Архивы education — Т-инвариант / T-invariant

Leaders of education. Who leads universities in Russia?

Viktor Sadovnichy, the 85-year-old rector of Moscow State University, has been reappointed for a seventh term. This is not quite a typical situation: today the average age of a rector is under 60. T-invariant has studied the biographies of the heads of Russian universities in detail and realised that the problem with the rector corps is different: it is remarkably monotonous, as if they have specially selected people according to the average statistical pattern. Both the rector of Moscow State University and the heads of unremarkable regional universities have similar biographies and typical careers.

And Bakhtin could not cover it up. the “impure turn” taken by anthropologists from the two capitals could not be swept under the carpet of censorship

Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin explored carnival and laughter culture in the stagnant years of the late Soviet Union and called such topics "material-bodily bottom. Half a century later, anthropologists held a conference about excrement in St Petersburg entitled Anthropopology: Brown Studies and the Unclean Turn.

Ekaterina Zhuravskaya: “Expectations from the sanctions were clearly too high”

One of the winners of the George Gamow Prize this year was Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, a professor at the Paris School of Economics. In an interview with T-invariant, she told how modern economic science works, whether it is possible to evaluate the results of sanctions and what studies of Goebbels' propaganda can tell us about the current military mobilization of Russian society.

Selecting the best vs academic equality: why DEI practices are not catching on in Germany

A recent article by a group of American professors on the introduction of DEI into university practice in the United States has caused a wide resonance. To what extent can DEI be considered a purely American phenomenon, and to what extent has it been assimilated by academic communities in other countries? Germany is a curious example. This is the subject of an article prepared for T-invariant by Alexander Libman, Doctor of Economics, Professor of Russian and East European Politics at the Free University of Berlin.

Dmitry Dubrovsky: “Our classes are an opportunity to be a little free in an already unfree country”

How do universities in exile try to preserve academic freedoms for those who have lost them? Why and at what point does the idea of boycotts of universities begin to contradict academic freedoms? T-invariant spoke to Dmitry Dubrovsky, PhD in History, Professor at the Free University.

Infofield of battle: how and where propagandists are trained in Russian universities today

Since September 1, a number of Russian universities have begun training "information warfare specialists". Such programs were "tested" even before the full-scale invasion, but this year there have been significantly more of them. T-invariant found out which universities have such programs and who will teach students propaganda.

Scientists Who Created the Future: Academic Resistance in Nazi Germany

The internal German resistance to the National Socialist dictatorship is a phenomenon that is not well known to anyone other than specialists. Nevertheless, there were many hotbeds of such struggle. T-invariant tells the story of a group of scientists and teachers who united around professors from the University of Freiburg. Its members worked closely with other German resistance groups and, despite the risk of exposure and threats to their lives, remained true to their professional and civic duty.

“Service” experts: Tomsk linguistics students prepare conclusions on real court cases during their studies

Tomsk State University graduated the first masters of the pilot program "Legal Linguistics". As graduation theses, students defended a portfolio of linguistic research and expert assessments on real criminal and administrative cases.

Universities in Exile: A Growing Industry

University education is increasingly becoming a hostage to political upheavals. Mass migrations of scientists are the new reality of academic life. What are the main problems of scientists in exile? Do they have a chance to preserve traditions, scientific schools and programs? These and other issues were discussed by participants of the conference Sustainable knowledge: Lessons from Universities, Scholars and Students in Exile, which was recently held in Vilnius.

Rectors of the “Russian world”. Who heads the universities in the occupied Ukrainian territories?

Who are they - convinced patriots who brought the advance of the “Russian world” closer? Or banal opportunists who took advantage of the situation for mercantile purposes? T-invariant presents the results of a study of the biographies of heads of universities located in the occupied Ukrainian territories.

Council of Elders.
Putin’s pensioners with Cold War experience gathered at the “dormant institute” under the Security Council

Vladimir Putin updated and expanded scientific council at the Security Council of the Russian Federation. T-invariant analyzed the biographies of all its 174 members. The median age of the council is pre-retirement, 63.5 years. The oldest member is 94 years old.

Mikhail Feigelman: “I’m looking for tall poppy who are interested in science, not just an academic career”.

How did the idea come about to build an “island of academic intelligence” using Google Quantum? How to create conditions under which students will pursue science and not a career? Explains the initiator of the PhD program in quantum condensed matter physics QT Future at the University of Ljubljana Mikhail Feigelman.

How does a private college operate, whose director was deprived of accreditation for his civic position?

Behind the names in the “Chronicle of the Persecution of Scientists”, which is jointly conducted by T-invariant and CISRUS, there are specific people forced to fight for their civil and academic freedoms. We decided to tell in detail who and why decides to go against government pressure in science and education. The first material focuses on the history of Novokolledzh, one of the largest colleges in Russia.How did the institution begin to work, despite the refusal of accreditation and the resignation of the director, candidate of historical sciences Sergei Chernyshov? Why do the new director Yuri Lobanov and Sergei Chernyshov himself not give up their professional and civic positions? Yulia Chernaya spoke with the former and current leaders of Novocollege - Sergei Chernyshov and Yuri Lobanov.