Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting | St Petersburg University

St Petersburg University in ARWU-2022

19 July saw the published ranking of the best universities in the world according to the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2022 (ARWU Subjects). In total, more than 2,800 academic organisations worldwide have been included in the 2022 ranking. Russia is represented by 26 universities, including: Lomonosov Moscow State University; St Petersburg University; Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT); National Research University ‘Higher School of Economics’; Novosibirsk State University; National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute); Ural Federal University; Tomsk State University; Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech); ITMO University; Kazan Federal University; Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University; and Tomsk Polytechnic University. St Petersburg University is ranked among the world’s top 100 universities in Automation and Control (the 76-100 group). The University also occupies high places in mathematics: it is included in the 151–200 group on a par with Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. According to the ARWU-2022 subject rankings, St Petersburg University has retained its position in Metallurgical Engineering and Earth Sciences. Additionally, it has entered the Business Administration ranking for the first time.

In the 2022 rankings, St Petersburg University is represented in six of the 54 ranking subjects in the following fields:

Mathematics (the 151-200 group)
Earth Sciences (the 401-500 group)
Automation and Control (the 76-100 group)
Metallurgical Engineering (the 151-200 group)
Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (the 401-500 group)
Business Administration (the 301-400 group)

Vice-Rector for Research Sergey Mikushev noted that in Mathematics, Automation and Control, and Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University’s performance declined compared to 2021. St Petersburg University was also not ranked this year in Chemical Engineering and Statistics. To be included in the ARWU Subjects rankings, universities are selected based on the number of publications in a given subject area over five full years (the period is set annually; for the 2022 ranking, the period of 2016-2020 is taken). Bibliometric data are collected from the Web of Science. The publication threshold is set differently for different subjects. Universities are then assessed against the following indicators in a given subject area over five full years:

Research output (Q1) is the number of papers published by an institution in journals with Q1 Journal Impact Factor Quartile, according to the Web of Science
Citation index (CNCI) is the ratio of citations of papers published, according to InCites database
International cooperation (IC) is an indicator used to evaluate the level of international collaboration, according to InCites database
The number of articles published in top journals (Top) − Top Journals are nominated by distinguished scholars through ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Excellence Survey; in Computer Science & Engineering, top conferences are also taken into account. In the subject of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, both "Article" and "Review" are counted
Award refers to the total number of the staff of an institution winning a significant award in an Academic Subject. The final score is formed by the values of the indicators, taking into account the weighting coefficients set for each subject area

The directors of the institutes and deans of the faculties will be instructed to submit proposals for necessary activities in the teams they lead aimed at promoting St Petersburg University in the subject rankings.

Current issues with organising the teaching and learning process

Over the past week, the Virtual Reception received five enquiries addressed to the Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities. Additionally, nine enquiries were registered in the student enquiry register. Among the enquiries submitted were those concerning the procedures of transfer and reinstatement to St Petersburg University.

According to Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities Marina Lavrikova, since 24 February, 234 requests have been received to be transferred to St Petersburg University from universities of the following countries: The Czech Republic; Germany; Poland; Israel; the Donetsk People’s Republic; Romania; Canada; the USA; Switzerland; France; Ukraine; Spain; Austria; Italy; Latvia; the Lugansk People’s Republic; Finland; South Korea; Lithuania; Hungary; Belgium; Greece; Great Britain; Slovakia; Singapore; and Japan. Over the past week, six requests were registered. Planned work is underway with the applicants. According to Regulation № 434 dated 21 March 2022 of the Government of the Russian Federation and Letter MN-5/927-DA dated 1 March 2022 of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation: St Petersburg University accepts transfer requests from the citizens of Ukraine, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic and Russian citizens who had to leave the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Ukraine and arrive in Russia, as well as the Russian citizens expressing the desire to transfer from international educational organisations in the states included into the list of non-friendly states established by Regulation № 430-r of the Government of the Russian Federation. As of today, orders have been issued to enrol 68 students as an academic transfer from a foreign educational organisation in the following fields of study: "Public Administration"; "Political Science"; "Tourism"; "Geology"; "History"; "Arts and Humanities"; "Advertising and Public Relations"; "Psychology"; "Management"; "Business Informatics"; "Design"; "Philology"; "International Relations"; "Economics"; "Mathematics and Computer Science"; "System Analysis and Control"; and "Law". Forty one students were enrolled on a government-funded basis, while 27 students were enrolled on a fee-paying basis. Planned work is underway with other applicants.

Meetings of the heads of academic subdivisions of St Petersburg University with the student activists have been postponed until the end of August. The transfer and reinstatement procedures for all categories of students at St Petersburg University are well underway within the established deadline in August 2022.

Admissions processes

On 9 August, orders were issued for enrolment at St Petersburg University in bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes for government-funded places as part of the main enrolment stage.

On the whole, almost 2,200 applicants were enrolled in bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes for government-funded places for Russian citizens and persons having equal rights with them, Among the enrolled applicants are those enrolled: without entrance examinations (winners and awardees of Olympiads); within the special quota (disabled persons; orphaned children, children deprived of parental care, and persons coming from orphaned families and families with children deprived of parental care); within the sponsored admissions quota (entrants who have concluded agreements on sponsored training with government agencies, local government bodies, and organisations with state or municipal participation); and within the privileged quota (children of military personnel and employees of some federal state bodies who are or were involved in the special military operation). The issue of priority enrolment was discussed at the Rector’s meeting held on 1 August.

Admission to bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes at St Petersburg University on government-funded places was held within the deadlines set by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and 100% of the admission quotas were filled. There are no vacant government-funded places and there will be no extra admission.

As part of the admission to places for international applicants in 2022, St Petersburg University will admit 1,000 applicants for government-funded places (quota of the Government of the Russian Federation). The University also plans to admit about 1,000 international applicants on a fee-paying basis.

During the selection process at the discretion of St Petersburg University for international applicants for government-funded places, the University received more than 5,000 applications from international applicants, which is almost 20% more than in 2021 and 30% more than in 2020.

According to the results of last year’s admission campaign, St Petersburg University was the top university among Russian universities in terms of the number of applications accepted from international applicants: the total competition for places within the quota of the Russian Government (the selection organised at the discretion of St Petersburg University and by Rossotrudnichestvo) was about 21,000 per 1,000 places. The 2022 figure will be known at the end of August.

It should be noted that for admission in 2022 to government-funded places for citizens of the Russian Federation and persons with equal rights with them, St Petersburg University has increased the minimum scores for the unified state examination required for admission: while in 2021 the average minimum score was 65, in 2022, the minimum score was 70.

In terms of admissions to St Petersburg University, there has been a slight decrease in the number of non-resident first-year students compared to 2021: in 2021, the proportion was 74.5%; in 2022, it is 68.6% (a decrease of 5.9%). During the meeting, Aleksandr Babich, Senior Vice-Rector for Youth Policy and Admissions of St Petersburg University, noted that, according to the information reported at the Council of Rectors of St Petersburg and Leningrad Region Universities, a significant reduction in the number of non-resident first-year students was registered in some universities of St Petersburg. For example, in 2021, 45% of first-year students in the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia were St Petersburg residents. In 2022, over 60% of them are St Petersburg residents.

There has also been a slight decrease in the average score of the unified state examination for those enrolled in the main places within the framework of the admission quotas: in 2021, it was 93.1; in 2022, it was 90.7 (a decrease of 2.4 points). In 2016, for example, the average score was 90. According to the information provided by the Council of Rectors of St Petersburg and Leningrad Region Universities, the average score for the unified state examination in St Petersburg as a whole decreased from 79.6 points in 2021 to 77.4 points in 2022 (a decrease of 2.2 points).

Thus, the average score of the unified state examination at St Petersburg University in 2022 is 13.3 points higher than the average score of the unified state examination for other St Petersburg universities.

As part of the admission campaign in 2022, about 80,000 applications for admission to bachelor’s (specialist’s) programmes on government-funded places were submitted to St Petersburg University. 53% of them were submitted through the superservice ‘Enter the University online’ (hereinafter referred to as the Superservice) of the Public Services Portal of the Russian Federation. In 2021, about 10% of the applications were submitted through the Superservice.

This would have been a welcome development if the staff at St Petersburg University had not had to manually double-check the tens of thousands of applications submitted through the Superservice.

During the admission process, St Petersburg University, as well as all higher education institutions in Russia, faced major challenges while working with the Superservice, including the lack of functionality in the Superservice to implement the provisions specified by the Government of the Russian Federation in Decree № 958 dated 27 May 2022 ‘On the functioning of the Superservice "Enter the University online" in the admissions campaign in 2022/23 academic year’.

There is no automatic verification and reporting of winners and awardees of school olympiads for the full range of entrants using particular rights. The number of documents submitted for verification by applicants confirming their individual legal statuses (winners and awardees of All-Russian Olympiads for school students, winners and awardees of other Olympiads, etc.) was 2,418
There is no automated verification of information about educational credentials, including educational credentials with distinction. There is also no information about the lack of a bachelor’s degree or a specialist’s degree. The information is not verified for compliance with information in the federal register of information about education and (or) qualifications, documents on education (not implemented until 21 July 2022). The number of educational credentials with distinction submitted for verification was 13,620 and the number of diplomas of non-university level higher education with distinction was 79
There is no information about the grades received by the applicant during his/her studies and included in the educational credentials
There is no possibility for entrants to mark in the Superservice the submission of the original educational credentials to the particular educational organisation
Some functionality of the Superservice and the interaction system (API) between the information system "Admission" of St Petersburg University and the Superservice developed by the authorised federal state autonomous scientific institution had been out of service for a long time. As a result, during 32 days (from 20 June 2022 to 21 July 2022) out of 36 days of admission, there was no verification of educational credentials received by applicants. St Petersburg University was therefore not able to transfer to the admission service a significant number of applications received through the information system "Applicant’s Personal Account"

Taking into account, among other things, the fact that the number of winners and awardees of Olympiads who applied to St Petersburg University significantly exceeds such number in the vast majority of higher education institutions of the Russian Federation, in the above circumstances of the Superservice operation, the load on the University’s employees who have to recheck the information submitted by applicants in manual mode, including in comparison with employees of other educational institutions of the country, has significantly increased.

It should also be noted that, as part of the admission campaign in 2022 on the basis of the Procedures for Admission to Educational Programmes of Higher Education − Bachelor’s Programmes, Specialist’s Programmes and Master’s Programmes approved by Decree of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation No 1076 as of 21 August 2020 (hereinafter referred to as the Procedures for Admission), enrolment to government-funded places within the main stage (after enrolling applicants without entrance examinations, applicants for places within the special quota, the sponsored admissions quota, and the privileged quota) was held in the so-called one wave when it was necessary to submit the original educational credentials to the educational organisation.

Aleksandr Babich also pointed out that, in 2021, admission during the main stage was also conducted in one wave, but, unlike this year, there was no obligation for applicants to submit original educational credentials.

Following the results of the 2021 admission campaign, a meeting of the Association of Federal Universities, National Research Universities, Lomonosov Moscow State University and St Petersburg University (the Association of Leading Universities) held a discussion on admission to bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes. During the discussion, members of the Association of Leading Universities supported the view that the admission procedure during the so-called single wave had created significant difficulties for applicants who could not realistically assess their chances of admission. The cancellation of the second wave of admissions created considerable psychological stress for applicants and their parents and effectively meant that there was no second chance for applicants, whose only option was to enrol on a fee-paying basis.

This year, the above-mentioned circumstances have been considerably strengthened by the requirement to submit the original educational credentials for admission, which has resulted in a significant number of applicants with high scores in the unified state examination not submitting original educational credentials and enrolment consent applications to top Russian universities for fear of not being selected and not being admitted to any educational organisation for government-funded places.

The result of the one-wave enrolment during the main stage and the requirement to submit original educational credentials was a decrease in the average USE score of those enrolled in the main competition places at St Petersburg University. In terms of fields of study and specialities, the dynamics of the average entrance examination score in 2022 compared to 2021 is as follows.

Main field of study	Type of study:	2021	2022	Difference
01.03.01 Mathematics	Full-time	97.2	94.5	-2.6
01.03.02 Applied Mathematics and Informatics	Full-time	93.1	89.8	-3.3
01.03.03 Mechanics and Mathematical Modelling	Full-time	90.5	87.2	-3.4
01.05.01 Fundamental Mathematics and Mechanics	Full-time	94.5	93	-1.5
02.03.01 Mathematics and Computer Sciences	Full-time	98.5	93	-5.5
02.03.02 Fundamental Informatics and Information Technology	Full-time	92.6	87	-5.6
02.03.03 Information Systems Administration and Mathematical Support	Full-time	94.3	91.6	-2.7
03.03.01 Applied Mathematics and Physics	Full-time	90.9	83.6	-7.2
03.03.02 Physics	Full-time	86.6	83.6	-3.0
03.03.03 Radiophysics	Full-time	87.3	87.2	-0.1
03.05.01 Astronomy	Full-time	93.1	88.7	-4.4
04.03.01 Chemistry	Full-time	95.4	92.9	-2.5
04.03.02 Chemistry, Physics and Material Mechanics	Full-time	89.9	89.2	-0.6
05.03.01 Geology	Full-time	85.2	79.7	-5.4
05.03.02 Geography	Full-time	88.7	81.9	-6.8
05.03.03 Cartography and Geoinformatics	Full-time	88.8	87.7	-1.2
05.03.04 Hydrometeorology	Full-time	89	78.8	-10.2
05.03.06 Ecology and Nature Management	Full-time	89.2	81.8	-7.5
06.03.01 Biology	Full-time	92.9	88.3	-4.7
06.03.02 Soil Science	Full-time	79.8	82.9	3.2
09.03.03 Applied Informatics	Full-time	95.5	97	1.5
09.03.04 Software Engineering	Full-time	95.9	91.1	-4.9
21.03.01 Petroleum Engineering	Full-time	80.6	82.2	1.6
21.03.02 Land Use and Cadastres	Full-time	88.8	77	-11.8
31.05.01 General Medicine	Full-time	96.6	90.5	-6.1
31.05.03 Dental Medicine	Full-time	93	93	0
37.03.01 Psychology	Full-time	85.9	85.4	-0.4
37.03.02 Conflictology	Full-time	95.9	95.1	-0.8
37.05.01 Clinical Psychology	Full-time	89.7	89.1	-0.7
37.05.02 Employment Psychology	Full-time	84	82.4	-1.6
38.03.01 Economics	Full-time	92	90.2	-1.8
38.03.02 Management	Full-time	93.2	91.6	-1.6
38.03.03 Personnel Management	Full-time	87.3	88.4	1.1
38.03.04 Public Administration	Full-time	93.2	92.9	-0.3
38.03.05 Business Informatics	Full-time	92.8	90.7	-2.2
39.03.01 Sociology	Full-time	94	91.2	-2.8
39.03.02 Social Work	Full-time	92.1	90.1	-2.0
40.03.01 Law	Full-time	98	97	-1
41.03.04 Political Science	Full-time	95.5	94.4	-1.1
41.03.05 International Relations	Full-time	96.3	95.1	-1.2
42.03.01 Advertising and Public Relations	Full-time	95.9	96.5	0.6
42.03.02 Journalism	Full-time	98.5	98.6	0.1
42.03.02 Journalism	part-time	97.2	93.7	-3.5
43.03.02 Tourism	Full-time	81.4	91.1	9.6
45.03.01 Philology	Full-time	98.2	96.6	-1.6
45.03.02 Linguistics	Full-time	97.6	94.4	-3.2
46.03.01 History	Full-time	94.6	95.9	1.3
47.03.01 Philosophy	Full-time	93.7	92.4	-1.3
47.03.03 Religious Studies	Full-time	93.8	93.8	0
49.03.01 Physical Education	Full-time	75.7	80.4	4.7
50.03.01 Arts and Humanities	Full-time	96.9	96.1	-0.8
50.03.03 History of Arts	Full-time	97.6	92.7	-4.9
51.03.01 Cultural Studies	Full-time	94.5	94.1	-0.4
51.03.04 Museology and Conservation of Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites	Full-time	93.6	92.7	-0.9
53.03.03 Vocal Performance	Full-time	—	89.2	—
54.03.01 Design	Full-time	88.1	88.2	0.1
54.03.02 Applied Art and Vernacular Arts	Full-time	84.8	83.6	-1.2
54.03.04 Restoration	Full-time	86.2	88	1.8
54.05.02 Painting	Full-time	92	95.8	3.8
58.03.01 Asian and African Studies	Full-time	95.5	95.3	-0.2
Overall for St Petersburg University		93.1	90.7	-2.4

It is worth noting the increase in the average score in the following academic programmes: Soil Science; Applied Informatics; Petroleum Engineering; Personnel Management; Advertising and Public Relations; Journalism; Tourism; History; Physical Education; Design; Restoration; and Painting.

In February 2022, the Association of Leading Universities sent a letter to the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation on the expediency of admission to bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes exclusively using the Superservice with a phasing out of information systems (personal accounts) of educational organisations subject to improvement of the legal regulation of admission procedures (including the Procedures for Admission) and information and technology improvement of the Superservice itself.

It seems necessary to introduce a system of enrolment based on pre-formulated priorities, i.e. the applicant ranks the educational institutions when applying for admission, indicating which institution he/she would like to be enrolled in first, which one second, etc. In the same way, the applicant ranks the academic programmes.

A detailed description of this model and its legal justification has been provided in an academic paper: Babich, A.V., Linskaya, Y.V., & Kropachev, N.M. (2021). The right of access to higher education: Administrative law aspect. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Law, 12(4), 825-835. The authors point out that the existing legal regulation prevents citizens from realising their constitutional right to education, to receive a quality education in those higher education institutions where applicants would be able to enter. Unfortunately, the restrictions on access to education have only intensified since last year. All of the main proposals outlined in the paper found support from members of the Association of Leading Universities.

In ensuring that all higher education institutions operate in the Superservice, it seems appropriate that, within the framework of admission on government-funded places, applicants submit their enrolment consent (without submitting original educational credentials) in one dynamic wave, taking into account the following conditions:

the duration of the dynamic wave of submitting enrolment consents is 20 calendar days, counting from the fixed time of posting in the Superservice the competition lists for all competitions to all educational institutions
the applicant is notified via the Superservice of his or her admission to one or more educational institution(s); the fact of admission is also shown in the competition list
within two calendar days from the date of receiving the notification of the competition winning (the invitation from the educational organisation) in respect of each competition that he/she wins, the applicant may do one of the following by clicking on the button in the Superservice interface:
- consent to be enrolled and withdraw from all other competitions in which the applicant has participated, regardless of whether the applicant wins in those competitions at the time of the action
- consent to be enrolled and withdraw from only those competitions in which the applicant wins at the time of the action
- refuse to be enrolled in a particular competition
an applicant who fails to take any of the above actions within two calendar days shall be deemed to have consented to be enrolled to the highest-priority competition in which he/she wins and to have withdrawn from other, lower-priority competitions in which he/she wins at the end of two calendar days after receiving the notification of winning a particular competition for which no action has been taken
after 20 calendar days from the posting of the competition lists, all applicants who win in at least one competition shall be deemed to have consented to be enrolled following a particular competition, unless they have refused to be enrolled for each competition in which they have won
the situation in which an applicant wins at least one competition and wishes to study in government-funded places, but is not enrolled, is excluded regardless of whether or not the applicant has taken action to submit their enrolment consent (by clicking the button in the Superservice interface)

The proposed mechanism for organising enrolment in bachelor’s (specialist’s) programmes on government-funded places is, unfortunately, not currently implemented.

Аleksandr Babich stressed that the current legal regulation does not ensure the implementation of the constitutional right of citizens to receive an education in the university in which they want and can study according to their real abilities, as confirmed by the results of the unified state examination.

Thus, normative regulation of admission procedures jeopardises the possibility for applicants to receive a quality higher education.

Given that applicants and their parents have no realistic opportunity to objectively assess their chances of admission and that the decision to submit the original certificate and enrolment consent is almost entirely uncertain, the admission procedure inevitably forces applicants either to take significant risks or to enter universities that are less interesting to them.

However, mainly those applicants and their parents who can pay the tuition fee if they do not enter on government-funded places are in a position to take a risk, because if there is only one admission wave, they simply do not have a second chance.

Аleksandr Babich expressed the hope that the expert opinion of Russia’s leading universities would be heard and that the legal regulation of the procedures for admission for next year would be changed.

It should be noted that, following the completion of the acceptance of original educational credentials and consents for enrolment as part of the main stage, articles concerning the results of admission to higher education institutions were published in the media.

Unfortunately, a number of such articles contained inaccurate information. For example, one St Petersburg online media outlet published an article that was mentioned 184 times later, with a total audience of 1,917,448 views. That article stated that

"a huge drop in the passing score has been observed" (the concept of "passing score" does not exist in the legislation and by-laws; its use to assess the quality of admission and the demand for academic programmes is manipulation, as such a score depends on the coincidence of circumstances that are difficult to predict; the average score of applicants, not a "passing score" is used to assess admission quality)
"this year, the second wave has been cancelled" (this is not true: there was no second wave of admission at the main stage in 2021); "unoccupied places from quotas were transferred to the general competition at the very last moment" (this is not true: all applicants for places within the special quota and the sponsored admissions quota were enrolled on 30 July)

Such articles in the media mislead readers and do not reflect the real situation in admissions to higher education institutions for bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes in Russia.

With regard to admission to other levels of education at St Petersburg University, as well as to bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes on a fee-paying basis, the following can be noted.

The University continues admission to bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes on the fee-paying basis, master’s programmes, doctoral programmes, clinical residency programmes, and non-university level higher education programmes. Enrolment orders will be issued on:

15 August − for the non-university level higher education programme in Nursing
16 August − for bachelor’s and specialist’s programmes to places on the fee-paying (contractual) basis
17 August − for full-time master’s programmes
18 August − for non-university level higher education programmes in Physical Education on government-funded places
19 August − for doctoral programmes; clinical residency programmes on government-funded places; non-university level higher education programmes in Physical Education to places on the fee-paying (contractual) basis
20 August − for clinical residency programmes to places on the fee-paying (contractual) basis
22 September − for part-time master’s programmes

Enrolment for basic general and secondary general education programmes (Specialised Academic Centre − D.K. Faddeev Academic Gymnasium of St Petersburg University) has been completed. Enrolment orders were issued on 5 August. More than 200 people were enrolled, including 16 winners and awardees of school olympiads.

The information presented by Aleksandr Babich sparked a wide-ranging discussion among his colleagues. Speakers stressed that this year’s admission regulations had limited the right of schoolchildren throughout the country to enter the country’s best universities. In fact, they were forced to apply to the nearest universities, which do not always prove to be strong. According to the Rector of St Petersburg University, it is necessary to raise the quality of education in the higher education institutions of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation to a high level. Then the fact that applicants stay to study and work in their regions will be a source of pride.

Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Director of the Institute for Cognitive Studies at St Petersburg University, said that the current admission procedure was a gross violation of the rights of applicants and asked who will be held responsible for it. Nikolay Kropachev replied that the main task should not be to find the culprits, but to change the regulations for admission to universities.

Two students of St Petersburg University win the International Mathematics Competition for University Students IMC-2022

Mathematicians from St Petersburg University have won the individual competition of the most prestigious International Mathematics Competition for University Students IMC-2022.

Only two students of St Petersburg University out of more than 600 participants in the competition managed to solve all the proposed problems to the maximum score. The overall winners of the competition (Grand Grand First Prize) were Ivan Gaidai-Turlov and Aleksandr Grebennikov, who took second place last year. Aleksei Lvov and Mikhail Lozhkin were also awarded the Grand First Prize with 72 points out of a possible 80.

A total of 664 students from more than 50 countries took part in the International Mathematics Competition for University Students. During the competition, participants were asked to solve eight problems relating to linear algebra, combinatorics, analysis, probability theory and number theory.

International activities

At the recent Rector’s meetings, the international activities of St Petersburg University were analysed (Minutes of Rector’s meetings dated 14 March 2022; 4 July 2022; 11 July 2022; and 18 July 2022). According to Deputy Rector for International Affairs Sergey Andryushin, a number of new events took place last week.

Participation of St Petersburg University in the Global Korean Studies Forum in Seoul

On 4 August, the 2022 KF Global Korean Studies Forum was held in Seoul. It was organised by the Korea Foundation to mark the organisation’s 30th anniversary (St Petersburg University takes part in the Global Korean Studies Forum in Seoul).

The forum was attended by representatives of leading higher education institutions from around the world: the Americas, Africa, Australia, Europe, and Asia. The Russian Federation was represented by Professor Sergei Kurbanov, Head of the Department of Korean Studies at St Petersburg University. He gave a presentation entitled "Progress and Prospects in Korean Studies in Russia".

The Korea Foundation is a non-profit public diplomacy organisation established in 1991. The Foundation carries out various projects for exchange between South Korea and foreign countries to cultivate mutual understanding. It supported the implementation of the Korea Corner project at St Petersburg University.

Holding a meeting with representatives of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (Indonesia)

10 July saw an online meeting between representatives of St Petersburg University and representatives of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang from Indonesia. On the side of potential partners, more than 15 people participated. They were headed by Mr Priyo Iswanto, Advisor to the Rector on International Relations at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

During the meeting, the participants made presentations of their universities and discussed possible options for cooperation. A cooperation agreement between the universities is currently being negotiated. The parties also agreed to launch a partnership by providing access to online courses in English and discussed the possibility of implementing student exchange programmes once a mutually beneficial cooperation has been established.

Students from Mariupol State University visited St Petersburg University

On the first day, as part of their acquaintance with St Petersburg University, students of Mariupol State University visited the St Petersburg University History Museum, the Botanical Garden of the University, the Dmitri Mendeleev Museum and Archives and the Vladimir Nabokov Museum of St Petersburg University. The introduction to the University began with a sightseeing tour of the Twelve Collegia building and a temporary exhibition of the St Petersburg University History Museum. Employees of the museum told the guests about the history of the foundation of St Petersburg University. They also spoke about the history of other buildings located in the courtyards of the University. The delegation then went on a tour of the open ground in the Botanical Garden, where the director of the garden, Aleksandr Khalling, told the students of Mariupol State University about the history of the garden and introduced its plants. The tour of the main University building ended with a visit to the apartment of Dmitri Mendeleev in the Twelve Collegia building. After the tour, students recorded their thanks in the guestbook, noting how carefully the study of the eminent chemist is preserved and how much they had learnt about his life story.

Then the delegation went to the Vladimir Nabokov Museum of St Petersburg University, where the guests had a chance to see the exhibition project of the museum "The Itinerants or Another Life of Insects". The curator of the exhibition, Anna Ratnikova, introduced the students to the project and spoke about the exhibited collection of stained glass costume jewellery by Oksana Ostrovskaia and jewellery by contemporary artists. The museum staff gave a guided tour of the museum’s main exhibition, which sparked the guests’ deep interest in the subject of the writer’s life and work. A separate talk was held about St Petersburg itself, where none of the guests had been before.

On the second day, the delegation went to Peterhof. The purpose of the visit was to see the St Petersburg University Research Park. The centre’s staff gave a guided tour around the University’ Research Park and introduced the guests to the facilities of the four resource centres: the Physics Educational Centre; the Centre for Optical and Laser Materials Research; the Biobank Centre; and the Centre for Molecular and Cell Technologies. As part of the guided tour, the students were able to see modern high-tech equipment and observe how various tests and experiments are carried out. At the end of their tour of the University’s Research Park, the students said that they had "been in a movie" and could not have imagined that such state-of-the-art centres exist in reality.

At the end of the visit, representatives of the University’s Admission Committee made a presentation of St Petersburg University and answered all the questions that the guests had at that time about enrolment and transfer to St Petersburg University.

The meeting of the interdepartmental working group on the formation and updating of the "white" list of journals

On 5 August 2022, the first meeting of the interdepartmental working group on the formation of the ‘white’ list of journals of the Russian Federation was held. The working group is formed under the chairmanship of the Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education. The Director of the St Petersburg University Publishing House Elena Lebedkina is a member of the working group.

The purpose of forming the national "white" list of journals is: to "get rid" of international databases when assessing scientific performance; and to create our own list of journals maintaining the international visibility of publications of Russian researchers.

In fact, the work on the formation of the "white" list is divided into several stages. At the first stage, the main catalogue of white list journals will be formed. It will be based on the journals from three databases. Among them are: Scopus, the Web of Science, and the Russian Science Citation Index. According to preliminary estimates, it will include approximately 900 to 1,000 journals. According to the Russian Science Citation Index, this number includes 29 journals from St Petersburg University; 27 journals from Lomonosov Moscow State University; 20 from the Higher School of Economics; 20 journals from Tomsk State University; 9 from the Kurchatov Institute; 8 from Novosibirsk State University; 5 from Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University; 3 from ITMO University; and 311 journals from more than 100 scientific institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The work of the group will be carried out in several stages:

formation of criteria and format of the "white" list
formation of the ranking criteria
approval of the ranking list

On 14 October 2022, the approval and publication of the "white" list of journals of the Russian Federation in the public domain is expected. The final approval of the ranked "white" list is planned to be completed on 20 December 2022. It will be followed by its annual update.

In the same period, it is planned to create a database of world scientific publications. The Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Chairperson of the Scientific Publishing Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences Aleksei Khokhlov noted that, according to statistics, the number of publications of Russian articles in international journals in 2022 practically corresponds to the number of publications of the previous year. This shows that foreign journals in general continue to cooperate with Russian scholars. According to Scopus, St Petersburg University has 4,656 publications in 2021, and 2,111 publications in 2022 as of the beginning of August.

The Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation

On 28 July 2022, Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation № 1344 was published. According to the Decree, St Petersburg University is included in the list of customers that are a party to the contract, the subject of which is the construction, reconstruction, overhaul, demolition of a capital construction facility, and work to preserve cultural heritage sites. The contracts should be concluded in accordance with the Federal Law "On the contract system in the field of procurement of goods, works, services to meet state and municipal needs" to meet federal needs.

St Petersburg University became a participant in the educational online project "Dialogue with Culture"

St Petersburg University took part in the first webinar from the "Dialogue with Culture" cycle. The cycle is organised by the Republican Art Museum of Donetsk for employees of cultural institutions. The University experts shared their experience in creating exhibitions in the online space and answered questions from colleagues. The meeting was attended by 38 employees of museums, libraries, and departments of culture of city administrations.

The webinar "Organisation of a virtual exhibition: from idea to implementation" was prepared jointly with St Petersburg University. During the webinar, Ekaterina Staniukovich-Denisova spoke about the peculiarities of presenting exhibitions on various digital platforms. Ekaterina Staniukovich-Denisova is a specialist in exhibition work at the Diaghilev Museum of Modern Art at St Petersburg University. As an example, she suggested considering the history of the creation of the exhibition "Women’s Living Painting" . The exhibition included about a hundred works by 20 Leningrad and St Petersburg artists. Its opening was recognised as a bright cultural event in March 2022 in St Petersburg. Since the exhibition was held in the virtual format, the paintings became available to the widest audience.

The webinar participants expressed great interest in the educational, research, and methodological support from the University and in the development of cooperation with its museums and the Scientific Library. Today, St Petersburg University is working on a draft agreement with the k Republican Art Museum of Donetsk. This involves participation in scientific conferences, their joint organisation, and exchange of art exhibitions. For example, museum staff and the University students and staff have already begun preparations for the online exhibition "Landscape in the Works of Leningrad Artists of the 1960s—1980s from the Collection of the Republican Art Museum of Donetsk". The webinar participants also expressed their desire to take part in the 2nd International St Petersburg Historical Forum. It is scheduled for October 2022.

The public presentation of information about sponsors and other persons who contribute to the development of St Petersburg University

In 2008, the endowment fund "Development of St Petersburg University" was established to support various projects and initiatives. During this time, more than 1,700 patrons took part in the development of the fund. The total amount of capital exceeded 1,054 million roubles.

St Petersburg University treats the sponsorship of patrons with great gratitude and special attention. The University regularly carries out work on informational coverage of this assistance. On 5 August 2022, in the building located on 7, 22nd Line at Vasilyevsky Island, a commemorative plaque was installed to Ilia Tur in gratitude for patronage support for the implementation of the University projects, scholarship programmes, and perpetuating the name of Nadezhda Chechina. Nadezhda Chechina is a legendary Professor, Doctor of Law, and the first Head of the Department of Civil Procedure of Leningrad State University (St Petersburg University), who is beloved and revered by students and colleagues.

During the meeting, Dmitrii Shishmakov noted that today there were 23 targeted programmes of the fund. This allows each donor to choose the most relevant programme to support the University. Patrons can be both individuals and legal entities.

Detailed information about the activities of the St Petersburg University Endowment Fund and the possibility of making a charitable contribution can be found via the link.

Changes in human resources

Vladimir Starostenko, who previously worked as the Director of the Centre of E-learning Development at St Petersburg University, is appointed as the Senior Vice-Rector for Digital Transformation and Information Security.

Deputy Senior Vice-Rector for Commercialisation, Head of the Marketing Department Dmitrii Shishmakov is transferred to the position of the Head of the Media Communications and Marketing Department.

Professor Aleksandr Nazarov at St Petersburg University is appointed as the Director of the Centre of Expert Advice. Anton Popov, who previously held this position, is appointed as the Deputy to Vladimir Eremeev, Vice-Rector for Human Resources.

Director of the St Petersburg University Publishing House Elena Lebedkina now supervises the Department of Exhibitions and Collections and the Scientific Library, while she remains to be the Director of the Publishing House, too.