Lomonosov Moscow State University Develops Interdisciplinary Degree Programs in Materials Science
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Lomonosov Moscow State University Develops Interdisciplinary Degree Programs in Materials Science Yu.D. Tretyakov The decision to establish the Higher School of Materials Sciences (HSMS) within Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) was issued on January 30, 1991. This decision was made jointly by the USSR Ministry of Education and the Board of the USSR Academy of Sciences. This article describes the interdisciplinary program, but first reviews the reforms in science education that have led up to the new development.
Before Educational Reform in the Sciences in Russia For the past 30 years, Soviet educational and research systems were under strong ideological pressure with very little flexibility for dynamic multidisciplinary development. The educational system was divided into specialized institutes of technology (about 300) that included materials engineering and materials technology, and classical universities (about 40) that taught basic science and the humanities (see Figure 1). The discipline of materials science did not yet exist in the system. The technological institutes were extremely specialized, such as the Institute of Metals and Alloys, the Academy of Fine Chemical Technology, the Academy of Textile Materials and Processing, and the Institute of Electronics Materials. A considerable part of the educational programs in these technical universities were classified, and openness, flexibility, and international interdisciplinary cooperation were excluded. At the same time, many of them were closely connected to applied research institutes within the military complex and were supported relatively well from the national budget. Most of their graduate students and courses were oriented to military industrial activity. Basic science was taught in the other, much smaller part of the Soviet educational system—classical universities. Courses included physics, chemistry, mechanics, biology, mathematics, and a weakly developed applied-science curriculum, but no engineering programs. Graduate students were mainly directed to research institutes of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The Academy was supplied with modern equipment of much better quality than that given to the classical universities, but much less as compared with the military-oriented research institutes. Because this curriculum prevented classical universities from addressing the whole system of science— MRS BULLETIN/AUGUST 2000
Figure 1. The education system in Russia before reform.
from basic to applied science, then to engineering—the basic science achievements of classical university academics had relatively weak influence on new technologies and the development of advanced products. This was true even though all of the Russian Nobel Laureates—including L.D. Landau, I.E. Tamm, and N.N. Semyenov— were university professors. The so-called perestroika, started in the former Soviet Union in 1985, provided opportunities for the rapid development of Russian society, including its research and educational systems. It was not by chance that I. Pimental’s
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