Personal dimension

The University should respond to any challeng

"We should create an atmosphere at Dubna University in which the most talented and daring young people that are ready to change the world will wish to study. Only a friendly, productive and of course, experienced team can do it," Acting Rector of Dubna State University Andrey Sergeevich Denikin says.

Denikin is convinced that a strong, motivated team and a friendly atmosphere are the way to meeting the most ambitious tasks. He believes that in the near future, Dubna University should become a kind of digital personnel hub, almost an HR agency for employers of the science city of Dubna and the Moscow Region, capable of responding to any challenges of the time.

In this interview, Andrey Sergeevich talks about the super-tasks facing the University, about the prospect of building a world-class campus in Dubna and also about universal human values, about what is important to learn in youth and what is important not to lose when being the leader of a large team. If a person played in an orchestra (Denikin played in a brass band as a child), he understands what it means to be part of a team like no one else.

Andrey Sergeevich, what are the strategic objectives of Dubna University today?

- We have to ensure that Dubna University is able to answer "yes" to any request from employers in the science city of Dubna. For example, in the Special Economic Zone "Dubna" there is a whole cluster of enterprises that are engaged in the production of medical equipment and drugs. They need engineers-technologists, biotechnologists and pharmacists. Dubna University does not have these areas at present. The issue is how to meet this challenge. The classic way of training the relevant personnel for a university is to develop a new area, to obtain a license, to prepare a curriculum, to accept applicants, accreditation, others. At best, we will graduate the specialist the employer needs in seven years. This is long, expensive and we do not know whether such specialists will be in demand in seven years.

There is another way to meet the challenge, from my point of view, a more correct one. Dubna University should establish cooperation with a large number of Russian universities, specializing in different areas and develop a system where students with the competencies we lack can complete their studies at other universities within the framework of network agreements and students and graduates of partner universities will have access to city enterprises through Dubna University.

That is, the University should become a kind of digital personnel hub. To do it, we need to learn how to build digital images of vacancies and digital images of graduates. A database of current vacancies will begin to be developed and in parallel - a database of graduates. The University will carry out "personnel fitting" (from English fit - to adjust), offering the enterprise exactly the required specialist and if necessary, further train students in the necessary competencies developing joint educational programmes with different universities and partner enterprises.

Today, Dubna University cooperates, for example, with Lomonosov Moscow State University, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Volgograd State Technical University and many other Russian universities.

Are today's students at Dubna University mainly from Dubna or do they come from other regions?

- About seven years ago, an interesting situation developed. Previously, parents would tell Dubna children: if you don't get into Moscow, you'll go to our university. Today, not all Dubna citizens can compete with those coming from other regions. About 10-15 years ago, Dubna citizens accounted for 30-35%. In recent years, it has been 15%. Dubna and the Moscow Region together accounted for about 40% of students. If we add the Tver, Yaroslavl and Vladimir Regions, it's 55-60%. The rest 40% is all of Russia.

If we talk about the level of applicants, they are mostly not excellent students, but solid B-students. According to the average score on the Unified State Exam in recent years (73-75 points), we are still far from the top Moscow universities. But the problem here is not how we teach, but where we teach: the university infrastructure (including dormitories) requires development and there has been no investment in it for the last 10-15 years. Looking at how leading Moscow universities develop, I can say that the efforts that the state puts into their development are not yet comparable to what we have at Dubna University.

At the beginning of 2024, you visited the World Youth Festival in Sirius. Please, tell us what was interesting about this trip for you.

- Within the framework of this forum, a strategic session dedicated to world-class university campuses was held. It was held by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. Colleagues from different regions that have already made the decision to build such campuses gathered. Dubna is also interested in it. I was invited to the strategic session as an expert and I spoke as an ambassador from two organizations - JINR and Dubna University.

What is a world-class campus? Is it a student town?

- Not exactly. We are talking about developing infrastructure and a modern comfortable environment for study, science, creativity and sports. These are new dormitories, new academic buildings, scientific and technological laboratories. A place that will attract scientific and creative youth from a specific region and from other regions and not only from Russia.

Does Dubna have a chance to build such a campus?

- Yes, it does. And a good one. Until last year, cities with a population of at least 300 thousand people and at least four universities could apply for the construction of a world-class campus. But last summer, an innovation was introduced, according to which a campus can be built in the territories of special economic zones. So, according to formal criteria, we pass. But the most important thing is Dubna's potential. The Special Economic Zone "Dubna" today has a great need for highly qualified personnel, the scientific and industrial complex of the city has unique competencies and a base, a very favorable geographical location of the city and much more, so several vectors come together here. The final decision is up to the Government of the region and the country, but it seems to me that for the Moscow Region, the science city of Dubna is one of the most successful places to implement a project such as a world-class campus. In Sirius, I talked to people that are involved in the development of similar campuses in other regions of Russia and realized that the team that exists today in Dubna is capable of implementing such a project. Currently, our task is to prove it to the Government.

Your fate is tied to a rather vast geography: you lived both in Chuvashia and in the north in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug...

- I was born in Novocheboksarsk - this is the Chuvashia Republic, where my parents worked at a large chemical plant. Afterwards, my father went to work in the Far North in the city of Nadym in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. A year later, our whole family moved to him. In Nadym, I graduated from a comprehensive school and a music school - in the French horn class. I even played in the school brass band.

What do you remember about studying at a music school in the Far North?

- There are several vivid memories, one of them is my start on the big stage. Parents of all students were invited to show the progress their children had made. We performed both with an orchestra and solo. The excitement was terrible. I had a solo number - a folk song. The accompanist came in, but I couldn't make a single sound, my mouth was dry. Those who have played wind instruments know that the method of producing sound is a bit like spitting. And for the first two bars I couldn't play a single note. Later, the sound appeared and then everything went fine.

In general, music school gave me a lot. I don't play much on my main instrument today but I played the guitar a lot in my youth and it was very much appreciated in the company.

What did you want to become after school? Why did you choose the Physics and Mathematics Department?

- In general, I was fascinated by astrophysics at school. In high school, I read books from the popular science series "Quantum Library". There were several books about black holes and neutron stars, written by great scientists and talented popularizers of science. Thanks to their efforts, I immersed myself in the world of physics. When it came time to choose a university and this was a very difficult time - 1991, I was dissuaded from specializing in astrophysics: "What astrophysics? After graduation, you'll go to the wild mountains to some observatory and you'll spend 15 years there without leaving." So, I returned to Cheboksary and entered the Physics and Mathematics Department of the Chuvash State University.

How did you come to Dubna? What attracted you to this city?

- In my third year at the university, I got into the Theoretical Physics Department. My supervisor was Professor Valery Zagrebaev that was already closely collaborating with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna. In 1996, he moved to Dubna and invited me, as his postgraduate student, to go with him on a long-term internship.

When I first came to Dubna for a conference, I was very struck by some details in the city. If anyone remembers, on Veksler Street, near the Cultural Centre "Mir", there is a place where a huge pine tree grows right in the middle of the sidewalk! When I saw this, I realized that Dubna is a special place where special people live that are able to find non-trivial solutions even in such a matter as city development. Dubna really touched my heart and I realized that this is my city.

You work at the University, you are surrounded by young people. What do you think is the most important thing to learn in youth?

- Two words come to mind: love and friendship. You don't just have to learn this, you have to feel it, live it. Every person should have friends. It's sad to live without friends. And love is something without which a person is not a person. Everything else is second and third.

And what is important for a person that heads such a huge organization as a university not to lose?

- Behind a pile of daily problems and routine, it is important not to become blinkered, not to become callous. When someone comes to you with his or her problem, you need to find time, listen and help, if you are able. Even when I was a dean and vice-rector, I tried never to close the door to my office. And currently, I try to maintain such openness. In this sense, one of Directors of JINR, Alexey Sisakyan serves as an example for me. According to stories, he never refused to help anyone, although he headed an organization many times larger than our university. He has the following poems:

Since there is no discovery on earth
that is fully understood,
I love open windows and doors,
open hearts...

In my opinion, this is a good motto and a guide to life.

Excellent words! Who else in science and maybe not only in science, would you like to emulate? Who is a role model for you?

- There are many such people: Lev Landau, Petr Kapitsa, Nikolay Bogolyubov, Andrey Kolmogorov and many others. The most interesting person among foreign scientists for me is Nobel winner Richard Feynman, one of the founders of quantum theory. In general, it is very useful to learn about the biographies of scientists. I recommend such a genre of literature as ZhZL to young people. You understand that these extraordinary people lived in the same conditions as you, faced similar problems, but were able to find unique solutions, to create beautiful theories and to come up with precise instruments. This is inspiring, so you can do it too!

But the main role model in life for me was my father. You understand many things only with age. My father was a simple electrical engineer, without a higher education and at the same time very "well-behaved", in his hands everything worked out. He had a natural sense of humor, always joked and in all the photographs he has a kind and slightly mischievous smile on his face. He had a difficult fate, he lived in times of change that hit many people in our country hard. But his inner core and strong character allowed him to go through the most difficult trials.

And he never imposed his opinion on me, for which I am very grateful to him. When I chose the Physics and Mathematics Department, my father strongly doubted whether this choice was right, yet he did not say a word against it. Later, he confessed to me how worried he was, asking himself: "Well, what will he become? A teacher at school?" Well, I did become a teacher, albeit at a university, but I think I did not disappoint my father with it.

Interviewed by: Anna EPSTEIN,
photo by Svetlana ZORINA