MEPhI Branch: two years - normal flight

- Vladimir Igorevich, tell us about your university. What areas are MEPhI actively developing today?

- National Research Nuclear University MEPhI is historically connected with the nuclear industry and heads the consortium of core universities of Rosatom State Corporation. In addition to nuclear and related education, we provide training in many other areas, such as computer technologies, information and financial security, physical problems of biomedicine, laser and plasma topics, as well as a number of others. MEPhI is a national research university and has its own research agenda, which can be found on our website.

- As far as we know, you train specialists in cyber security?

- Yes, we train specialists who work in private companies, the financial sector, telecom, and Rosfinmonitoring, a federal agency that monitors operations related to terrorist financing and money laundering.

- How many branches do you have in the country and abroad? Opening a branch is a labor-intensive process, it is difficult to work out all the aspects at once. In the future, what works you plan to develop the branch in KazNU?

- This is the 16th branch on account, 15 already exist, including one more - abroad, in the city of Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Certainly, when you start a new business, does not do without rough edges. We must organize the work of the branch in such a way that it fully complies with the legal regimes of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as the needs of Kazakhstan's energy sector and our partners, in particular Kazatomprom. This company is potentially interested in hiring graduates from our branch, as is Rosatom State Corporation, which invests financial resources in the development of the branch. Combining all these interests is not always smooth and takes time, but the problems are being solved. Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank the Minister of Science and Higher Education of RK Sayasat Nurbek, from whose side we see full support and personal involvement in solving emerging problems. Certainly, and first of all, we see a great interest of the Rector of Al-Farabi University Zhanseit Kanceitovich Tuimebaev in making the branch stand on its feet and start working fully.

- MEPhI branch in KazNU has actually just started its activity. Did you manage to recruit the required number of students during these two years?

- Unfortunately, some students could not withstand our rhythm of learning and were expelled after the first, second session, if we talk about the first enrollment. But this is always a very painful problem. Not all first-year students at the head university, in Moscow, can readjust from the school mode of study to the university mode. At school there is stricter discipline, parents check the diary, while at university the student is left to his own devices and control is exercised only twice a year. In general, we have now met with second-year students, they have already passed three sessions. I see a fighting spirit in their eyes, which I like very much. I think they will do well.

Vladimir Shevchenko graduated from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute with honors in 1996. In 1994-2010 he worked at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, where he worked from graduate student to Acting Director of the Institute. In 2001-2003 he was a postdoc at Utrecht University (Netherlands). In different periods he worked under medium-term contracts at the University of Heidelberg (Germany), University of Pisa (Italy), Free University of Amsterdam, Laboratory of Particle Physics (Annecy, France). Since 2008, he has been a member of the LHCb Collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Geneva). In 2014-2019, he headed the Scientific Coordination Committee of SIC Kurchatov Institute for cooperation between the Russian Federation and CERN. In 2021, he was appointed Rector of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. 

- What does it take to get young people into science?

- I don't think that the motivation of young people who go into science today, in its deepest foundations, differs from the motivation of Galileo or Archimedes. First of all, it is a person's interest in thinking about how the world works. It is clear that behind these interests there should be both the abilities and motivation of this person and the educational structure, as well as the labor market. Now both in Russia and Kazakhstan there are plenty of such opportunities.

- Are nuclear industry specialists trained on the basis of MEPhI?

- Of course, yes. We have opened two new directions, including the so-called "14th group of specialties in nuclear power engineering". We expect that these specialists will take part in the development of the nuclear energy sphere of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in those areas that Kazakhstan decides to develop.

- Do you plan to expand the Almaty branch?

- This issue was discussed at the meeting with the Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek. Our branch will occupy a separate floor in a new building, which is being constructed on the territory of the university. Thanks to this we will have more premises, respectively, we will be able to recruit more students and manage the load more flexibly. We have already added specialties, such as nuclear technology. Plus other programs related to cyber-physical intelligent systems. The main thing is maybe not even the infrastructural development, but the stable operation of the branch in a regular mode. We expect this to happen in the next year and a half.

- You have worked in many European universities, you have a high reputation among scientists of the world community. Do you keep in touch with them?

- Of course. But due to the well-known world events, many cooperation agreements have been suspended or terminated. For example, the cooperation of the Russian Federation with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), with which I have been personally associated for many years, will be terminated at the end of 2024. This decision is absolutely politically motivated, there is no scientific content behind it, and many European colleagues assess this step by CERN very negatively. At the same time, some international projects continue, such as the ITER fusion reactor in France. As one of the participants in this project, our university is developing diagnostics and dust removal from the inner circuit. Despite its modest sounding name, this is very important work, without which the plant will not function.

- Vladimir Igorevich, you are appointed Rector of MEPhI in 2021. Does being Rector of a unique university with 16 branches oblige you to do a lot?

- I like my work, and I want to believe that it brings good results for the university, for the people who study and work there. I hope it will continue to do so. Now it is very important for us to complete the previous five-year program of university development in cooperation with Rosatom State Corporation, and from 2023 the next five-year program with much more funding and more ambitious goals is launched, which, among other things, includes activities related to the development of the branch in Almaty. We also participate in the Priority 2030 project, we are in the first, most prestigious league of leaders of this project and we expect to keep this position. All this allows us to realize a number of research works, first of all, on the Moscow site of the university, although it is necessary to involve other branches.

- What do you wish the students of the branch?

- On the one hand, my wish is very simple - listen to your heart and inner voice. Look at everything around you and try to understand what of this variety of sounds of the world resonates with you, what you are drawn to. This is your path and destiny, go there, even if it seems to you that this is not what your parents and environment expect from you. When you become a successful and happy person, they will understand and accept you. If you don't, you risk living someone else's life instead of your own, and there is hardly a sadder fate in this world. So be yourself!

- Thank you for the interview and wishes! Good luck!

Interviewed by

Kairzhan TUREJANOV