Rector Ilshat Gafurov met with the Association of Young Scientists on December 30th – the sides discussed some of the more essential issues.

The meeting started with the Chairman of AYS Mikhail Varfolomeev's report. The results of 2015 are indeed very impressive. 1,700 papers were authored by the members of the Association, about 20% of those appeared in top-100 journals. Dr. Ravil Fakhrullin joined the editorial board of RSC Advances. Naturally, there were also numerous awards and grants both on home soil and abroad.

Dr. Varfolomeev specifically thanked the Rector and the management of institutes for their support which includes fellowships and young scientists' salary boosts. The starting wage in academia is not that high, so financial support is crucial, said he.

Dr. Gafurov answered that it's totally normal for a young person to seek better remuneration. The task here is not to raise artificial obstacles for leaving but to create the environment that will be on par with competitors. The University now strives to implement this forward thinking by creating the necessary infrastructure. This in turn leads to new developments, explorations, patents, and to overall better educational conditions.

The Rector then opined that it's time to return to the roots – which in the University's case means that academic employees must be both educators and researchers.

All in all, the young scientists were unsurprisingly most interested in social services, career prospects and financial encouragement. Dr. Gafurov confirmed that existing programs will extend into 2016 – among them special grants for junior lecturers, rented accommodation, and salary raise.

The gathering ended with mutual New Year congratulations and cake tasting.