SS SIBERIAN SOCIUM V. N. Falkov, V. G. Nemirovsky, pp. 8–11 INTERVIEW Valery N. Falkov, the rector of the University of Tyumen The University’s Individual Trajectory It has been two years since the University of Tyumen has entered the Project 5-100. In this interview, Valery N. Falkov, the university rector, talks about the achievements of the regional, Russian, and international levels, assesses the fundamental changes in the educational and scientific landscape. V. Nemirovsky: Dear Valery Nikolayevich, we V. Falkov: Primarily—and I find it very impor- would like to ask you a few questions for the Siberian tant—the culture itself has changed, and not just the Socium journal. Since the autumn of 2015, the Uni- academic culture, but also rather the corporate one. versity of Tyumen has been successfully developing Our teachers and students began to treat their educa- as a participant of the Project 5-100. What would tional institution differently. They have new guide- you like to highlight, out of what has been accom- lines. For example, if earlier, the science for us used plished?1 to be something of a dessert for the main dish—ed- ucation—now, the majority have a clear understand- DOI: 10.21684/2587-8484-2017-1-2-8-11 ing that the science is of primary importance. 8 vol. 1 | no 2 | 2017 V. N. Falkov, V. G. Nemirovsky, pp. 8–11 SIBERIAN SOCIUM SS If you recall, we started at the last 21st place in the Another our important innovation is that we are Project. In just two years, the university has already introducing a new model of education at the univer- achieved such significant results that allowed it to sity, aimed at the individualizing teaching. Since enter the second cohort of universities and to rise to September, students of four institutes (including the the 13th position in the general line. School of Advanced Studies) study using individual educational trajectories. At the end of October, we presented our road map for the International Council of the Project V. Nemirovsky: What are the innovative tasks to 5-100 in Yekaterinburg. The evaluation of univer- be achieved by the School of Advanced Studies? sities is made up of several indicators. This is pri- V. Falkov: The School of Advanced Studies is a marily the representation of the university in the unique project in Russia, aimed at the most talented ratings. The University of Tyumen, to remind you, and ambitious young people. The programme of the confidently shows the positive dynamics in various School allows students to study comprehensively Russian ratings; in particular, it has recently entered social and humanitarian disciplines, including their the top ten of the best classical universities on the intersections with information technology and biol- quality of admission, and for the first time, it ranked ogy. Teaching is conducted in the Russian and among the best universities in the international English languages, interactive classes in smaller rating of QS EECA. In addition, in the Potanin Fund groups prevail. competition, we took the fourth place in Russia, and the number of our teachers, who have won According to our plan, the School of Advanced grants for the development of master’s programs, Studies should become the driver of multidiscipli- is the largest in the country. nary research in the social and human sciences and lead to meaningful and qualitative changes in the The publication activity of the university, the de- educational model of the university. gree of internationalization, and the quality of admis- sion among many others also contributed greatly to V. Nemirovsky: One of the innovative directions the evaluation. in the educational process of the University of Tyu- men, as you have already mentioned, is the realisa- At the start of the Project 5-100, we set the goal tion of individualizing teaching. What has already to become a full-fledged university in full-time been done, and what problems are encountered along training. This year, we, first of all, have finally the way? reached the ten-thousand index. Secondly, the num- ber of full-time students exceeded that of part-time V. Falkov: The new model of education is fully students. In the new academic year, we have enrolled consistent with the challenges of the 21st century, 3,445 people to all the forms of education. and it will allow the University of Tyumen to “leap forward” in the future. In education, all changes take The average score of the entrants applying for long enough. However, if we see the ways of devel- state-funded education has grown by two points, and opment in advance and do not stand still, but move now comprises 74.26. forward, we—a regional university with federal ambitions—will be able to bypass many universities Speaking about the masters’ admission, I want to in 5–7 years of good competition. note that the University of Tyumen gradually in- creases the number of applicants who have graduated I repeat, more than 900 freshmen are now stud- from other universities. Here we achieve our set ying at the University of Tyumen employing indi- goals—today, it is 27% on average. The highest vidual educational trajectories. Four institutes have percentage of other universities’ graduates can be decided to implement them, but we set ourselves seen in Conceptual Engineering of Oil and Gas the task of setting the whole university onto this Fields program—66%. model by 2020. vol. 1 | no 2 | 2017 9 SS SIBERIAN SOCIUM V. N. Falkov, V. G. Nemirovsky, pp. 8–11 Individualised education will be beneficial for In general, attracting employers to participate in both students and teachers. The former, when choos- the educational process and assessing its quality is ing an educational trajectory, get education con- one of the university’s priorities. structed “for themselves.” Which is profitable for This year, the University of Tyumen became one them, as they will gain the exact knowledge that will of the organisers of the first professional student’s be useful in the future for them and their employers. Olympiad “I Am a Professional.” Participating in it, By the way, contemporary employers need profes- students will be acquainted with employers’ modern sionals with a whole set of seemingly incongruous requirements and, thereby, will be able to improve competencies: e.g., a chemist with knowledge of IT, their competitiveness in the labour market. foreign languages, and commanding skills in the team among many others. Unlike the old one, a new In addition, we attract foreign professors to teach- educational model allows these things to be taken ing. Foreign experience affects the level of students’ into consideration, offering a choice of various elec- education positively as well. For example, 16 re- tive courses. search teachers from nine countries already work on the permanent basis at the School of Advanced Even today, the teachers of the institutes that have Studies. In general, the University of Tyumen has switched to the individual educational trajectories, formed ambitious plans to increase the share of note a sharp increase in the number of students, who foreign faculty from 1 to 12% by 2020. start thinking critically. Decision-making is one of the most important competences of this time, while V. Nemirovsky: Which important studies in so- the new educational model already accounts for its ciology, conducted by employees of the University formation. of Tyumen during this period, could you mention? It is another issue, though, that we still need to V. Falkov: Our University’s sociologists are re- develop a tutoring system to help the freshmen to markable for their high publication activity: dozens orient in such a meaningful, technical, and method- of collective monographs, a series of academic ar- ticles in high-ranking journals indexed by Scopus, ical plan. Web of Science, ERIH, RSCI, and papers at inter- The lecturers will also benefit from the new mod- national conferences. el. First, it is an opportunity to give the courses they Our sociologists, guided by professors Gulnara like, something that is part of their academic Romashkina and Vladimir Davydenko, actively interests. participate in the All-Russian programme The V. Nemirovsky: As it is known, one of the most Problems of the Sociocultural Evolution of Russia important tasks of the Russian higher education and Its Regions. Over the past 10 years, 5 projects system at the present stage is to increase the com- have been implemented with the support of the petitiveness of students. Could you name the most Russian Humanities Research Foundation, and the effective directions in this field, which are followed Tyumen Regional Duma. Our researchers have at the University of Tyumen? conducted five monitoring studies on the territory of the Tyumen Region (including Yugra and V. Falkov: Today, to be competitive in the labour Yamal). market, a graduate needs to possess not only narrow professional competencies, but also soft skills. He Significant results have been obtained following or she should be skilled at communication, team- the results of a major sociological research, which work, information technologies, negotiation and studied the social and professional portrait of the critical thinking. Such training modules, in particu- teachers in the south of the Tyumen Region and lar, are in the program of the Polytechnic School of Yamal. Gennady Shafranov-Kutsev, a member of the University of Tyumen, the key partner of Gaz- the Russian Academy of Education, has guided the prom Neft. work. 10 vol. 1 | no 2 | 2017 V. N. Falkov, V. G. Nemirovsky, pp. 8–11 SIBERIAN SOCIUM SS Another large-scale study by our researchers would like to mention three industrial partners. allowed us to assess the risks of inclusive educa- Firstly, it is GMS Neftemash company: together, we tion.