Phystech teachers complain about ineffective management

As Kommersant learned, a group of MIPT employees sent an open letter to the university’s supervisory board, complaining about the ineffective work of the administration and the non-transparent distribution of the salary fund. Teachers at the country's main physics university claim that their real salaries are much less than the amounts that the university management reports to the inspection bodies. MIPT Rector Nikolai Kudryavtsev, in a conversation with Kommersant, acknowledged problems with the size of salaries, but said that he was “looking for all possible resources” to increase salaries.

Photo: Gleb Shchelkunov, Kommersant / buy photo

The letter, which will be published today on the website of the trade union "University Solidarity", was written by members of the initiative group of MIPT employees - it represents the interests of university teachers in negotiations with the administration of the Physics and Technology Institute. As professor and trade union member Roman Karasev told Kommersant, these negotiations have been going on since the beginning of September, when the university concluded new labor contracts with teachers. Professor, head of the basic department at MIPT Mikhail Feigelman told Kommersant that in September many teachers began to be transferred from full-time to 0.7. “At the same time, they promised to leave the salary the same, but the teaching hours did not decrease,” said the professor. “This caused bewilderment among the employees, and then they were explained that the university was in this way trying to comply with the presidential decree on increasing salaries. On paper, full-time pay will increase, but since the employee was re-registered at 0.7 salary, the expenses will not change." If the salary remained the same, the employment contracts seriously increased the number of hours that the teacher must work per week. “But the last straw was Rector Nikolai Kudryavtsev’s September interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, where he stated that the average salary of teachers is 80 thousand rubles,” said Mr. Feigelman. “People know that most teachers do not have such salaries. This led to the protest there is a blatant discrepancy between what the administration states publicly and what they tell employees.”

The teachers sent a letter to Mr. Kudryavtsev, in which they demanded to explain the situation with salaries. On October 30, a meeting was held between the initiative group of employees and the university administration and Deputy Minister of Education and Science Alexander Povalko. According to Roman Karasev, previously the university administration claimed that the state allocates 77 thousand rubles to the Physics and Technology Institute for the education of each student. per year and this amount is not enough to increase teachers’ salaries. “But the deputy minister mentioned at the meeting that in fact 229 thousand rubles are allocated for one MIPT student,” said the teacher. “At the same time, the ministry recommends spending at least 57% of this amount on salaries, but for some reason we have no more 35%". As a result, the parties agreed to continue negotiations, but have not yet found a solution. “We are convinced that these conversations do not lead to results, so we have prepared an appeal to the supervisory board in order to move the discussion to a higher level,” said Mr. Karasev.

Let us remind you that MIPT participates in the state program “5 in 100” - the university received additional budget funding, promising to be in the top 100 of one of the three world educational rankings by 2020. As the head of the Ministry of Education and Science Dmitry Livanov stated, this goal is hampered, among other things, by “ineffective management.” To solve this problem, each of the 15 universities participating in the program created supervisory boards of businessmen and officials, to whom the Ministry of Education and Science delegated broad powers - for example, to change the rector at any time. “We will not discuss your decision,” Mr. Livanov promised (see Kommersant, July 1, 2014). The MIPT Supervisory Board is headed by Presidential Assistant Vladislav Surkov.

“The salary consists of the salary part and various allowances, for example, for scientific activities,” MIPT rector Nikolai Kudryavtsev clarified in a conversation with Kommersant. “The president’s decrees concern the total amount, and we comply with them - count either in Moscow or in the region. We Since October, teachers’ salaries have been increased and they have been paid compensation for September.” At the same time, he admitted that the size of the salary “greatly worries” the university administration, which is now “looking for all possible resources.” “Unfortunately, this situation cannot be resolved at once,” the rector complained. “We have a special commission that analyzes wages. Today (November 24) its next meeting will take place, at which recommendations to the academic council will be adopted. On Thursday we will consider them and We'll make a decision."

“The supervisory board does not interfere in the current activities of the university and its deputies,” Vladislav Surkov’s assistant told Kommersant yesterday. “When and if the problems raised in the open letter are duly included on the agenda of the board meeting, they will be considered openly and collegially.” The press service of the Ministry of Education and Science told Kommersant that they plan to hold another meeting of teachers, the rector and Deputy Minister Alexander Povalko on December 11. “The Ministry hopes that by that time, intra-university working groups will offer options for changing wages,” the department said.

Alexander Chernykh

Law of conservation of wages