Our fellow students abroad

Many scientists, our former compatriots, who by a twist of fate found themselves in foreign research laboratories and universities during the period of Perestroika, came to Berlin in the third decade of May to take part in the Congress, which was held there. They arrived enthusiastic and cheerful, full of scientific ideas and prospective proposals for us, those who didn’t leave Russia. Now they are working both in Australia and New Zealand, in the USA and Canada, in Japan and the European countries as well as in Russia. There were about 250 participants, because the Congress Centre of the Hotel Palace was too small to host more people.

The main purpose of the Congress was to develop a strategy and tactics for expanding and strengthening cooperation with Russian scientists-expatriats working abroad.

The Congress was opened by A.A. Fursenko, Minister of Education of the Russian Federation, V.V. Kotenev, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Russia to Germany, I.N. Morozov, deputy director of Rossotrudnichestvo (Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation), V.A. Nikonov, executive director of the Board of the Foundation "Russkiy Mir".

The most interesting moment came when our former fellow students, who once graduated from Russian universities, addressed the audience. Currently they do not live and work in Russia, but they enthusiastically proposed ways to make Russia one of the international leaders again.

Many of our former fellow students work in the largest world nuclear and computation centers using the latest most efficient equipment. You can find them among the employees of prominent nanotechnology companies and in the Silicon Valley. Some of them founded companies of their own. These companies are quite successful businesses now. In Berlin they had a hot discussion focused on how to spend efficiently 12 billion rubles, allocated by the Russian government to attract leading foreign and Russian scientists from all over the world to Russian universities and research centers.

There were a lot of projects and proposals. Some of the participants were eager to work for some time in Russian laboratories and to develop cooperation with Russian science intensive industries. But unfortunately there was nobody who would want to return to Russia for good to do their scientific research on a regular basis here. Even those who feel nostalgic do not intend to return to Russia. And the explanation is very simple.

Our former fellow students are eager to cooperate and develop joint projects. But they are accustomed to working in a highly competitive environment. They are not willing to return to the customary Russian practice of “sharing” or “assimilating” funds and resources. They were fed up with it before they left Russia.

They are used to compete for developing resources. If resources are allocated, but there is no result – one must be held responsible for the failure.

That is why we can hardly expect them to come back unless the status of a researcher is high enough in Russia. They will probably return to our country if and when the environment for scientific and research work improves and the priority is given to intellectuals, not senior officials and the tactics of “kick-backs” in the economy is forgotten. We will have an innovative society only after we get rid of that. And our former fellow students, the so called Russian foreigners, who had come through the trials of “scientific capitalism”, frankly told us, who live here in Russia, about it.