The Ministry of Education and Science takes a grant from MEF

The Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation demanded that the National Research University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Institute) return a grant of 22.5 million rubles.

The Ministry of Education and Science confirmed that this is the first requirement to return the funds since 2010, when the grant program was launched, Kommersant writes.

We are talking about a grant issued in 2011 to create an electromagnetic method of manufacturing new materials in the MIPHI. A group of scientists under the leadership of Evgeny Olevsky (USA) received 150 million rubles from the budget.

In 2013, the laboratory successfully reported on the execution of a grant and, together with the university, applied for its extension. The Ministry of Education and Science agreed to allocate 22.5 million rubles to the laboratories in 2014, while in 2015, MEPhI was supposed to provide the same amount from extra-budgetary sources. In the agreement with the Ministry of Education and Science, it was stipulated that if the university does not pay its share, he is obliged to return budget money.

“2014 went as usual, we spent 19.6 million rubles, the ministry was frozen. And in 2015, the university simply did not transfer funds. The university administration answered all questions: “Look for the money yourself”, ”said the laboratory employee Yevgeny Grigoryev.

In May, Evgeny Olevsky wrote to the rector that the work practically got up. Having not received an answer, he flew to the United States and began to lead the laboratory remotely. The team managed to get from the Ministry of Education and Science the defrosting of the remaining budgetary 2.6 million rubles since 2014, the laboratory worked for them before the end of the year.

In April 2016, the Council of the Ministry of Education and Science on Grants decided that both parties did not fulfill the conditions for the extension of the megager: the university did not transfer the money, and Olevsky worked in Russia less than required under the contract. But “taking into account the prospects of scientific research and the significance of the results achieved,” the Council decided to extend the agreement for 2016 so that MEPhI and the laboratory could close debts.

At the end of 2016, the team sent a report on the work on work on the work that independent scientific experts appreciated positively, but in April 2017, the grant council recognized the project “irresultative” due to “non-compliance by the leading scientists with obligations for personal presence at the university”.

The Ministry of Education and Science demanded that the university return 22.5 million rubles allocated in 2014, after which the MIFI administration ordered to block all the laboratory accounts.

The leadership of MEPhI intends to return the grant at the expense of university employees: several people on anonymity reported that they were warned of a possible reduction in salary allowances.