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7 Dec 2020, 10:00

Rector of Samara University: Our task is to stay ahead of the curve

Rector of Samara State University Vladimir Bogatyrev in an interview with TASS spoke about the university's development strategy, which will become the basis for an application to participate in the Strategic Academic Leadership Program, and what opportunities for the country's economy the concept of "Space for Life" brings.

- Samara University took part in the "5-100" project aimed at increasing the competitiveness of Russian universities among the world's leading research and educational centers. The project wraps yp this year. What are its main results for you?

- The 5-100 project helped us to reorient our work. During its implementation, we have learned to promote our educational programs and research results internationally and build effective collaborations with foreign universities.

Ten years ago we did not even think that foreign teachers would work for us; did not expect to open bilingual programs. But in 2013, ambitious goals were set, new tasks were drafted. Now we have about 1,000 foreign students (bachelors, students, postgraduates) from more than 70 countries, classes are held not only in Russian, but also in foreign languages. We are implementing double degree programs and have increased the number of summer and winter schools targeting English-speaking foreign students from top 400 universities.

The key laboratories of the university were headed by leading foreign scientists with a high Hirsch index: Michael Franklach and Ralph Kaiser from US, Sergey Divinsky and Jurgen Hirsch from Germany. Since 2014, the publication activity of scientists at our university has significantly increased. This is due to the introduction of an incentive system and effective contracts. There have been changes at the level of the university's structure - expanding faculties to the level of institutions that have received autonomy and academic freedom in decision-making. A project-oriented management system was introduced, any decisions are now made on the basis of competitive procedures. Our work with industrial partners has qualitatively changed - network educational programs have been created in cooperation with Rostec and Roscosmos. A huge amount of work has been done to find its identity and create a new brand for the university.

As a result, we improve our positions in global international rankings every year. So, in 2020, in the QS ranking, Samara University broke into the group of universities occupying positions from 591 to 600. So the changes are dramatic. And all this was the result of a radical transformation of thinking, mentality of employees, their attitude to the university, teaching methods, role in research and educational processes.

- Project "5-100" should be replaced by the Strategic Academic Leadership Program. Have you decided on the participation of the university in the new initiative?

- Of course, we are approaching this step, having carefully analyzed the results of participation in the project. The experience of international cooperation, the need to assess oneself in accordance with the requirements of the global market allowed Samara University to launch systemic transformations within the university. Now we are working on a strategy for the university's development until 2030. We anticipate that the final document will form the basis of our proposal for the future Strategic Academic Leadership Program. The university will defend its "national research" status. It is on this track that we are preparing to apply, given that fundamental science is strong at our university along with the applied one.

In the new strategy, our key task is the transition to the model of a digital entrepreneurial university, which is a socially responsible driver of society's development. This task is due to the fact that the world is rapidly changing, education and science are facing new global challenges that require extraordinary approaches. All processes are accelerating, and the university cannot remain in the position of a classical conservative university. Today, the university's task is to stay ahead of the curve. 

We understand that universities are one of state's main instruments in ensuring the country's technological leadership, its participation on an equal footing in the global scientific process. And we are talking not only about technological superiority, but also about a new quality of human life, which we must ultimately provide. Even the current situation with the spread of coronavirus brings us all back to the main priority - a person and their needs.

That is why the pivotal direction of our scientific and educational activities is expressed in the motto: "Space for life". Currently, we have completed the work on the formation of individual blocks of the strategy, determined the ways of the university development in each of the directions. In order to do so, it was widely discussed: every employee of the university and our partners - government bodies and industrial enterprises - could participate in it. And everyone could make comments and suggestions.

The university forms a consortium "End-to-end technologies in aerospace and geographic information systems". Its work will be aimed at forming a scientific and technical groundwork for creating a system for remote monitoring of the processes of the Earth and near space. This is necessary to ensure round-the-clock all-weather and operational monitoring of the territory of Russia and the provision of geoinformation services that improve the quality of life.

Cooperation with the real sector of the economy is also developing - the university will increase the volume of research and development in such flagship science-intensive areas as aerospace technologies and systems, engine building, AI and new materials within the framework of the Engineering of the Future scientific center. Not so long ago, on December 3, this interregional top-notch scientific center became one of the five winners of the federal competition and received the status of a world-class center.

- What place in the future strategy of the university is given to cooperation with traditional "aerospace" partners? How do you see this?

- I must say right away: the creation of rocket-space and aviation technology remains a key direction of the research and educational policy of our university.

And at the same time, it is obvious that half a century ago we stepped over the boundaries of a branch university. The union of Samara State University and Samara National Research University made our university multidisciplinary - today engineering and economics, photonics and biology, law and IT are combined here. Therefore, we see our cooperation with traditional partners in projects that reveal new technological opportunities for them and allow them to create new markets.

You know that there is a Progress rocket and space center in Samara. Here they create some of the world's best space systems for remote sensing of the Earth - these are ultra-precise Earth remote sensing satellites. Cooperation with the university gave our partner the opportunity to implement his unique experience in a new, very promising market segment. Together we have created a platform for small spacecraft of the Aist-2 family, which are an order of magnitude lighter - about 500 kg. Now the first apparatus of this line is successfully operating in space and has captured more than 50 million square kilometers of the earth's surface. Its images are actively used to update topographic maps of Russia, and last year the company received an order for the construction of two more similar satellites capable of conducting stereo shooting. 

- At the same time, one of the most important vectors in the development of the university should be the diversification of research directions through an increase in the number of scientific and technical projects that will not be related to aerospace. 

- "Non-space" projects are, as we understand it, an integral part of the "Space for Life" concept. We invest in it creating new technologies for real sectors of the economy and opening up new opportunities for everyday life. Such technologies arise as a continuation of our "proprietary" competencies at the interface with other areas of expertise. And for us this direction is as priority as the creation of modern technology for the exploration of outer space. 

- What projects are you talking about? Which ones will be prioritized and why?

- “Greenfield, the Center for Artificial Intelligence", can be an example. For us, this is a kind of scientific and educational startup in the structure of the university.

Work is already underway here on a number of promising international projects. One of them is an open software platform OpenNFT.org, created on the basis of interdisciplinary cooperation of scientists from Samara University with leading world scientific centers. It is an open software platform for research related to the formation of neurobiological feedback from functional MRI data in real time. Another project is related to neurocybernetics research. This is the area of ​​interest of neurophysiologists, psychologists, bioengineers, mathematicians, and programmers. They will work to create devices with a sensor embedded in the motor area of ​​the cerebral cortex. 

We plan to receive the first results of the activities of the Center for Artificial Intelligence in 2021, and in 2024 the university should reach the required level of competencies. In the next two years we will have two more "greenfields": one at the intersection of engineering, medicine and biology, the other in the field of socio-humanitarian cybernetics.