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  • Andrei Fursenko: "The North Caucasus Should Develop Comprehensively"

    ANDREI FURSENKO: "THE NORTH CAUCASUS SHOULD DEVELOP COMPREHENSIVELY"

    Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
    Feb 12 2014

    12 February 2014 - 10:57am

    Interviewed by Daria Melikhova, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza

    Former Russian Education Minister Andrei Fursenko now heads the board
    of trustees of the Russian Science Foundation and works for the
    board of the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs. Mr Fursenko told
    Vestnik Kavkaza about science and education in the North Caucasus,
    as well as about humanitarian cooperation with the South Caucasus.

    - How do you assess the state of education and science in the North
    Caucasus?

    - The North Caucasus Federal District is a region where the development
    of the humanities is particularly important, because the Caucasus
    has always been a place where national culture and the interaction of
    different peoples play a very important role. And this is precisely
    the responsibility of the social sciences: how to form interactions
    to the benefit of each and every person and to the country as a whole.

    In the areas of natural sciences in the Caucasus there are several
    interesting directions and very interesting institutions, in
    particular, in Kabardino- Balkaria, North Ossetia and Stavropol
    Territory. The newly-created North Caucasus Federal University has
    been established precisely in order to coordinate and consolidate
    the scientific forces in the Caucasus. One should see concrete work,
    go there, meet different scientists.

    This region is very important for the country. And this means it must
    develop comprehensively. And education and science are an inalienable
    and very important part of the development of each people, each region.

    - How are scientific contacts with the countries of the South Caucasus
    developing?

    - Once we worked together on education, but also in science.

    Thus, not accidentally, Azerbaijan opened a branch of Moscow State
    University, because it was aimed not only at teaching the youth,
    but also at ensuring that there was fully-fledged joint research with
    our colleagues from Azerbaijani scientific institutes and universities.

    There were outstanding mathematicians in Georgia. Nikolay Muskelishvili
    was one of the pillars of Soviet mathematics. And my colleagues,
    with whom I did pure modelling, they worked in universities, in the
    Georgian Academy of Science. So Georgian science had potential, and
    I'm one hundred percent sure that it is preserved, therefore I hope
    very much that science will be the direction from which, perhaps,
    we will start restoring relations with this country.

    Successful cooperation with Armenia has developed in the field
    of information technology. It is a very concrete thing, so it is
    important to conduct scientific cooperation with any country on
    specific projects. We need to do this not because we have been
    ordered to do so, but in order to bring benefit, not only to the
    scientists from collaborating countries, but also to the economies
    of these countries. It seems that today such opportunities exist,
    and something is already developing.

    ***

    Speaking of the state of the Russian science and education, Mr Fursenko
    noted that since about 2006, we can see a steady increase in the number
    of scientists under the age of 40. "Today the possibility of paying
    good scientists, good young scientists and giving them the opportunity
    of interesting work (I mean the special devices and the infrastructure
    for research) are very much advanced. We have never had such a level
    of quality and quantity of scientific equipment as we have now. We
    have dozens of leading centers, and the quality of the scientific
    infrastructure there is in no way inferior to foreign centers".

    "We have lost the generation of people who are now 45-55 years old.

    These people were in a very difficult situation. In the 1990s they
    worked in science, and some of them left it. You know that in all
    Russian banks, in all the commercial enterprises the top management
    mostly consists of people from science, people who were quite
    successful in science," says Mr Fursenko. " Some people left for
    other countries, because they wanted to continue to work in science,
    believing that in the 1990s the conditions for this were very limited.

    Today, some of these people come back for good, some return for
    a while, but they cooperate with their former employers and other
    institutions very actively."

    According to Mr Fursenko, today full-time jobs in Russian scientific
    institutions are in such demand that there is a queue for them. "There
    are no vacancies. Both academic institutions and the Graduate School
    said that it is necessary to create conditions for the young to stay.

    Therefore, we are creating new tools now. One of the aspects is
    supporting communities that to a large extent consist of young people."

    Speaking of the promising directions of science, Mr Fursenko said,
    "It is very important to be competitive not only in terms of academic
    or university science, but also in terms of the industry that would
    be in demand. I think in the near short term a very interesting
    direction for Russia will be related to the environment. I believe
    that in the next 5-10 years, the issue of the environment, of saving
    it, will be a highly-paid, well-funded direction.

    Nuclear energy is also developing actively. It is an area that requires
    work with new materials, and in the field of elementary particles,
    and research in the structure of matter. Information technology are
    needed there as well. Also a very interesting area is associated
    with medicine. These are areas that are on the border between the
    nuclear industry, nuclear science and medicine. There is much to do,
    and I think that many young people are well aware of it."

    http://vestnikkavkaza.net/interviews/society/51196.html
    Content-Type: MESSAGE/RFC822; CHARSET=US-ASCII
    Content-Description:

    MIME-Version: 1.0
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    From: Katia Peltekian
    Subject: Andrei Fursenko: "The North Caucasus should develop comprehensively"

    Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
    Feb 12 2014


    Andrei Fursenko: "The North Caucasus should develop comprehensively"

    12 February 2014 - 10:57am



    Interviewed by Daria Melikhova, exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza




    Former Russian Education Minister Andrei Fursenko now heads the board
    of trustees of the Russian Science Foundation and works for the board
    of the Russian Council on Foreign Affairs. Mr Fursenko told Vestnik
    Kavkaza about science and education in the North Caucasus, as well as
    about humanitarian cooperation with the South Caucasus.





    - How do you assess the state of education and science in the North Caucasus?





    - The North Caucasus Federal District is a region where the
    development of the humanities is particularly important, because the
    Caucasus has always been a place where national culture and the
    interaction of different peoples play a very important role. And this
    is precisely the responsibility of the social sciences: how to form
    interactions to the benefit of each and every person and to the
    country as a whole.





    In the areas of natural sciences in the Caucasus there are several
    interesting directions and very interesting institutions, in
    particular, in Kabardino- Balkaria, North Ossetia and Stavropol
    Territory. The newly-created North Caucasus Federal University has
    been established precisely in order to coordinate and consolidate the
    scientific forces in the Caucasus. One should see concrete work, go
    there, meet different scientists.

    This region is very important for the country. And this means it must
    develop comprehensively. And education and science are an inalienable
    and very important part of the development of each people, each
    region.





    - How are scientific contacts with the countries of the South Caucasus
    developing?





    - Once we worked together on education, but also in science.
    Thus, not accidentally, Azerbaijan opened a branch of Moscow State
    University, because it was aimed not only at teaching the youth, but
    also at ensuring that there was fully-fledged joint research with our
    colleagues from Azerbaijani scientific institutes and universities.
    There were outstanding mathematicians in Georgia. Nikolay
    Muskelishvili was one of the pillars of Soviet mathematics. And my
    colleagues, with whom I did pure modelling, they worked in
    universities, in the Georgian Academy of Science. So Georgian science
    had potential, and I'm one hundred percent sure that it is preserved,
    therefore I hope very much that science will be the direction from
    which, perhaps, we will start restoring relations with this country.


    Successful cooperation with Armenia has developed in the field of
    information technology. It is a very concrete thing, so it is
    important to conduct scientific cooperation with any country on
    specific projects. We need to do this not because we have been ordered
    to do so, but in order to bring benefit, not only to the scientists
    from collaborating countries, but also to the economies of these
    countries. It seems that today such opportunities exist, and something
    is already developing.




    ***





    Speaking of the state of the Russian science and education, Mr
    Fursenko noted that since about 2006, we can see a steady increase in
    the number of scientists under the age of 40. "Today the possibility
    of paying good scientists, good young scientists and giving them the
    opportunity of interesting work (I mean the special devices and the
    infrastructure for research) are very much advanced. We have never had
    such a level of quality and quantity of scientific equipment as we
    have now. We have dozens of leading centers, and the quality of the
    scientific infrastructure there is in no way inferior to foreign
    centers".




    "We have lost the generation of people who are now 45-55 years old.
    These people were in a very difficult situation. In the 1990s they
    worked in science, and some of them left it. You know that in all
    Russian banks, in all the commercial enterprises the top management
    mostly consists of people from science, people who were quite
    successful in science," says Mr Fursenko. " Some people left for other
    countries, because they wanted to continue to work in science,
    believing that in the 1990s the conditions for this were very limited.
    Today, some of these people come back for good, some return for a
    while, but they cooperate with their former employers and other
    institutions very actively."

    According to Mr Fursenko, today full-time jobs in Russian scientific
    institutions are in such demand that there is a queue for them. "There
    are no vacancies. Both academic institutions and the Graduate School
    said that it is necessary to create conditions for the young to stay.
    Therefore, we are creating new tools now. One of the aspects is
    supporting communities that to a large extent consist of young
    people."





    Speaking of the promising directions of science, Mr Fursenko said, "It
    is very important to be competitive not only in terms of academic or
    university science, but also in terms of the industry that would be in
    demand. I think in the near short term a very interesting direction
    for Russia will be related to the environment. I believe that in the
    next 5-10 years, the issue of the environment, of saving it, will be a
    highly-paid, well-funded direction.

    Nuclear energy is also developing actively. It is an area that
    requires work with new materials, and in the field of elementary
    particles, and research in the structure of matter. Information
    technology are needed there as well. Also a very interesting area is
    associated with medicine. These are areas that are on the border
    between the nuclear industry, nuclear science and medicine. There is
    much to do, and I think that many young people are well aware of it."


    http://vestnikkavkaza.net/interviews/society/51196.html

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