VZCZCXRO4370
PP RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHMO #1495/01 0941312
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041312Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8915
INFO RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RUEHZN/EST COLLECTIVE
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1908

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 001495 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/RUS (GUHA), OES/STAS (DR. ATKINSON), OES/STC 
(DAUGHARTY) 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR OSTP (DR. MARBURGER) 
 
BERLIN FOR ROBERT HAGEN 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: TSPL TNGD RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA: MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY COMPUTER MATHEMATICS 
DEPARTMENT COUNTS ITS BLESSINGS 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The dean of the mathematics and computer science 
department of Moscow State University recently provided EST an 
overview of his domain.  Although the level of funding for science 
education remains low as a percentage of the overall budget, he 
reported that government revenues have increased lately and private 
companies have started to make contributions.  Graduates of the 
programs still have bright employment prospects, he said, but 
lagging financial support imperils future scientific advances in 
technical areas.  END SUMMARY 
 
THE FACULTY OF MATH AND COMPUTERS 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) EST explored Russian mathematics and computer science 
education at the Moscow State University (MGU) Faculty for Computer 
Mathematics and Cybernetics on March 16.  Dean Yevgeniy Moiseyev 
hosted a lively roundtable with three of his colleagues.  The 
Faculty was created in 1970 to pursue developments in the new field 
of computer mathematics by combining the computer and mathematics 
departments of MGU and the Applied Mathematics Institute of the 
Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).  There are 17 academic chairs 
loosely divided into three scientific areas: programming (including 
artificial intelligence and computer technologies); operational 
research and forecasting; and mathematical modeling (in such fields 
as biology, medicine and ecology).  Of 560 members on the teaching 
and research staff, more than 300 have the equivalent of a Ph.D. or 
better. Fourteen scientific laboratories are associated with the 
computer mathematics group.  IBM is sponsoring a joint laboratory 
for work on supercomputers. 
 
¶3. (U) More than two dozen full and corresponding members of the 
Academy of Sciences are on the Faculty.  A full member of RAS, Dr. 
Moiseyev has been Dean since 1999.  Dr. Yuriy Osipov, the RAS 
President, is a professor in the department of Optimal Control, 
which studies practical applications in physics, economics, 
engineering, metallurgy and machine-building.  Even with such high 
level connections, the Faculty only received 35 million rubles 
(about $1.3 million) in 2006 from MGU's grant of one billion rubles 
($373 million) under the government program called "Innovations in 
Education."  Ten million rubles was used to develop eight programs 
for Master's degree students.  Between ten and 15 million rubles was 
spent for new equipment, and six to seven million rubles went to 
foreign study for Faculty employees.  The State University of New 
York system has a distance learning program linked to MGU's 
mathematics program. 
 
STUDENTS 
-------- 
 
¶4. (U) Only 20 percent of the applicants to MGU are admitted, and 
they are selected through a countrywide competitive program of 
academic "Olympiads."  The Mathematics Faculty accepts 340 students 
annually into degree programs with full scholarships from government 
and university grants based on performance in the competitions. 
Another 100 to 150 applicants, mostly foreign students from China, 
Vietnam and Korea, are admitted to a full payment program, which 
cost approximately $4,600 each last year.  Dr. Moiseyev estimates 
the cost will increase to nearly $6,000 in 2008. 
 
¶5. (U) Vice Dean for Academics Dr. Boris Berezin estimated that 
about 20 percent of students go on to post-graduate studies, and 
only six percent pursue careers in "pure" science, as opposed to 
business.  When asked about the quality of students, Dr. Moiseyev 
said that students are better now than 10 years ago, but are not at 
the level of the Soviet period.  Dr. Berezin noted that there is not 
as wide a range of intellectual pursuits among students as in the 
United States. (Comment: On other EST visits to MGU, graduate 
students reported that they lack the sophisticated equipment that is 
available in Western universities. End comment.) 
 
EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS 
-------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Vice Dean for International Relations Dr. Aleksandr Lukshin 
cited a number of foreign companies -- Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, 
Hewlett Packard, IBM -- as well as Russian companies and government 
agencies that employed graduates of the degree programs.  He said 
Mathematics Faculty graduates command highly-paid starting salaries 
for Russia, on the order of $1,000 to $2,000 per month.  He saw the 
main impediment to Russian development of the information technology 
(IT) sector as the lack of such specialists.  Asked if the students 
 
MOSCOW 00001495  002 OF 002 
 
 
were attracted to employment opportunities in the new 
high-technology parks, he responded that when Intel tried to hire 
graduates for IT work in Nizhny Novgorod, only two signed up because 
graduates don't want to leave Moscow.  Dr. Berezin noted that HP had 
set up a grant to the Faculty in 2006, and this year Russian 
software companies Luksoft, Consultant Plus and Garant had already 
made donations. 
 
¶7. (U) Dr. Anatoliy Gulyaev, Deputy Vice Rector for Information 
Technologies, said that graduates made more than professors. He said 
there were limited opportunities to take consulting work, and most 
professors relied on grants from government sources. (Comment: The 
lack of perceived opportunity reflects the inability to 
commercialize intellectual property.  The Faculty pursues a varied 
program of research and publication, but it doesn't produce 
significant revenue from these sources. End comment.) 
 
VIEW FROM THE IVORY TOWER 
------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Looking to the future of science and education in Russia, the 
professors said they were optimistic but realistic.  Dr. Lukshin 
remarked that Russia was trying to change from being mainly a 
producer of oil and gas, but it was difficult because it was simpler 
to buy high-technology goods than to learn how to produce them.  Dr. 
Berezin said it was necessary to spend a greater proportion of the 
country's budget on research and development over the next 10 years. 
 Dr. Moiseyev summed up his hopes for Russian universities by saying 
that "American universities are not strong because they are in the 
United States, but the United States is strong because of its 
universities." 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT:  Russian scientists and academics who are in the 
best position to observe the state of mathematics and computer 
science education point to a recovery from the disastrous years 
following the collapse of the Soviet Union.  There is a realistic 
chance for advances in cutting-edge technology based on Russia's 
current economic prosperity and vast reservoir of human talent. 
However, the country's comparative weakness in science education, 
based on low investment in existing institutions and lack of 
commercialization of innovations, will continue for the foreseeable 
future to stifle progress. 
 
BURNS