Позитивные изменения. Том 3, № 3 (2023). Positive changes. Volume 3, Issue 3 (2023)

FINDING OWN WAYS: SUPPORTING PRIVATE UNIVERSITY INITIATIVES

Each university seeks and finds its own ways, opportunities and resources to fulfilling the third mission, and the Vladimir Potanin Foundation can present many interesting examples of supporting universities in implementing socially responsible initiatives — not only through individual scholarships, but also through project grants.

One such example is the Granite of Science project at Tomsk State University. Its goal is to create a new cultural environment in Siberia. The space brings together education and creativity, communications and new technologies, charity and volunteering. The project team conducts activities in three areas. At the “Science Slam TSU” battle, academics popularize science to a wide audience through the prism of their own experience and share the “behind the scenes” secrets of research work. The “Scientific Volunteering” direction allows volunteers to try their hand at real research work — collecting or processing data, conducting surveys, etc. Finally, the third direction — “Science and Art” — offers an opportunity to engage with science through artistic images, emotions, and sensations: visitors of Art & Science exhibitions acquaint themselves with the latest discoveries, achievements, technologies, and their impact on daily life.

With the support of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation, the Institute of Social and Economic Design of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (ISEP HSE) held a two-month accelerator program “The Third Mission of the University for the Development of Cities and Regions” in 2023. Eight universities were shortlisted to participate in the program: Altai State University, Volgograd State University, Murmansk Arctic State University, Petrozavodsk State University, Volga Region Academy of Education and Arts named after St. Alexis, Metropolitan of Moscow, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, South Ural State University, P. G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University. The accelerator’s purpose is to support universities in the implementation of the third mission by expanding collaboration with non-profit organizations, municipal and regional administrations, businesses, as well as by reinforcing cross-sector intra-university partnerships.