Minutes of the Rector’s Meeting | St Petersburg University

Cultural events at St Petersburg University

Elena Lebedkina, Head of the Main Department for Exhibitions, Museum, Library and Publishing Activities, has presented the digest of cultural events of the University, which will take place from 24 to 30 October.

The Diaghilev Museum of Modern Art at St Petersburg University opened an exhibition dedicated to Tatiana Yurieva, Professor of St Petersburg University. The exhibition features works of art that became part of the St Petersburg University collection in 2021-2022. On 28 October at 5pm, the museum invites you to a lecture "In memory of Tatiana Yurieva, the first director of the Diaghilev Museum of Modern Art at St Petersburg University". The lecture focuses on the creative biography of the outstanding art historian and her contribution to the collections of St Petersburg University.

On 24 October, the St Petersburg University History Museum opened the online exhibition "The life and work of Nikolai Menshutkin: from biography to museum object". The exhibition is timed to coincide with the 180th anniversary of Nikolai Menshutkin (1842-1907), who was a chemist, closest colleague and friend of Dmitri Mendeleev, and one of the initiators of the creation of the Russian Chemical Society in 1868. On behalf of Dmitri Mendeleev, he announced the Periodic Law. The open lecture from the series "The History of the University in People" is posted on the public page of the St Petersburg University History Museum. It was delivered by Nina Zherve, an employee of the St Petersburg University History Museum, a historian, and an award winner of the National Prize for Cultural Heritage in 2013 in the nomination "Enlightener".

On 25 October, the Museum of the History of Physics and Mathematics at St Petersburg University presents the online exhibition "Physical instruments and models of mechanisms produced by the Geneva Society for Instrument Engineering (Société Genevoise pour la construction d’instruments de Physique)". The exhibition features the instruments from the museum collection made in the late 19th − early 20th centuries. On 29 October at 12 noon, the Mineralogical Museum of St Petersburg University invites you to a lecture entitled "Thunder stone". The lecture focuses on The Bronze Horseman, the most famous monument to Emperor Peter the Great, whose 350th anniversary is being celebrated this year.

The M Gorky Scientific Library is opening two interesting exhibitions. At 5 Mendeleevskaya Line, Vasilyevsky Island, St Petersburg University presents an exhibition from the collections of the University Library. The exhibition features publications by Academician Sergei Zhebelev, an alumnus and professor of St Petersburg University. The exhibition is timed to coincide with the 24th Zhebelev Readings, which will take place from 26 to 28 October 2022. On 28 October, a large-scale exhibition entitled "200 Years of Teaching Turkish at St Petersburg University" opens at the library at 11 Universitetskaya Embankment. The exhibition consists of six independent displays united by one idea ─ the Ottoman/Turkish language at St Petersburg University.

The St Petersburg University Publishing House invites you to a public lecture on "The Geology of Russia" on 28 October at 5pm. Georgii Biske, a prominent geologist, Professor of St Petersburg University, will speak about the territory of Russia, which has an area of more than 17 million square metres. He believes: ‘If you have managed to understand the geology of your country, the rest of the world will no longer be terra incognita for you.’ The second edition of the book "Geology of Russia" will also be presented during the lecture.

Professor Andrei Obrezan awarded the honorary title "Honoured Physician of the Russian Federation"

Andrei Obrezan, Professor in the Department of Hospital Therapy at St Petersburg University, was awarded the honorary title "Honoured Physician of the Russian Federation" by Presidential Decree № 758 dated 19 October 2022 for his achievements in healthcare and many years of conscientious work.

Professor Andrei Obrezan, Head of the Department of Hospital Therapy at St Petersburg University since 2005, is a diagnostician and clinician with a medical experience of over 30 years, and a cardiologist recognised not only in Russia, but also abroad. He is the author of over 400 scientific papers, 20 monographs and study guides.

The colleagues congratulated Professor Obrezan and wished him every success in his work.

Professor Tatiana Chernigovskaya awarded the Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize

Professor Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Director of the Institute for Cognitive Studies at St Petersburg University, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education, is the recipient of the Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize. The award was given for her outstanding contribution to the study of man of today.

Professor Chernigovskaya is one of the top experts in Russia and abroad in cognitive sciences: psycholinguistics, neuropsychology and neurophysiology. She is the author of more than 300 scholarly papers in top national and international journals. Thanks to her appearance in numerous popular science TV programmes and films, Tatiana Chernigovskaya is widely known as an educator and a science communicator.

The colleagues congratulated Professor Chernigovskaya on her well-deserved award and wished her every success in her work.

International activities

According to Vice-Rector for International Affairs Sergey Andryushin, a number of new events took place last week.

Meeting between St Petersburg University and the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law

On 18 October, representatives of St Petersburg University and the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law met to discuss international cooperation in education and research. During the talks, the parties expressed their readiness to develop academic exchanges and implement joint projects in the field of jurisprudence.

Lecture at the Representative Office of St Petersburg University in Spain on the life and work of Marina Tsvetaeva

On 20 October, the Representative Office of St Petersburg University in Spain hosted a lecture dedicated to the 130th birth anniversary of the Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva. The event was part of the new series of lectures "Woman. Epoch. Fate". The lecture was delivered by Anna Silyunas, a theatre critic, an art historian and Director of the St Petersburg University Representative Office in Spain.

The 11th China-Russia academic meeting on the Arctic between St Petersburg University and the Ocean University of China

21 October saw a China-Russia academic meeting on the Arctic between St Petersburg University and the Ocean University of China. The event has been held annually since 2011. The meeting discussed the Arctic agenda in the context of bilateral relations between the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China.

Events of the Korea-Russia Dialogue Forum

The following events were held as part of the Korea-Russia Dialogue Forum: 1 October saw the 7th meeting of the Youth Dialogue participants ; 7 October saw a meeting of the discussion club of the Forum’s Working Group on Politics and International Relations; and 21 October saw the 4th Pak Kyongni Art Festival.

Involvement of St Petersburg University experts in work related to consideration of the possibility of recognising the Siege of Leningrad as a war crime and genocide of the peoples of the Soviet Union

On 20 October, the St Petersburg City Court ruled on the case over the acknowledgement of a legally relevant fact recognising the Nazi Siege of Leningrad as a war crime and genocide of the peoples of the Soviet Union. As a result of the hearing, the St Petersburg City Court passed a verdict to grant the application of the St Petersburg prosecutor for the acknowledgement of a legally relevant fact and to declare the Siege of Leningrad by the German occupying forces and their accomplices ─ military units from Belgium, Italy, Spain, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Finland, France and the Czech Republic ─ a war crime, a crime against humanity and genocide of national and ethnic groups who constituted the population of the USSR, the peoples of the Soviet Union.

As part of the case in question, St Petersburg University conducted three expert examinations at the request of the St Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor’s Office of the Leningrad Region. The expert studies were conducted by the University experts: Associate Professors in the Department of Economics of Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Nikolai Poliakov and Oksana Muraveva; Professors in the Department of World Economy Nikita Lomagin and Elena Efimova; Associate Professor in the Department of Management and Planning of Social and Economic Processes Elena Anokhina; Associate Professor in the Department of Credit Theory and Financial Management Natalia Pokrovskaia; Associate Professors in the Department of Statistics, Accounting and Audit Iurii Guzov, Natalia Generalova, Irina Veiner, Tatiana Diukina, Ekaterina Zuga, Sergei Shanygin; and Head of the Department of Modern and Contemporary History Professor Vladimir Baryshnikov.

Organisation of the teaching and learning process

Over the past week, 37 enquiries were addressed to the Senior Vice-Rector for Academic Activities. The majority of enquiries relate to the provision of training sessions using information and telecommunication technologies. An analysis of the information on the organisation of the teaching and learning process provided by the heads of academic and research subdivisions has been carried out. Classes are held according to the timetable in due order.

The heads of academic and research subdivisions continue to hold meetings with student activists: group heads, and representatives of student councils and student scientific societies to name just a few. They discussed issues with organising the teaching and learning process. Over the past week, meetings were held with the heads of: the Institute of History; the Faculty of Biology; the Faculty of Foreign Languages; the Faculty of Arts; the Mathematics and Mechanics Faculty; the School of International Relations (the minutes of the meeting were not formalised and not submitted for publication); the Faculty of Sociology; the Faculty of Physics; the Faculty of Philology; and the College of Physical Training and Sports, Economics and Technology (the minutes of the meeting were not formalised and not submitted for publication).

Results of the competition for the award of the Government of St Petersburg for graduation projects commissioned by St Petersburg executive authorities in the 2021/2022 academic year

The St Petersburg Committee on Science and Higher Education has summed up the results of the competition for the award of the Government of St Petersburg for graduation projects commissioned by St Petersburg executive authorities in the 2021/2022 academic year. Graduation year students in bachelor’s, specialist’s and master’s programmes are traditionally invited to take part in the competition. The amount of the monetary prize for the winners of the competition is 16,000 roubles.

Only five students from St Petersburg University took part in the competition. The winners of the competition were:

Polina Pavlova, a first-year master’s student in Political Science; became the winner when she was studying in the fourth year of the bachelor’s programme
Elena Rogova, finished the University in 2022, became the winner when she was studying in the fourth year of the bachelor’s programme in Applied Informatics

A total of 75 students from universities in St Petersburg won the competition, namely:

Name of the university	Number of winners
Peter the Great St Petersburg Polytechnic University	14
St Petersburg State University of Economics	10
The North-West Institute of Management of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration	9
ITMO University	5
St Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation	5
St Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design	5
Emperor Alexander I St Petersburg State Transport University	4
St Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering	4
St Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI"	3
St Petersburg University	2
The Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia	2
Pushkin Leningrad State University	2
St Petersburg University of Management Technologies and Economics	2
St Petersburg State Technological Institute (Technical University)	2
St Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal affairs of the Russian Federation	1
St Petersburg State University of Veterinary Medicine	1
St Petersburg State Forest Technical University	1
The St Petersburg Campus of the National Research University Higher School of Economics	1
St Petersburg State Institute of Culture	1
The Bonch-Bruevich Saint Petersburg State University of Telecommunications	1

On 30 September, admission of applications for participation in the competition for the award of the Government of St Petersburg for graduation projects commissioned by St Petersburg executive authorities in the 2022/2022 academic year ended. Eight students from St Petersburg University submitted their applications to participate in the competition. The results of the competition will be announced in December.

The meeting participants noted that St Petersburg University has many more students who could take part in these competitions, win them and qualify for rewards. The Rector instructed the directors and deans to draw the students’ attention to these events.

Provision of financial support to certain categories of students

On behalf of the Rector, the St Petersburg University students whose parents (guardians, trustees, legal representatives) are called up for military service in accordance with Executive Order № 647 "On the announcement of partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation" of the President of the Russian Federation dated 21 September 2022 can apply for the financial support. Among those who can also apply for the financial support are the following: military personnel; employees of federal executive authorities and federal state bodies in which military service is provided for by federal law; employees of the internal affairs bodies of the Russian Federation who take (have taken) part in the special military operation in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic and Ukraine; and employees of the penitentiary system of the Russian Federation performing (having performed) the tasks assigned to them in the indicated territories during the period of the special military operation.

Information about the possibility of submitting applications is published in the ‘Extracurricular Activities’ section on the St Petersburg University website. To receive financial support, students can send applications for financial support to the e-mail address: urm@spbu.ru; or e-mail of the deputy heads of the department for youth policy in the relevant areas of study. A special scholarship fund has been formed for these payments.

Violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation and by-laws of St Petersburg University by students

As reported at the Rector’s meeting held on 26 September 2022, on the night of 17 to 18 September 2022, on the territory of the St Petersburg University complex of the halls of residence located in the Petrodvortsovy District of St Petersburg, law enforcement agencies recorded cases of violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation. According to Vladimir Savinov, Vice-Rector for Educational Activity, police officers detained students of the University and people who were not affiliated with St Petersburg University.

The University received information from law enforcement agencies about bringing ten University students to administrative responsibility. The University organised work to consider the issues of bringing these students to disciplinary responsibility. The students were asked to prepare and submit explanations in writing. After receiving these explanations, the students were invited to the meetings of the committee. The committee included Aleksandr Babich, Senior Vice-Rector for Youth Policy and Admissions; Yury Penov, Deputy Rector for Legal Affairs; Sergei Belov, Dean of the Faculty of Law; and Alla Shaboltas, Dean of the Faculty of Psychology.

At the meetings of the committee, the students could provide information about the circumstances of the incident. Additionally, they could report on the appeal (the intention to appeal) of the decision to bring them to administrative responsibility or the results of the appeal. Vladimir Savinov recalled that the similar work with students brought to administrative responsibility had already been organised earlier (the relevant issues were considered at the Rector’s meetings held on 14 March 2022, 4 April 2022, and 18 April 2022).

The members of the committee held meetings with nine students. Another student is currently on the academic leave and will be interviewed after the end of the leave. All students reported that they agreed with the administrative penalty imposed on them and did not intend to appeal it. They noted that they would not commit such violations in future. The members of the committee also studied the information characterising the students and information about the circumstances of the offense that had legal significance.

The members of the committee studied the explanations received from the students and analysed materials. Taking into account the absence of disciplinary sanctions among students and taking into account the intention of students not to commit such violations in future, the members of the committee recommended only to reprimand these nine students. Draft relevant orders have been prepared and sent to the Student Council of St Petersburg University.

Violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation and by-laws of St Petersburg University by staff

At the meeting, it was reported that on 21 September 2022, an Associate Professor at St Petersburg University participated in a mass event. According to the decision of the Vyborgsky District Court of St Petersburg, he was found guilty of committing an administrative offense; he was sentenced to 10 (ten) days of administrative arrest; and he was subjected to administrative arrest from 22 September to 1 October 2022 (On the dismissal of an employee of St Petersburg University).

As Vice-Rector for Legal Affairs Yury Penov said, at the initiative of the employer, the employment agreement with this Associate Professor was terminated as the employee had committed an immoral offense that was incompatible with the work related to education of students. Answering a question from one of the deans, Yury Penov explained the following: the dismissal order was issued in accordance with the current legislation, taking into account the pedagogical position held, which certainly implied educational functions. Consciously committing such an offense does not correspond to the moral norms shared by the St Petersburg University staff and students. This Associate Professor impeached the court’s decision but lost. The court’s decision came into force.

Several students of the University were brought to administrative responsibility under various articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation for participating in a similar event. After receiving explanations from the students, they were invited to the meeting of the committee (Minutes of the Rector’s meeting held on 17 October 2022). Each of them said that they had accidentally got to this event. Taking into account the absence of disciplinary sanctions among students and taking into account the intention of students not to commit such violations in future, the members of the committee recommended only to reprimand all students.

St Petersburg University receives additional funds as part of the programme of state guarantees for free provision of medical care to citizens

At the St Petersburg University’s Pirogov Clinic of High Medical Technologies, more than 80% of medical care is provided within the programme of state guarantees of free medical care for citizens. This programme is funded by the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund. As Senior Vice-Rector Elena Chernova said, assistance is provided to residents of all regions of the Russian Federation. Assistance is provided in the following fields of medicine: cardiovascular surgery; oncology; traumatology and orthopaedics; gynaecology; urology; endocrinology; rheumatology; and nephrology (The St Petersburg University Clinic receives more than 1 billion roubles as additional funding for treatment patients under Compulsory Medical Insurance).

Patients have confidence in St Petersburg University’s specialists and therefore there is a large number of requests for medical assistance. As a result, the target plan that was approved by the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund for the University for 2022 was realised in nine months. Applications for an increase in planned funding were sent to the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund in a timely manner.

Yet, from the second decade of October 2022, admission to the clinic was partially suspended, since the University did not have the opportunity to provide patients with medical care within the framework of compulsory medical insurance in full.

On 19 October 2022, the Federal Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund (On conducting chemotherapy at the St Petersburg University’s Pirogov Clinic of High Medical Technologies) additional funds in the amount of 1,127,965,890.51 roubles allocated to the University. This increased the planned target by 38%, i.e. up to 4,102,228,304 roubles. Applications for additional funding to the Federal Compulsory Health Insurance Fund were submitted by five federal health care institutions. Only two applications were supported. Among them are: the application submitted by St Petersburg University and the application submitted by the Almazov National Medical Research Centre of the Ministry of Health of Russia.

Measures aimed at strengthening the anti-terrorist protection of St Petersburg University

Following the provisions of Decree № 1421 of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 7 November 2019 "On approval of requirements for anti-terrorist protection of facilities (territories) of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and its subordinate organisations, facilities (territories) related to the scope of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, the forms of the safety data sheet of these facilities (territories) and the invalidation of certain acts of the Government of the Russian Federation", a commission survey and categorisation of objects of St Petersburg University was carried out; safety data sheets of all functioning (operating) objects of the University were approved; and the category of each object was defined in accordance with the decision of the commission.

According to Vice-Rector for Security Dmitry Gryaznov, St Petersburg University, the territorial divisions of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the National Guard of Russia followed the instructions of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko and organised work to conduct training exercises at St Petersburg University. These exercises are aimed at preparing the University staff and students to emergencies at St Petersburg University. Dmitry Gryaznov asked the participants of the Rector’s meeting to draw the attention of the St Petersburg University students and staff to the materials published on the University website:

In connection with the introduction of the basic readiness level in St Petersburg by Decree № 757 of the President of the Russian Federation dated 19 October 2022, St Petersburg University implements a set of additional measures to strengthen anti-terrorist security of the facilities.

St Petersburg University previously developed an online course "Life Safety", which everyone can take on the Open Education platform.