Recently I came across a recording of a roundtable on the strategy for Kharkiv’s development, in particular IT technologies. During the discussion, KhNURE employees disclose financial figures. See the excerpt from 30:00.
Transcript:
Eduard Samson:
— Look at the volume of industry-funded research topics or contracts. Do you know the figure for your university?
Stanislav Ignatiev:
— Yes, of course.
— And how much is it?
— Last year it was 12 million. Those are state-budget-funded topics.
— No, no, no, industry-funded! State-budget-funded is what I said.
— This year, less than half a million.
— Less than half a million? Well, let’s divide that by 25. Twenty thousand. A cheap car. And this huge university earned 20,000 dollars on the market!
What is this about? University employees get their salaries from the state budget for education and science. They get, of course, a humiliatingly small amount. For example, a full-time senior lecturer takes home around 2,800 hryvnias. But the university can carry out independent commercial activity. In the dialogue, that is “industry-funded research topics.” The law does not forbid a university from going to the market, selling its services or goods there at market prices, and paying university employees market salaries. But in 25 years of independence and a market economy, the university still hasn’t managed to restructure itself.