July 8, 2015 at 10:52Skolkovo will extend the contract with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and pay about $ 50 million for its services
In September , the Skolkovo Foundation and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology ( Skoltech ) plan to extend the contract with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) for three years.
The contract was concluded in October 2011 for a period until 2014. Under the agreement, MIT was to receive $ 302.5 million over three years. $ 152 million was transferred as a grant "for own development" of an American university, and $ 150.5 million was a fee for assistance in the creation of Skoltech. MIT, in turn, was supposed to participate in the development of the concept of the institute, the selection of teachers and lecture material, as well as oversee all stages of the activity, including the training of employees.
The head of the Skolkovo Foundation, Viktor Vekselberg, said that in the new contract, the amounts would be "several times less."Over the next three years, MIT will receive $ 46.7 million: $ 16.7 million will be allocated to the MIT Endowment Fund, $ 10 million will be paid annually to the MIT administration to support partnership programs between the US university and Skoltech.
“It's too early to talk about numbers. Now we are talking about signing a framework contract: working groups will be created in different areas - education, students, innovations. The volumes of work in these areas will be determined, and only after that specific amounts will be determined, ” said Vekselberg.
This year, 19.22 billion rubles will be allocated from the federal budget to finance the Skolkovo Fund. To finance Skoltech, about 3 billion rubles are needed annually. According to Vekselberg, most of the amount to pay for MIT services will be transferred from the Skoltech budget.
“Renewing a contract with MIT is a good thing, provided that the contract is clearly structured,” commented Raj Rajagopalan, First Vice-Rector of the Skolkovo Institute.
However, Professor Konstantin Severinov, director of the Skoltech systemic biomedicine and biotechnology center, professor is sure: “The Skoltech budget for 2016 has not been approved, however, based on the budget for this year, it is obvious that Skoltech will fulfill additional partnership obligations without prejudice to its own development difficult".
One of the most ardent opponents of the contract, Russian scientist Zhores Alferov believes that domestic science generally does not need support from abroad.
The contract was concluded in October 2011 for a period until 2014. Under the agreement, MIT was to receive $ 302.5 million over three years. $ 152 million was transferred as a grant "for own development" of an American university, and $ 150.5 million was a fee for assistance in the creation of Skoltech. MIT, in turn, was supposed to participate in the development of the concept of the institute, the selection of teachers and lecture material, as well as oversee all stages of the activity, including the training of employees.
The head of the Skolkovo Foundation, Viktor Vekselberg, said that in the new contract, the amounts would be "several times less."
“It's too early to talk about numbers. Now we are talking about signing a framework contract: working groups will be created in different areas - education, students, innovations. The volumes of work in these areas will be determined, and only after that specific amounts will be determined, ” said Vekselberg.
This year, 19.22 billion rubles will be allocated from the federal budget to finance the Skolkovo Fund. To finance Skoltech, about 3 billion rubles are needed annually. According to Vekselberg, most of the amount to pay for MIT services will be transferred from the Skoltech budget.
“Renewing a contract with MIT is a good thing, provided that the contract is clearly structured,” commented Raj Rajagopalan, First Vice-Rector of the Skolkovo Institute.
However, Professor Konstantin Severinov, director of the Skoltech systemic biomedicine and biotechnology center, professor is sure: “The Skoltech budget for 2016 has not been approved, however, based on the budget for this year, it is obvious that Skoltech will fulfill additional partnership obligations without prejudice to its own development difficult".
One of the most ardent opponents of the contract, Russian scientist Zhores Alferov believes that domestic science generally does not need support from abroad.