On 30 September Saratov University hosted the meeting of the SSU Board of Trustees headed by Governor of the Saratov Region Valerii V. Radayev. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chair of the Government of the Saratov Region Sergei Yu. Naumov and Minister of Education of the Saratov Region Irina V. Sedova. Entrepreneurs, local authorities, and CEOs of big companies and enterprises gathered to discuss the university development.
The first to speak was Governor Valerii Radayev.
‘Today our agenda is quite serious as we have to solve the problem with personnel deficiency in distanced areas and discuss the models of working by distribution. We have to find the personnel balance in the region due to experts and our own commitment. Another important topic is the SSU 110th anniversary, which should be celebrated widely because of its history and achievements. Bring inserted into international ratings the university can compete with big Moscow and Saint-Petersburg universities, consequently, enrolees all over Russian and other countries can become interested to study here. The prestige is based on a set of criteria, and the university corresponds with them. However, as we know, marketing has a great impact in the modern world, therefore, the university PR campaign must be at the same level as its education. And this anniversary year we must do our best in that respect.’
Valerii Radayev congratulated the university staff on a new status – a curator of a pilot project of the Russian Academy of Sciences titled the RAS School.
‘The research and education potential of the region will grow due to this status. We discuss how endowed children would continue their education, and that ‘university-research’ schools should be established for that purpose. As a result, the university will have strong bonds with our best schools. All social and economic reforms in Russia are implemented considering the national projects, including the Research, Education, and Demography ones. The university has been integrated into that process, and a research-to-education centre will be founded in SSU. In our turn, we, the authorities, will continue negotiating with innovation companies and manufacture plants so that they will join the project,’ added the Governor.
Besides, Valerii Radayev focused on the issue of pedagogy personnel deficiency in the distanced regional areas. One of its solutions is the Strategy of Development of Distanced Areas Programme initiated by Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav V. Volodin. SSU is the only university in the region with the courses for pedagogues, therefore, it has actively participated in project. As the Governor said, there is the shortage of subject teachers in schools, and, according to the federal standard, this problem must be solved because high school students must get proper education in all the subjects in the syllabus. The target education system has not solved this problem completely yet because only six young pedagogues have returned to work in distanced areas. Today 30 people are highly demanded there. The Village Teacher project is aimed to solve the problem. In addition, young teachers’ salaries will be paid 20,000 rubles from 1 September.
SSU Rector, Professor Aleksei N. Chumachenko reported on the preparation to the 110th anniversary of the university. He commented on the key aspects of the anniversary programme.
‘Saratov University not only celebrates its anniversary this year. In 2019 the National Research University Development Programme will finish, and it has been the second time the 5-year programme will come to its end. During the first 5 years our university received federal grants to implement the programme, and we succeeded in it. The university has improved its education, research, and innovation indicators. We are ready to make the next step, we are ready to compete with the leading Russian universities,’ underlined the rector.
Also he reminded about the fact that SSU had taken part in a new academic rating, the Three University Missions International Ranking, which evaluates all the three key missions of the university for the first time – education, research, and social cooperation. Saratov University took the 701st-800th position in the world rating, and it is a high result.
Moreover, SSU signed high-potential agreements with University 20.35, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, and the following IT-companies: Mail.ru Group, Kribrum, Skyeng, BigData Team, and GIL. According to it, the Association on Digital Transformation of Research and Educational Institutions will be established.
The university administration considered another important principle when they discussed the anniversary programme, namely that the university events should attract many people.
‘We know that this anniversary year the university must work hard to meet the needs of the country and, especially, the region. Our primary task is to organise the events that would be interesting for school students from the Saratov Region, school teachers, and academic staff members from colleges and other universities. Due to these events we will be able to cooperate more closely with employers and research development customers, we will create the positive image of the Saratov Region for our guests, and the events will contribute to the development of the region,’ highlighted Aleksei Chumachenko.
The rector spoke about the key education, research, and social events with the NAUKA 0+ Festival being one of them. For the first time the festival was organised in the university on 28 September.
The Governor underlined once again that SSU corresponds with the modern standards, therefore, it has been included in many world ratings. And due to this the SSU 110th anniversary should be celebrated on federal platforms, too.
Head of the SSU Media Centre Kirill A. Rozanov presented a report titled the Public Communications Policy of Saratov University in its 110th Anniversary Year. He commented on the cooperation methods among regional and federal media centres, and it results in at least 3000 news messages about the university in print and electronic media published annually.
For a few years the university has been cooperating with the official websites of the Government, ministries, and other boards of the Saratov Region so that the information of SSU events, achievements and new projects is posted there.
As the university celebrates its 110th anniversary this year, its administration pays special attention to the PR campaign of the university in the media. Thus, a logo was created to be put onto souvenirs, press, and presentation products. The logo and the anniversary slogan ‘We are young – we are only 110’ will be printed on billboards and banners in Saratov the university campus.
There has been developed the plan for October-December to inform the population about the anniversary university events. And the university media will contribute to it. Thus, there is a special page on the official website devoted to the detailed celebrating plan, and we created a special new category on the website. The December issues of the Saratov University Newspaper and the SGUshchyonka Magazine will be dedicated to the anniversary. Also social networks play an important role in the public communications policy.
‘The university history comes to life due to memories of its graduates and employees, therefore, we will post a set of short video interviews on their personal pages. We are going to ask professors and representatives of the administration to help us. Surely, everyone will share their good memories connected with the time they studied at university, give advice to modern students, and congratulate the university on the anniversary. We have many plans and ideas, and we ask you, the members of the Board of Trustees, to help us implement them,’ added Kirill Rozanov.
Valerii Radayev expressed his opinion that the population should be more informed about the university anniversary, and the SSU media specialists would cope with it successfully.
Vice-Rector for Secondary Professional Education and Social Work Olga Ye. Nesterova commented on the issue of teacher education for the region schools.
Last year the concept to support pedagogy personnel in the region was developed by the university, the regional Ministry of Education, and the Saratov Region Institute of Education Development.
‘We consider the ideas that are most important for the region. Therefore, the university has also implemented the Development Strategy of Distanced Areas of the Saratov Region project. As the issue of the pedagogy deficiency in those areas is very significant, we constantly inform our students and graduates about pedagogy vacancies,’ added Olga Nesterova.
Besides, the vice-rector paid attention to the issue of long-term pedagogy internships which had already been tested in January-June. Since September the number of students has risen, and 7 of them have been sent to work in schools in Romanovskii, ozinskii, Aleksandrovo-Gaiskii, Ivanteyevskii, and Samoilovskii Districts within the internships. However, there is still pedagogy deficiency in those areas.
Olga Nesterova spoke about low-level of student motivation, comfort environment and high salaries for young pedagogues, and target education. Thus, this year only 8 people entered SSU, according to that programme, and no target students will graduate in 2020.
‘The university is ready to support target students from distanced areas by conducting adaptive courses and extra classes on difficult fields of mathematics, physics, and foreign languages and asking students from other courses to help them as tutors. But the authorities of the districts must do their best as well,’ pointed out the vice-rector.
Chair of the Board of Trustees Valerii Radayev marked that we should work together to help target students. Also he underlined that children should be told which privileges they will have at university when they study at school.
‘The youth must be motivated so that they will know about the advantages of target education and working after graduation. We need to analyse how the project worked last year, develop all the courses for target students and young specialists, consider the financial and housing matters so that the pedagogy deficiency issue will be effectively solved.’
The meeting members had a heated discussion about that issue, and Minister of Education of the Saratov Region Irina Sedova expressed her opinion on that topic, too.
In the end, the participants discussed all the issues once again and set new goals.
