The Higher School of Economics is a prestigious university, a huge number of applicants from all over Russia seek to get into it. Its founder, who managed to realize an economic university of a completely new type, was Kuzminov Yaroslav Ivanovich, candidate of economic sciences and a well-known public figure.
Who is Ya. I. Kuzminov?
The name of Kuzminov Yaroslav Ivanovich for many figures of Russian science specializing in economics is undoubtedly significant. An initiative scientist was at the origins of a large number of projects aimed at improving the domestic economy. His research interests also include public administration theory, economics of education, and economic history.
It was he who owned the idea of ​​creating a higher educational institution, which would be radically different from all existing ones. Kuzminov suggested that the economics of a master's level in such a university could be studied in just a year. After a series of transformations, the Higher School of Economics appeared, which became one of the most popular educational institutions in Russia.
Biography
Yaroslav Ivanovich Kuzminov was born in Moscow. His father, Ivan Ivanovich, was a doctor of economic sciences, so the child was brought up in an atmosphere of numbers, calculations and difficult to understand terms. After graduating from school, the future scientist became a student of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University, after which he taught there for about 10 years. In 1985, he became a candidate of sciences, successfully defending a dissertation, which was directly related to the economy of social relations.
In 1989, it was on his initiative that the Department of Economic Theory was opened at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. At the same time, Yaroslav Ivanovich supervises the work of the sector of historical and economic research at the Institute of RAS. In the early 1990s, he proposed the concept of creating the Higher School of Economics, which he leads to this day.
How did the HSE come about?
The idea of ​​creating the Higher School of Economics came to mind Kuzminov Yaroslav and his friend Yevgeny Yasin in 1990. Initially, friends planned to create a college where each student will have the opportunity to receive a large amount of knowledge in the shortest possible time. Throughout 1992, Kuzminov constantly appealed to the Government of the Russian Federation in order to obtain permission to open a university.
The school accepted its first students in 1993, and even then it became clear that the format of the institute would have to be abandoned, because the students wanted to receive bachelor and master education. The school quickly established itself as a place where you can get a quality education, so in 1996 he was awarded the title of State University.
HSE History
From the very moment of the opening of the Higher School of Economics , to this day Kuzminov Yaroslav Ivanovich has been the rector. He copes with the difficulties quite easily, and also attracts new teachers to his university who would be interested in gaining unique experience, and in the future, a place in the university staff. It is thanks to him that in the HSE the areas in which students are trained are constantly increasing.
Kuzminov controls the transparency of admission to the university, where it is impossible to get "by pull", and also constantly cultivates in his teachers exactingness towards students. Thanks to Yaroslav Ivanovich, not only at the HSE, but also in many other universities of the country, they began to use the Anti-Plagiarism system to verify student work. It was under him that the first scientific and educational laboratories appeared at the university, where students, graduate students and teachers can gather to discuss scientific projects and conduct joint developments.
Research university
HSE Rector Yaroslav Kuzminov in the mid-2000s began to implement the concept of a research institution at his university, according to which teachers receive certain incentives for doing science and publishing in widespread scientific publications. According to the scientist, it is important for him that the school become such an institution where the best researchers of the planet will strive to teach.
To achieve these goals, Kuzminov intends to conduct strict selection of the teaching staff on an ongoing basis, he said this in 2013. According to him, it is important to reverse the thinking of teachers and teach them how to work in existing realities, when their work is evaluated solely on the basis of numbers. Yaroslav Ivanovich’s plans are to reach such a level that all the works created at the Higher School of Economics are in line with the trends of modern science and are taken seriously by the scientific community. In his opinion, this will become possible by 2023-2025.
Social work
The media quite often mention the name of Yaroslav Kuzminov, HSE rector, in connection with his large number of proposals aimed at social transformation. In particular, he owns the ideas related to the civil service reforms of the 1990s and structural changes in public administration, as well as a number of anti-corruption programs in government agencies.
Kuzminov also took an active part in the development of Herman Gref’s strategy, now he oversees the creation and implementation of Strategy 2020, according to which the Government of the Russian Federation will act for the socio-economic development of the state. As of 2018, Yaroslav Ivanovich is part of a large number of commissions and councils created to improve the quality of life of Russians.
Political career
Yaroslav Kuzminov - rector of the Higher School of Economics since 1993. During this time, he managed to arrange work in his university so that there was time for other activities, in particular for politics. In 2014, he nominated for the Moscow City Duma in the 45th district and received support from the United Russia party. In the elections, Kuzminov managed to gain more than 12 thousand votes, which amounted to 40.9% of the total number of voters who came to the polls.
After gaining a seat in the Duma of the VI convocation, Yaroslav Ivanovich became a member of three commissions coordinating education, housing policy and urban economy, as well as finance and economic policy. The scientist does not give a concrete answer to questions about whether Kuzminov plans to join the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
Educational reform
It is quite difficult to calculate the number of innovations that were proposed by Kuzminov Yaroslav. HSE has often become a launching pad for them. One of these innovations was published in 1997, when the scientist and his colleagues suggested increasing funding for educational institutions, while the latter should have gained independence and come to standard monetary support. Kuzminov is also one of the authors of the exam system.
From 2001 to 2009, Y.I. Kuzminov became co-chair of ROSRO - the council initiating the development of education in Russia. In the 2000s he was called the “gray cardinal,” who makes decisions for the ministers of education. Yaroslav Ivanovich himself has repeatedly denied this. It is possible that such a situation arose thanks to the scientific authority of the economist, whose numerous developments were put into practice.
Modern educational ideas
Kuzminov Yaroslav Ivanovich is also interested in secondary education, the Higher School of Economics is not the only area of ​​his interests. The scientist advocates the creation of full-time educational institutions, as well as the active introduction of inclusive education and all kinds of support for gifted children by the state. Special support is required by teachers, which is why in 2012 Kuzminov took an active part in the creation of legislative acts on education.
The scientist suggested increasing teachers' salaries. In his opinion, it is better to prohibit tutoring by law, instead a student can take formal additional lessons at his school. Kuzminov also requires the Ministry of Education to constantly conduct checks in those universities that are popular because of the specialties for which there is an excessive demand - jurisprudence, economics, etc.
Politics and Education
Yaroslav Kuzminov, whose biography has a large number of scientific and political achievements, believes that it is impossible to mix politics and education. That is why he refused to comply with the recommendation of the capital's Central Internal Affairs Directorate, which required universities to expel those students who took part in the "March of Dissent." According to the rector, universities must protect the rights of students to receive education, and those have the right to their own political position, which they can show outside the university.
In 2013, opposition leader Aleksey Navalny criticized the HSE and Kuzminov personally for the formed structure of public procurement and the unlawful spending of the budget at the university. The rector did not keep silent and invited Navalny to participate in open debates on this topic. The meeting was held in a fairly calm atmosphere, where both sides, in the presence of spectators and the press, discussed the issues that arose to each other.
Awards
Strictness, justice and the desire to improve Russia - this is how one can characterize Kuzminov Yaroslav Ivanovich. The Higher School of Economics, created by him from scratch, has been graduating professional staff for several years and is constantly improving. His merits to the state are enormous, this is evidenced by two orders "For Merit to the Fatherland", a medal to them. P. A. Stolypin, as well as a large number of awards from a variety of private and state structures.
Kuzminov was also recognized as the best rector of Russia in 2004, perhaps this fact was a turning point in the career of a scientist. All the awards he received after were most often associated not with the scientific, but with the social activities of Yaroslav Ivanovich. However, he has a fairly large number of plans, which means that he can replenish the number of his awards at any time.
Publications
Yaroslav Kuzminov is a rector known for a large number of scientific papers. As a rule, university leaders rarely write such works, since worries about students and colleagues take up a huge amount of time. Among Kuzminov’s publications, thesis “Theses on corruption”, published in 2000, where the author offers his own solution to a problem that is relevant to the country, deserves special attention. Sometimes Yaroslav Ivanovich publishes his articles in scientific journals, for example, the scientific article “Education in Russia. What we can do?" came out in 2004 in Education Issues.
Since writing scientific papers requires a lot of time, Kuzminov quite often writes them in collaboration with colleagues. So, with the help of M. M. Yudkevich, a voluminous manual on institutional economics was created, which is used not only at the Higher School of Economics, but also at other universities of the corresponding profile. One of the earliest known works by Ya. I. Kuzminov is “Alienation of Labor: History and Modernity”, published in 1989 and co-written with his wife, Elvira Nabiullina.
Personal life
Yaroslav Kuzminov, whose biography and personal life are constantly in the attention of the press, is quite calm about his fame. Almost nothing is known about the scientist’s first wife, however, it was in his first marriage that son Ivan and daughter Angelina were born. The second wife of the scientist was Elvira Nabiullina, who as of 2018 is the chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
Future spouses met at the graduate school of Moscow State University, where both wrote and defended their dissertations. The couple met for some time, then they signed, and in 1988 Elvira gave birth to a son, Vasily, who also graduated from the Higher School of Economics in 2009, and then received a master's degree in Manchester. It is known that now the son of two economists is a researcher at the HSE.
Despite the fact that the wife of Yaroslav Kuzminov is also an economist and occupies a much more important position, according to the assurances of friends and colleagues, she is a modest person who can always be turned for help. Kuzminov and Nabiullina have been happily married for more than 30 years; they are called one of the strongest couples in Russian politics.