An interview with Alexandr Uvarov about responsibility to enrollees, lack of options in terms of entrepreneurial university model; authority, business and university interaction for the sake of INO Tomsk 2020 project fulfillment.
In your opinion, what are the prospects for universities’ development in Russia?
For 15 years Russia has been coming to understanding of entrepreneurial university model necessity. Today, having officially claimed responsibility for building an entrepreneurial university, we should launch the implementation stage and become leaders of innovative process. By saying “a university should be entrepreneurial one” we refute biases about Russian universities as being able only to teach and to conduct research.
Establishment of entrepreneurial university is the only way to develop higher education and to take real leading positions in global innovative economy. University development is in the first instance responsibility to enrollees for their future. Taking into account our experience we assert that during the period of university studying a student should get experience in scientific research, technology development and try to establish his own business. This is particularly the task that TUSUR is struggling to tackle.
What are the fundamental features of entrepreneurial university?
The first and foremost feature of entrepreneurial university is a substantial budget for research. If there is a critical pool of intellectual property, if a person is constantly developing within the university, it appears that a student, professor and entrepreneur use this intellectual property in establishing a technological company. At the moment 125 companies have been established by TUSUR graduates with total turnover about 500 million dollars.
What do you consider to be the most important in INO Tomsk 2020 project fulfillment?
To my mind, a model of triple helix (authorities, business and universities interaction) should become a key point in INO Tomsk 2020 project. We’ve discovered that there is no successful innovative economy known in the world history without practically implemented triple helix model. It’s obvious for us. It’s necessary to highlight that the model of triple helix claims about the leadership of universities in innovative development, because it is universities which produce new knowledge, technologies, business, form new generation of successful young people. No doubt that it should be an entrepreneurial university.
How soon the model of triple helix could be completely fulfilled in Russia?
For the acceleration of entrepreneurial university foundation an Association of Entrepreneurial Universities of Russia was established on September 28 spearheaded by Skolkovo fund. The Association includes leading universities — The National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (University ITMO), Moscow institute of physics and technology, National research nuclear university “MIFI”, Tomsk state university of control systems and radio electronics (TUSUR), National Research University of science and technology “MISIS”). Having gathered a pool of entrepreneurial universities, Skolkovo fund will continue assisting them in changing education, research process, management, helping in international cooperation building that will allow enhancing the quality of reforms conducted.
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