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Why the rector of the Russian State University was fired. “We have a lot of untapped niches. But there is also some deceit

Volgograd region, USSR) - Russian philosopher, specialist in the field of social epistemology, system theory of communication, philosophy of education and modernization of the modern university.

Professor of the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Moscow State University, Doctor of Philosophy (2000). Rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities (2016-2017).

In 1979, he graduated from the Kamyshin Higher Military Construction Command School (with a gold medal) with a degree in power engineering and continued to serve there in various positions. Since 1987, he served as deputy commander of a military unit during the construction of the Baikonur cosmodrome. In December 1989, he retired from the USSR Armed Forces with the rank of major.

In 1988 he graduated with honors from the Faculty of Philosophy of Kyiv State University. Specialty: philosopher, teacher of philosophy.

From 2012 to 2016 - part-time chief researcher at the Center for Education Development Strategy and Organizational and Methodological Support of Programs (Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation).

Since 2018 - Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the Humanities Faculties of Moscow State University.

Since 2016 - rector (elected by secret ballot on February 15, 2016). By the time Ivakhnenko arrived, the university found itself in a difficult financial situation: a “hole” of 238 million rubles had formed in the RSUH budget, and as a result, a reduction in the number of teaching staff began. On September 16, 2016, 12 employees left the Institute of Psychology en masse due to the plans of the new rector of the university, Ivakhnenko, to optimize the staff and increase the workload on teachers. The practice of introducing annual contracts with teachers has spread at the university, and the load on a teacher’s salary has reached 900 hours per year (and 600 hours of extracurricular work). In an interview with the publication, Ivakhnenko replied: “900 hours is a very heavy load, we plan to reduce it as our financial situation improves.”

In 2016, work was carried out to streamline financial and economic activities in accordance with the standards of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science. According to the results of monitoring the effectiveness of universities conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science in 2017, the university exceeded the monitoring threshold for key performance indicators.

At the meeting of the Conference of workers and students of the Russian State University for the Humanities, held on December 15, 2016, the university’s strategic development program for 2017-2020 was approved.

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Under Ivakhnenko, the work of the anti-plagiarism commission was initiated, at which, under his chairmanship, the facts of incorrect borrowing in the dissertations of RSUH employees were considered. The work of the commission was suspended by decision of the university academic council

Rector of the Russian State Humanitarian University Evgeny Ivakhnenko has been removed from his post. This became known two days before the start of the academic year and caused concern among many university employees. First Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs Alexander Bezborodov was appointed acting rector. It is not yet clear who will become rector.

Ivakhnenko worked as rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities for a year and a half, replacing Efim Pivovar in this post in March 2016. Most university employees did not expect the new rector to leave so soon. Moreover, many of them learned about what happened only from the media.

According to Ivakhnenko himself, “there are no clear and obvious reasons for the resignation.” This is what he said on the radio station “Moscow Speaks”. At the same time, in an interview with the Kommersant FM radio station, he said that his removal from his position was due to the claims of the Ministry of Education and Science regarding the maintenance of the property complex. Alexander Bezborodov, in response to a request from journalists from the online publication Indicator, mentioned the comments made to the university based on the results of inspections there.

“I can say that during the summer period the university had very serious inspections carried out by the control and audit bodies, they concerned the activities of the financial and economic block, economic relations. We have a very large university, it is located in several territories. As an acting official then, during the summer period, because Evgeniy Nikolaevich was on vacation, the heads of the inspection commissions reported that there were serious comments and violations in the activities of the university along this line. Moreover, I know that the Ministry of Education and Science will soon send us a set of final documents based on the results of these inspections,” he said.

In connection with the incident, some former teachers of the Russian State University for the Humanities expressed the opinion that Ivakhnenko’s resignation may be associated with a serious struggle for the position of rector. At the same time, some teachers currently working at the university came to the conclusion that the decision to remove the rector was made outside the walls of the university. According to them, there is no group in the Russian State University for the Humanities influential enough to achieve a change in its leadership. Other employees of the Russian State University for the Humanities, on condition of anonymity, reported to the media that Ivakhnenko was fired because, when closing branches of the university, he did it quietly, hiding violations that were committed in their work.

A source familiar with the situation commented on what was happening for Polit.ru. According to him, the point is that the peculiarities of doing business by the new administration, formed under Ivakhnenko, differed from the peculiarities of doing business by the old one, which could have been inconvenient for the old administration, the new rector began to distance himself from time to time, saying that he was solving the accumulated Problems. On the other hand, the way the new administration conducted business was in many cases perceived by current employees and teachers as inconvenience and unprofessionalism - for example, in working with the new university accounting department. However, during this time she supposedly gradually learned - whether a new person would need to do this again is difficult to say.

Indignation among the team was caused by the actual increase in workload, the squeezing out of major scientists, and the dubious form of an “effective contract.”

“What follows from this and who will now become rector is unclear. It could be an external figure, or it could be someone internal,” the source explained. In any case, in his opinion, one cannot expect significant changes for the better from this - and not because Ivakhnenko was good, but simply in the context of what is happening in the country and in the relevant ministry, no one particularly good will be allowed to this position.

A separate problem is the unbalanced composition of the body called upon to select a candidate for rector for the Ministry - the Academic Council, the source continues.

Meanwhile, the university, according to the source, is in a rather difficult situation - in the sense that qualified specialists are slowly being “washed out” of it, moving to more comfortable places - for example, to the National Research University Higher School of Economics or RANEPA, and some are leaving to work abroad. “There are still strong departments and teachers there, someone works there and in parallel in some other place. But a positive change for the Russian State University for the Humanities can be expected almost like a miracle, and the probability of a miracle is approximately zero. Which is a shame, because this was a significant project of Russian humanitarian and social education in the 1990-2000s,” the source emphasized.

RSUH students / msk.postupi.online

Undoubtedly, there will be elections at the Russian State University for the Humanities. And since, according to the source, the Academic Council has a rather complex composition, with a strong intra-university disproportion (with a predominance of the administration and representatives of the Historical and Archival Institute), then, as the source explained, these will be rather conditional elections. “Rather, the question is who is really behind Ivakhnenko’s resignation and who these people had in mind to put in the post from those who would normally correlate with the team of the old rector. Although it really could be an external player, and then various complex combinations could arise,” the source believes.

He refuted some of the versions that were voiced in the media.

“There are leaks that claims against Ivakhnenko are related to matters that occurred even before he became rector. But, of course, the point is not that he did something too quietly - say, he closed branches of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

It is clear that he was allowed to win the rector elections under certain conditions. And he had no opportunity or special desire to quarrel with the old team, moreover, in a sense, he was part of it. Although peripheral, it was fully accepted by the old team as an option for the winner of the elections. On the other hand, whenever a new person comes to a position, something new begins to arise around him, he brings someone with him, a new form of coalition arises. If we recall the national level, we can see: no matter how loyal Medvedev may be, a split in the elites has still begun. Well, in the case of the Russian State University for the Humanities there was no such hyper-loyalty, and it is clear that some new people came with the rector and a new configuration began to form - with the old team in very strong positions. And naturally, at some stage, contradictions were bound to arise between them,” the source said.

The timing of the inspection by the Ministry of Education could have played a certain role in the development of events. In his opinion, it is important that the inspectors were at the university at a time when Ivakhnenko was on vacation, and Bezborodov, one of the central representatives of the old team, performed the duties of rector. The source believes that, to simplify somewhat, the acting. The rector managed to turn the situation around so that the negative results of the audit hit mainly the new team, and managed to largely remove the old one from the blow.

“One way or another, the university still has live centers and good teachers, but not too many anymore. But there is probably no unity of the university, the university as such. However, this is not the case almost anywhere. There is no real unity even at HSE, much less at RANEPA, not to mention Moscow State University, which does not represent anything united at all. So this is not exactly a specific feature of the Russian State University for the Humanities,” the source added.

Speaking about the elections of the rector, he recalled that in 2016 two candidates participated in them, with whom expectations of change were associated. “One of them - Pavel Shkarenkov - has now been accepted into the current team, becoming vice-rector for development. It is unclear whether he will run again. By the way, after the elections he began to play rather difficultly: in the 2016 elections he positioned himself as an opposition candidate, and then he began to be quite loyal, although it is clear that he needs to continue to live, protect his teams, etc.. I don’t know what his plans are will be with Andrei Khazin, who ran in 2016 - the situation is completely different,” the source explained.

He suggested that Ivakhnenko would not run again; mentioned that in the 2016 elections, another external candidate, Nikolai Novichkov, was nominated, whose intentions cannot be said at the moment, as well as the head of the Faculty of Art History, Vladimir Kolotaev, about whose plans nothing is also known. However, according to the source, if Kolotaev runs for election again, this is unlikely to bring anything to the university. “There was also a candidate Grigory Lanskoy, who, let’s say, was close to the old team. Perhaps some kind of bet has been made on him, but I’m afraid that a significant part of the team will not be able to take him seriously,” the source added.

Vladimir Kolotaev, professor at Russian State University for the Humanities

He noted that some people also name the current Vice-Rector for Science, Olga Pavlenko, as a candidate for rector, who actively participated in the fight in the last elections (but not as a candidate). According to the source, it was Pavlenko who organized the teachers’ letter against Khazin and Shkarenkov. “Although this does not mean that as rector she would not have become an independent figure. Most likely she would. Almost any person in the post of rector will become an independent figure, and it will be difficult for the remnants of the old teams to get along with him. In some cases this may be related to personal characteristics, but in general it is configurative,” the source explained.

In conclusion, he drew attention to the fact that Efim Pivovar, Ivakhnenko’s predecessor as rector, can no longer be rector due to his age, and also that age somewhat limits A.B. Bezborodov. The latter, according to the source, if he could run, it would be for only one term. However, this would give little to the university, although Bezborodov, who spent his entire life at the Russian State University for the Humanities in various positions, is administratively experienced. “He certainly knows how the university works. But, of course, it will not bring anything new to the development of the university,” the source concluded.

In 1979 he graduated with a gold medal from the Kamyshin Higher Military Construction Command School (KVVSKU) with a degree in power engineering. In 1988, graduated with honors from the Faculty of Philosophy of Kyiv State University (now Taras Shevchenko Kiev National University), majoring in philosophy, teacher of philosophy. In 1991 he graduated from graduate school at the university.

Doctor of philosophical science; in 1999 at the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. A. I. Herzen (St. Petersburg) defended his dissertation on the topic “The main confrontations of Russian religious, philosophical and political movements. XI-XX centuries.” Professor (2002).

From 1979 to 1989 he served in the Armed Forces (AF) of the USSR. He held various positions at KVVSKU (1979-1987), was deputy commander of a military unit at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (1987-1989). He retired from the Armed Forces with the rank of major.
In 1990-2003 worked at Kabardino-Balkarian State University (Nalchik) as a laboratory assistant, assistant, senior lecturer, associate professor, professor of the philosophy department.
From 2003 to 2005, he held the position of professor at the Department of Contemporary Problems of Philosophy at the Russian State Humanitarian University (RGGU, Moscow).
In 2005, he became a professor at the Department of Social Philosophy of the Faculty of Philosophy of the Russian State University for the Humanities, and in September 2007 he was elected head of this department.
From 2007 to 2012 - Head of the Department of Master's Programs at the Russian State University for the Humanities. Since 2005 - head of the master's program at the Faculty of Philosophy. Head of the international Russian-French master's program "Historical, philosophical and social studies" (RSUH - Sorbonne - Saint-Denis).
In 2012-2016 - Chief Researcher at the Center for Education Development Strategy and Organizational and Methodological Support of Programs of the Federal Institute for Educational Development of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.
In 2016-2017 - Rector of the Russian State Humanitarian University. On February 15, he was nominated by the Academic Council of the Russian State University for the Humanities (24 out of 47 meeting participants voted for him during a secret ballot), and on March 3, his candidacy was approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. He replaced Efim Pivovar (corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in this position, who had headed the university since 2006. On August 29, 2017, the Department of Information Policy of the Ministry of Education and Science reported that Ivakhnenko was dismissed from the post of rector. The department did not specify the reason for the dismissal.
Member of the editorial boards of the journals "Higher Education in Russia" (Moscow), "Information Society" (Moscow), "Actual Issues of Natural Science" (Nalchik).

Awarded the medal "For Impeccable Service" (for service in the USSR Armed Forces).

Published more than 120 scientific papers, including three monographs. Among the main works: “The Russian alternative to “tolerance” - religious tolerance and tolerance” (2001), “Ontology of conflict and mediation strategy” (2003), “Intellectual disputes of the 17th century: “Grecophiles” and “Latin scholars” (2006), “Science and religion in the Russian Enlightenment: from collision and conflict to compromise and interaction" (2009), "Changing strategies for understanding the complex: from metaphysics and purposiveness to communicative contingency" (2011), "Transdisciplinarity in action" (2015), etc.

He is interested in fiction, poetry, and sports.

Doctor of Philosophy, Head of the Department of Social Philosophy, Russian State University for the Humanities.

Author ID: 635592, SPIN code: 4329-6106 (RSCI)

Education

1979 - Kamyshin Higher Military Construction Command School, specialty “power engineer”;

1988 - Kiev State University, Faculty of Philosophy, specialty “philosopher, teacher of philosophy”;

1991 - postgraduate study at Kyiv State University with a degree in History of Philosophy.

Academic degrees and titles

1991 - Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, dissertation on the topic “The idea of ​​eternal peace in Western European philosophy of modern times. XVII-XVIII centuries";

2000 - Doctor of Philosophy, dissertation on the topic “The main confrontations of Russian religious, philosophical and political movements. XI-XX centuries";

1998 - academic title of associate professor in the department of philosophy;

2002 - academic title of professor in the department of philosophy.

Professional activity

From 1990 to 2003 worked as a laboratory assistant, assistant, teacher, associate professor, professor at the Department of Philosophy at Kabardino-Balkarian State University.

From 2003 to 2005 - Professor of the Department of Contemporary Problems of Philosophy at the Russian State Humanitarian University (RGGU).

From 2005 to 2016 - Head of the Department of Social Philosophy of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

From 2007 to 2009 - Head of the Department of Master's Programs of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

From 2012 to 2016 - Chief Researcher of the Center for Education Development Strategy and Organizational and Methodological Support of Programs of the Federal Institute for Educational Development (FIRO) of the Ministry of Education and Science.

From 2016 to 2017 - Rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

Since 2017 - Head of the Department of Social Philosophy of the Russian State University for the Humanities.

Scientific and organizational work

Member of the editorial boards of journals: “Higher Education in Russia” (Moscow); "Information Society" (Moscow); “Current issues in natural science” (KBR, Nalchik).

Head of the scientific and pedagogical school of the Russian State University for the Humanities "Autopoiesis of communication: the problem of minimizing social risks"

As part of dissertation councils for the defense of doctoral dissertations: philosophical sciences and sociological sciences.

Current areas of scientific interest

  • history of philosophy;
  • philosophy of science;
  • social philosophy;
  • epistemological problems of information theories;
  • philosophy of education.

Scientific research is supported by Russian and international programs and grants. More than 120 scientific works have been published, including 3 monographs and a textbook.

Disciplines taught(postgraduate educational programs, advanced training programs for higher education teachers):

  • History of philosophy
  • Epistemological problems of modern information theories

Awards, honorary titles

Medals and badges of honor for service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Some publications in recent years on problems of higher education

Articles

  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Humanities education in Russia in the communicative and cultural-protective dimension // Search. Alternatives. Choice. 2016. No. 2. P. 4-17
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Transdisciplinarity in action // Philosophical Sciences. 2015. No. 12. P. 134-135.
  • Ivakhnenko E. N. Communicative and cultural-protective functions of Russian humanitarian education in global competition // Questions of the new economy. - 2014. - No. 4. - P. 92-100.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Autopoiesis of objects in modern knowledge societies // Humanitarian readings of the Russian State University for the Humanities - 2010. Collection of materials. - M.: RSUH, 2011. -P.393-401.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. and others. On the readiness of universities for the “transition” (round table in the editorial office) // Higher education in Russia. 2011. No. 3. pp. 96-120.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Innovations of university education in the optics of instrumental and communicative installations // Higher education in Russia. 2011. No. 10. pp. 39-46.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N., Attaeva L.I. From metaphysics and goal-rationality to the contingency of communicative strategies // News of the Smolensk State University. Quarterly magazine. 2011. No. 4(16). P.354-366.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. The idea of ​​a university: challenges of the modern era // Higher education in Russia. 2012. No. 7. P. 35-63.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Dynamics of displacement of youth values: search for adequate research practices // News of Smolensk State University. Quarterly magazine. 2012. No. 4 (20). P.228-238.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Modern Russian university at the crossroads of reforms: from interdisciplinarity to transdisciplinarity // Humanitarian readings of the Russian State University for the Humanities - 2012. Collection of materials. - M.: RSUH, 2013. - P.296-308.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Faculty of Philosophy under the conditions of the onset of academic capitalism // Higher education in Russia. 2013. No. 2. pp. 62-73
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. The fate of Russian education against the backdrop of university ruins // Social transformations: collection of scientific articles / Smolensk State University. - Smolensk: SmolGU Publishing House, 2012. P. 64-73.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Sociology meets complexity // Bulletin of the Russian State University for the Humanities. Series “Philosophical Sciences. Religious Studies". No. 11, 2013. P.90-101.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Faculty of Philosophy at the Modern Russian University // Diversity a priori. Proceedings of the international conference at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Russian State University for the Humanities. 2013. pp. 18-39.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Faculty of Philosophy under the dominance of market imperatives: the problem of “standing” // Philosophy and education in the modern world: days of philosophy in St. Petersburg - 2012: Sat. Art. - St. Petersburg: “Vladimir Dal”, 2013. P.125-136.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. From rational communication to communicative rationality // Bulletin of the Russian State University for the Humanities. Series “Philosophical Sciences. Religious Studies". No. 10, 2014. P.97-105.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. From autopoiesis of social communication to autopoiesis of “living machines” // Phenomenon of communication in the knowledge and creativity of life. - St. Petersburg: Polytechnic University Publishing House, 2014. - P.42-50.
  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Autopoiesis of “epistemic things” as a new horizon for constructing social theory // Bulletin of the Russian State University for the Humanities. Series “Philosophy. Sociology. Art history". No. 5, 2015. P.80-92

Monographs

  • Ivakhnenko E.N. Russia on the thresholds: Ideological confrontations and “thresholds” in the currents of Russian religious, philosophical and political thought (XI - early XX centuries).” SPb.: Publishing house. RGPU named after. A.I. Herzen, 1999 - 297 p.
  • Kasavin I.T., Porus V.N., Smirnova N.M., Ivakhnenko E.N. and others. Communicative rationality and social communications. Under. ed. Ed. I.T. Kasavina, V.N. Porusa. Ed. Institute of Physics RAS. Ser. Library of the journal “Epistemology and Philosophy of Science”. - M., 2012. - 462 p.
  • Glazyev S.Yu., Gelvanovsky M.I., Zakharov A.V., Ivakhnenko E.N. and others. Science, society, state: balance of interests, mutual responsibility (history of interaction, modern imperatives). - Barnaul: Publishing house. IP Kolmogorov I.A., 2016. - 417 p.

ISSN 0869-3617 (Print)
ISSN 2072-0459 (Online)