Spanish. International participants were informed about: academic programmes; possibilities of entering St Petersburg University; international educational project ‘Online School’ at St Petersburg University; intellectual events (Olympiad in Russian as a foreign language, Olympiad for school students at St Petersburg University, student Olympiad Petropolitan Science (Re)Search); and possibilities of using the certificate issued by the Language Testing Centre at St Petersburg University.

    A plan of career counselling events for foreign citizens for the academic year of 2021/22 was drawn.

    Organising interaction with the alumni

    The ‘Alumni’ section on the website of St Petersburg University was launched following the joint activity of the Department for Alumni Affairs and the Public Relations Department. It features the main information on the possibilities of taking part in the University life including the following: visit the events organised by St Petersburg University; take part in the activity of the event programme committees; take part in partner and research projects; take part in the activity of the councils of academic programmes; take part in the state examination boards and teaching methodology committees; contribute to increasing the quality of education; and share practical experience with the new generation of students to name just a few. Active involvement of the University alumni contributes to building ties between the University graduates and the University, which is a part of the University main mission. The Alumni section features a registration form where every graduate can leave their contact details, information about their education, professional activity as well as subscribe to a newsletter, etc. Besides, there is an electronic form for the alumni to share their proposals and initiatives.

    On 30 September, Order № 9327/1 ‘On introducing changes to Order № 1699/1 dated 3 December 2018 "On approving the Rules of organising and conducting scientific events at St Petersburg University"’ (with additions and changes) was issued. According to the order, at least one representative of the University alumni community should be included into the programme committee. At the moment, the Department for Alumni Affairs with the Events and Partnerships Department at St Petersburg University attract alumni to participation in the event programme committees. Over 90 candidates among the alumni have been proposed for the relevant programme committees for 24 events at St Petersburg University.

    The information on the alumni listed on the University committees has been collected, analysed and systematised. Thus, the alumni database has increased by over 300 prominent alumni.

    According to Order № 7081/1 dated 7 August 2020 ‘On establishing the Order of annual monitoring for the alumni employment and the opinion of graduates and employers on the quality of education at St Petersburg University’, the Centre for Education Quality Monitoring at St Petersburg University and the Internship an Career Services Department jointly mapped out a plan of cooperation in the part of surveys on the alumni employment.

    A task order draft to create an information video for the Alumni section has been developed. Later the video will be published on the website of the new alumni association of Leningrad State University/St Petersburg University. Currently, there are five versions of the video scenario.

    A podcast project concept has been developed by the Department for Alumni Affairs. The podcast guests including teachers, graduates and students of St Petersburg University will be invited to talk about the current issues of science and education. Apart from the podcast, it is planned to hold a series of lectures, workshops and meetings for the alumni and students on the University platforms in Russia and at the representative offices of St Petersburg University abroad.

    Preventive vaccination for COVID-19

    Taking into account the adverse epidemiological situation in the Russian Federation, ‘emergency’ vaccination of the population is currently performed to achieve collective immunity. In this regard, taking into account the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) collective immunity shall be achieved if the vaccination for the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 is performed based on the epidemic indicators six months after going through the disease (including previously vaccinated persons) or six months after the prior initial vaccination (‘emergency’ vaccination).

    At the moment, there is no confirmed marker — a specific safe level of antibodies. The work on developing this marker is at the stage of research and no such indicators have been approved as of now including by the WHO. Thus, vaccination for the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 can be held without the need to study and account for the antibody response data.

    Given the threat of the spread of the novel coronavirus disease and the growth of infection rate in St Petersburg, Order № 3 dated 12 October 2021 of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor in St Petersburg Natalia Bashketova was issued stating that the managers of educational organisations shall perform the following before 15 November 2021:

    • provide for the vaccination of workers from the novel coronavirus disease with the first component of the vaccine or with a single component vaccine, and by 15 December 2021 with the second component of the vaccine
    • raise awareness among the workers dealing with the prevention of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) paying special attention to the need in preventive vaccination

    No less than 80% of the whole staff should be vaccinated, since in order to form collective immunity the number of vaccinated people should be constantly held at the level of 80% according to the latest data.

    The order is not applicable to those people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. This should be documented in accordance with the temporary methodological recommendations ‘The Order of vaccination against COVID-19 for adult population’ in the form of a certificate from a medical board at the local clinic.

    The directors of organisations are personally liable for the implementation of the order.

    It was noted that the number of St Petersburg University employees infected with coronavirus has grown by 10 times within two weeks (Minutes of the Rector’s meeting dated 11 October 2021). However, currently only 50% of St Petersburg University employees have been vaccinated and only 3,500 from 25,000 students including 139 from 1,800 international students currently staying in St Petersburg. At the same time, the University staff and students have all the possibilities to get vaccinated including through the Gosuslugi website, local clinics and vaccination centres. By appointment, one can get vaccinated in the territory of St Petersburg University based on the agreement with the Local Health Office.

    Also, the participants discussed measures stimulating the University staff and students to get vaccinated in the near future. In particular, the participants appreciated the proposal of the Student Council members to allow visiting other halls of residents only to those residents who have been vaccinated, recovered from coronavirus or received a medical certificate on contra-indications to vaccination.

    Meeting the document flow schedule for accounting source documents

    Elena Trofimova, Chief Accountanting Officer, Head of the Accounting and Financial Control Department, talked about the document flow schedule at St Petersburg University. The approval of the document flow schedule in the public organisations is established by the legislation of the Russian Federation. The main regulatory legislative acts are as follows: Federal Law № 402-FZ dated 6 December 2011 ‘On accounting’; Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia № 157n dated 1 December 2010 ‘On establishing a Unified plan of bookkeeping accounts for the state authorities, local authorities, public non-budgetary funds control authorities, national academies of sciences, state (municipal) organisations and the Application instructions’; Order of the Ministry of Finance of Russia № 256n dated 31 December 2016 ‘On establishing a federal standard for bookkeeping at the public sector organisations "Conceptual foundation for bookkeeping and reporting at the public sector organisations"’; Order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation № 274n dated 30 December 2017 ‘On establishing a federal standard for bookkeeping at the public sector organisations "Accounting policy, estimates and errors"’.

    Why do we need a document flow schedule for accounting source documents? Federal Law 402-FZ ‘On accounting’ has introduced the term ‘accounting event’. It means a transaction, event or operation that affect or can affect financial status of an economic entity, financial result of its activity and(or) cash flow. In other words, it can be: encumbering and paying salary or stipend; sending an employee on a business trip; purchasing materials and equipment for educational purposes; concluding an agreement for providing educational services; receiving funds on the account based on a grant contract to name just a few.

    Every accounting event should be recorded by an accounting source document and registered in the bookkeeping system based on the accounting source documents confirming it. To provide for the timely registration, the deadlines of issuing the documents and moving the accounting source documents between the University offices should be strictly observed.

    The procedure and deadlines of transferring the integrated accounting source documents to further reflect them in the accounting shall be determined by the document flow schedule. The document flow schedule should be observed by all persons responsible for the document creation and processing. The liability for observing the schedule and for timely and high-quality document processing, timely transfer of the documents to be further reflected in the bookkeeping and reporting, and validity of data shall be incurred by the persons that created and signed the documents.

    The document flow schedule for the accounting source documents at St Petersburg University is determined by Order № 12919/1 dated 28 December 2018, amended and adjusted by Orders № 9937/1 dated 10 October 2019 and № 13466/1 dated 31 December 2019.

    The document flow schedule for the accounting source documents at St Petersburg University has seven sections:

    1. Non-financial assets accounting
    2. Financial assets accounting
    3. Settlement and liability accounting
    4. Income settlements
    5. Settlements on salary, benefits and scholarships
    6. Reporting
    7. Inventory

    The schedule should be used by the staff of the University technical services taking part in the relevant accounting events at St Petersburg University.

    It was pointed out that delayed accounting source documents cause misrepresentation of the budget and bookkeeping reports at St Petersburg University. In this regard, the colleagues were reminded of the need to strictly observe the document flow deadlines determined by the document flow schedule.

    Observing the document flow schedule is especially important during the last two months of the financial year, when the document flow dramatically increases in comparison with other months of the year. The directors and deans were tasked to inform their subordinates of the document flow schedule details.

    Organising the activity of the Control and Revision Department

    Ekaterina Dmitrikova, Head of the Control and Revision Department, informed about the main requirements to the internal financial audit. The role of the participants in the process of organising and conducting internal financial audit including the goals and principles of such audit is determined by the Fiscal Code of the Russian Federation. Federal standards of the internal financial audit are determined by the orders of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The activity of the Control and Revision Department at St Petersburg University is regulated by the provisions on the Control and Revision Department at St Petersburg University (Order № 1697/1 dated 22 February 2017).

    In accordance with the plan approved by the Rector, audit and inspections are performed during the calendar year. The provisions on the Control and Revision Department at St Petersburg University also provide for spontaneous inspections. If the inspections are held in the form of a self-review, the results of such inspections are sent to the Accounting Chamber of the Russian Federation and the Federal Treasury. Based on these reports, the control authorities assess the effectiveness and reliability of internal financial accounting and financial management quality at St Petersburg University. In this regard, there is a need to involve internal resources of the University (the results of research and expert activity) to improve the quality and efficiency of internal audit.

    The activity of the Control and Revision Department implies interaction with structural subdivisions of the University not just in the sphere of determining and preventing the violations as well as monitoring the risk minimisation measures. It is also required to attract experts to develop the methodology for audit programme development and preparation of reports on specific topics (financial audit, financial management, accounting) that arise during the audit events and inspections. Organising and holding financial and economic expert assessments with internal and external experts is determined in the provisions on the Control and Revision Department.

    Besides, when examining the spheres of the Control and Revision Department, one can find a number of issues that are not related to specific topics of audit events and inspections. They include the following: assessment of effectiveness and efficiency of financial and economic activity at St Petersburg University; mitigation of risks of financial and economic activity at St Petersburg University; methodological support of the internal control and audit in the financial and operating sphere; analysis of typical violations; the order of using budgetary funds; and the role of by-laws in increasing the economic activity efficiency. It was proposed to conduct research in these spheres as part of graduation projects, perform law enforcement monitoring, and include the Control and Revision Department at St Petersburg University into the list of the University subdivisions where students can do internships.

    Staff of the Institute of Chemistry

    The analysis of the staff and the results of the staff activity at the academic and research subdivisions at St Petersburg University is underway (see Minutes of the Rector’s meeting dated 26 July 2021). The meeting participants discussed the personnel and the results of the staff activity at the Institute of Chemistry.

    The overall number of teaching staff at the Institute of Chemistry in 2016-2021 has reduced from 191 to 160. At the same time, the majority of the teaching staff are associate professors and professors with 80% in 2016 and 78% in 2021. Since 2016, the general number of the research staff at the Institute of Chemistry has increased from 32 to 43 positions. The main part of the researchers were postdoctoral researchers with 22 people in 2019. At the same time, the general number of the research and teaching staff has reduced from 223 in 2016 to 203 in 2021.

    As for the age, the staff ‘over 60 years old’ has reduced from 80 people in 2016 to 53 in 2021. In contrast, the group ‘from 30 to 45 years old’ has significantly increased in numbers from 64 people in 2016 to 105 people in 2021. As a consequence, the average age of the research and teaching staff has reduced from 51.1 to 45.9 in five years, which illustrates the inflow of younger people to the staff at the Institute of Chemistry.

    Comparing the staff at the Institute of Chemistry at St Petersburg University and the Faculty of Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University, it can be stated that the latter has more chemists by 4.5 times and they are ‘older’. At Lomonosov Moscow State University 59.4% of the research and teaching staff are ‘over 45 years old’, while at St Petersburg University this age group makes only 37.2% of the overall number of the research and teaching staff.

    The number of research and teaching staff with a scientific degree was an important indicator of St Petersburg University Strategic Plan 2020. By the end of the plan, the indicator should have reached 77%. The Institute of Chemistry successfully coped with this task with the indicator staying over 95%. At the same time, the share of young Doctors of Sciences was 13% in 2020 against 8% required by the Strategic Plan, while the share of young Candidates of Sciences was 54% against the required 30%, which also exceeded the expected levels.

    The amount of contact hours of the teachers at the Institute of Chemistry was considered across 14 departments and the Interdepartmental Laboratory of Biomedical Chemistry. The major part (over 50%) of the contact teaching load is performed by associate professors that make the majority of the staff (79 of 160). A minor part of the contact teaching load is performed by the assistant lecturers that make the smallest group of the staff (16 of 160). An average load of contact hours across all positions has been showing an upward trend in the recent year. The main volume of teaching load (over 95%) is implemented by the permanent research and teaching staff of the Institute of Chemistry.

    The meeting participants noted that research activity of the Institute of Chemistry staff gives maximal income. The amount of funds attracted by grants and the implementation of contracts for R&D activity have a rising trend, although the growth has slightly slowed down in 2021. In 2020, it accounted for 350 million roubles per year, which is 2.1 million roubles per one staff member.

    A comparative analysis of indicators of several universities from The Datapoints in the specific field of Physical Sciences that includes chemistry was performed. The indicators characterising the correlation of the number of defences of (candidate) dissertations to the number of research and teaching staff (in FTE equivalent) and to the number of graduates of bachelor’s programmes were of major interest.

    The number of publications of the research and teaching staff at the Institute of Chemistry indexed in the Scopus database increased in 2020 (523) in comparison with both 2016 (456) and 2018 with a significant decrease in publication activity (426). The number of Scopus-indexed publications per one research and teaching staff member has also increased (from 2.04 to 2.40). The share of publications by positions and departments as well as an average input per staff member were analysed.

    The majority of the staff members at the Institute of Chemistry publish in the field of Chemistry, although they have prominent scientists publishing in other fields, for example, Physics. However, apart from the staff members of the Institute of Chemistry, the employees from nine other teams publish in the field of Chemistry. 27 research and teaching staff members from the Institute of Chemistry are included into the top 500 in Russia in the field. The top 10 of the employees of St Petersburg University included into the University top 20 in the field of Chemistry includes six people from the Institute of Chemistry, two researchers from the Institute of Earth Sciences, one person from the Research Park and one researcher from the Laboratory of Photoactive Nanocomposite Materials.

    Comparing the number of research and teaching staff from St Petersburg University and Lomonosov Moscow State University in the rankings on Chemistry, undoubtedly, Lomonosov Moscow State University is represented in larger numbers in Scopus rankings. However, if we look at the percentage ratio to the general number of the research and teaching staff, the picture is different: 12.4 % at St Petersburg University against 6.0 % at Lomonosov Moscow State University (in the top list in the Russian Federation); and 0.92 % against 0.43 % (in the top list among the universities worldwide).

    In absolute numbers, the number of publications by the research and teaching staff of the Faculty of Chemistry at Lomonosov Moscow State University exceeds the number of publications by the research and teaching staff of the Institute of Chemistry at St Petersburg University by almost three times (2.83). However, the share of publications per one staff member at St Petersburg University is larger than at Lomonosov Moscow State University (2.4 against 1.58).

    In the recent years, average citation rate of publications by the Institute of Chemistry in the field of Chemistry has slightly exceeded average citation rate of publications of St Petersburg University in general in the field of Chemistry. Nevertheless, the goal is to increase the level of citation rate twofold.

    The analysis of the dynamics for the general number of stimulating payments to the Institute of Chemistry staff per year was performed. The payments for various activities and the structure of bonuses were analysed. The sources of funding and the distribution of income among the teams of the academic and research subdivisions were considered.