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On the spit of Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg, a battle breaks out for academic real estate.

One of the main concerns related to the reform of the RAS announced in 2013 was the fear of losing the unity of academic science: many were afraid that influential players such as large universities or the Kurchatov Institute Research Center would begin to take academic institutions under their control and ultimately academic science as such will cease to exist. The sad fate of ITEF has become an example of what can happen even with a very strong institution. The transition to the management of universities, in which, as a rule, the level of scientific research is lower than in academic institutions and the level of bureaucratization is much higher, was also considered by most of the employees of the RAS institutes as extremely undesirable.

BUILDING ISH RAS

Despite the fact that a number of universities made very active attempts to take over the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences after they were subordinated to the FANO of Russia in order to improve their positions in the ratings by increasing the number of publications, the process of assigning “badly lying” failed. But after academic institutions and universities were subordinated to one ministry, and at the highest level there was talk about the integration of universities and scientific organizations, the loss of independence by scientific institutions became again probable. Most likely, universities also felt the opening opportunities, an example of which is the history described below.

Currently, in the heart of St. Petersburg, on the spit of Vasilyevsky Island, in the historic building of the Northern Warehouse of the Exchange, built in 1832 under the direction of architect I.F. Luchini, where the Academy of Sciences institutions have been located since the forties, there are serious battles with involving several academic institutions, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics, and Optics (NRU ITMO).

In the building, an object of cultural heritage, which is under the operational management of the Institute of Silicate Chemistry named after The Institute of Geology and Geochronology of the Precambrian RAS (since 1967), the Institute of Chemistry of High Molecular Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences (since 1948) , Central Museum of Soil Science. V.V. Dokuchaev (since 1950), garage of the St. Petersburg Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (since 1950), partially branches of the archive and library of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Naturally, the Institute of Chemical Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, is burdened with the obligation to keep the building in good condition.

This place, in fact, is a small and established academic city of the Northern capital, where not only fundamental research is conducted and large thematic Russian and international conferences are held in the relevant areas of chemistry, geology, mineralogy, etc., but also popular science events are organized that people love and the guests of St. Petersburg, for example: the annual festival “To the museum today, to science tomorrow”, “Night of museums” and a number of others, in particular the popular science project of the Institute of Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Scientific open laboratory Element 14 "."

Everything would be fine, but the accident that happened at ITMO last year entailed a chain of events that resulted in a serious conflict. Recall that on February 16, 2019, in one of the ITMO educational buildings, the collapse of the floors occurred. Director of the Institute of Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences Irina Kruchinina responded to the oral appeal of ITMO rector Vladimir Vasiliev and suggested that the university temporarily take up premises in the laboratory building of the Institute of Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, located in Vasileostrovsky District of St. Petersburg, on ul. Odoevskogo, 24/2, for equipment and lectures. ITMO staff said that the university needed an area of about 300 m2, they personally inspected the premises, but they chose others on Novoizmailovsky Prospekt, as Vladimir Vinogradov, head of the chemical-biological cluster, said in a telephone conversation.

It would seem that everything was resolved safely, but ... the ITMO rector, apparently, really wanted to get the premises of the Institute of Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the arrow of Vasilyevsky Island. He decided to use force methods, enlisting the support of the Ministry of Education and Science in the person of the deputy head of the department for coordinating the activities of scientific organizations Irina Chugueva, whose responsibilities, we note, do not include making decisions on real estate and supervising universities - this is the prerogative of the Department of State Policy in Higher Education.

It must be emphasized that Vladimir Nikolaevich personally did not negotiate with the administration of the Institute of Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the interaction of the two organizations as equal partners. In an interview [1], Mr. Vasiliev said that in the summer of 2019 he worked out plans for interaction with academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Shevchenko (former director of the Institute of Chemistry and Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, now a laboratory for research on the nanostructures of the institute), which the current management of the Institute of Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences did not know. In the same interview, he gave inaccurate, in our opinion, information about the activities of the Institute for the Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences and its current work.

At the end of last year, a letter from the Russian Ministry of Education and Science came to the Institute of Chemistry and Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences indicating that as soon as possible provide ITMO with an area of about 5,000 m2 for free use for placing a chemical and biological cluster (see letter of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science dated December 23, 2019, Ref. No. МН92 / 2115 [2]).

The Institute staff, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the RAS Workers Union and the scientific community disagreed with the decision of the Ministry; many saw in such actions a threat of seizure and liquidation of the institute, capable of starting a redistribution of academic property.

All requests regarding the situation sent to the Ministry of Education and Science, the President of Russia, the Presidential Advisor, the profile committee of the State Duma and others, in the best bureaucratic traditions, were lowered down to prepare answers - and were on the table at the very same officials who they seem to be pushing profitable ITMO solutions. The opinion of the labor collective and the administration of the Institute of Chemistry and Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who considered that these premises are extremely necessary for the institute for development, was ignored.

The fact that the threat of the liquidation of the institute by gradually absorbing its areas is real, is confirmed by a number of well-known facts. In particular, the State Optical Institute (GOI) named after At the turn of the century S. I. Vavilova lost almost all of its branches, since the Ministry of Property took away most of its territories and transferred it to other departments. In place of the laboratories in Birzhevoy Lane, LenSpetsSMU built a residential complex “At the Rostral Columns” with the Sokos Hotel, and buildings 4 and 14–16 on the Birzhevaya Line and 3b on the Kadetskaya Line were transferred to ITMO University.

The fate of GOI them. S. I. Vavilova, a world-famous scientific and technical organization, on the basis of which in the difficult post-revolutionary years a national school of optical glass was created and without which the successful development of the optical industry in modern Russia is impossible, was unenviable. In 2012, against the will of the institute's employees, most of its real estate was transferred to the holding of Shvabe JSC. GOI employees tried to save their home center, but the attempts were unsuccessful: due to the fault of the Shvabe head holding, the institute was left without specialized orders from the Ministry of Defense and lost its historical territory near the arrow of Vasilievsky Island with an area of three hectares.

A similar fate befell St. Petersburg State University of Low-Temperature and Food Technologies (SPbGUNiPT). In 2011, it ceased to exist, as it was attached to the ITMO University, changing its name to the Institute of Refrigeration and Biotechnology. At that time, SPbGUNiPT had 6500 students, 82 teachers, among whom were doctors of sciences, professors. In 2015, the institute was finally disbanded: on its basis, two ITMO faculties were created - refrigeration, cryogenic equipment and air conditioning; food biotechnology and engineering. It would be interesting to compare the achievements of SPbGUNiPT employees before and after its absorption by ITMO. Was the game worth the candle?

It is wrong to ignore the ITMO performance assessment, like an ideal gas, rapidly expanding in all directions and occupying the entire volume provided to it. The former Leningrad Institute of Precision Mechanics and Optics (LITMO) - now ITMO University today occupies a very significant territory in St. Petersburg.

Now it’s fashionable to rank organizations according to formal indicators or reviews. The university rating, based on independent reviews of its students and teachers (tabiturient.ru), is very low: out of 1688 reviews, 72.5% are negative, 13.7% are neutral and only 13.8% are positive. The authors of some reviews openly write that the most important thing for the university is aggressive PR, but in reality the situation looks much less rosy.

But maybe, the Institute of Chemistry, RAS is, to put it mildly, not in the best shape and with the transition under the wing of ITMO, the institute will have a second wind?

In today's very difficult time, the Institute has largely managed to maintain the multidisciplinary and continuity of historically developed areas. <...>

Among the most significant and important applied works of recent times is the development, within the framework of state defense orders, of protective coatings for the shipbuilding industry, including for operation in the Far North, as well as the improvement of previously created coatings. In order to expand the range of such applied works, the Institute of Chemistry and Optics of the Russian Academy of Sciences became a member of the consortium “Shipbuilding and marine engineering”, created on the basis of the St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University in 2018. <...>

One cannot ignore the crucial issue for the development of any organization - the personnel issue. The institute has many young people who take the baton of the older generation and continue the glorious traditions of the Institute of Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences. Now about half of all researchers under the age of 39, of which 40% are researchers under 30 years of age. Every year, young representatives of the Institute of Chemistry and Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences win competitions in various funds (RFBR, RSF, etc.). <...> Thus, in such a difficult and unstable time, especially for the scientific community, in the conditions of chronic underfunding of fundamental science, the historically established areas of scientific activity of the Institute of Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences are still relevant, in demand by the industrial sector of the economy, continue to develop and expand - therefore, the area temporarily free will not be empty.

The story of the transfer of the premises of the Institute of Chemistry and Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences has resonated thanks to stories on local and federal television channels, and publications in the press. The inadmissibility of the disposal of academic real estate was repeatedly stated in their appeals by the staff of the Institute of Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences and representatives of the scientific and production community: Department of Chemistry and Materials Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences, scientific organizations, the Glass Union of Russia Association, St. Petersburg Union of Scientists, a number of regional organizations of the RAS Workers Union : Tomsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Saratov, Pushcha and St. Petersburg. However, the voltage does not subside. The Institute of Chemistry, RAS is still at risk of losing a significant part of its space, which is so necessary for it. And such a turn of events can create a very dangerous precedent for the redistribution of academic property.

Team of authors -

employees of the Institute of Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences:

Tatyana Viktorovna Antropova,

Doctor of Chemical Sciences,

Tatyana Alexandrovna Kochina,

Doctor of Chemical Sciences,

Olga Alekseevna Shilova,

Doctor of Chemical Sciences,

Natalya Geraldovna Turnina,

Candidate of Chemical Sciences

As is known, the Institute of Agriculture is a member of the StekloSouz of Russia. Kruchinina Irina Yuryevna, Doctor of Technical Sciences Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science of the Order of the Red Banner of Labor Institute of Silicate Chemistry named after I.V. Grebenshchikova of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IHS RAS) is the vice president of the StekloSouz.

Source: https://trv-science.ru/