University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: November 14, 2002

By DONNA LONGENECKER
Reporter Assistant Editor

For the past couple of months, three university administrators from Belarus and Russia have been looking over the shoulders their counterparts at UB, studying various aspects of financial and human resource management and the informational support of management systems that utilize Internet technology.

The administrators are part of a fellowship program sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), which for the past 20 years has fostered academic exchanges between the U.S., Eastern and Central Europe, and Russia, including all 15 republics of the former Soviet Union.

The University Administration Support Fellowship Program (UASFP), created with primary support from the Carnegie Corporation, allows administrators from Russia, the Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to observe and eventually take back and model in their home countries administrative practices of U.S. universities.

IREX fellows (from left): Vladimir Mikhno, Tver State University, Russia; Tchon Li, Yanka Kapula State University, Belarus and Pavel N. Ermakov, Rostov State University, Russia.
PHOTO: DONNA LONGENECKER

Pavel Ermakov, dean of faculty at Rostov State University in Russia; Tchon Li, deputy dean and chair of the commerce department at Yanka Kupala State University in Belarus, and Vladimir Mikhno, deputy dean of the applied mathematics and cybernetics department at Tver State University, also in Russia, are working at UB this semester as participants in the 10-week program.

Ermakov, who is focusing on faculty-development issues, human resource management, and budget management and design while at UB, is frank about the importance of the exchange program to universities in the former Soviet Union—he says financial management of these institutions need to be decentralized, though he admits that "changing the consciousness of people" will be difficult.

"It's very important to introduce financial management, especially of state universities, and human-resource management and faculty development," says Ermakov. "It's our goal here to use this experience in our own universities, in our own countries."

While human resource programs at his university are similar to those found in the U.S., the main difference between American and Russian institutions is that the salaries of Russian administrators are drawn from funds earned by the faculty, not from the state or a central budgeting process. "The faculty earns money for the university," says Ermakov, who is interested in improving efficiency at his institution through better strategic planning. He also found the "branding" of UB's name and the marketing of merchandise around that name an interesting and useful concept.

D. Bruce Johnstone, University Professor of Higher and Comparative Education and director of the Center for Comparative and Global Studies in Education, is mentoring the fellows, along with Robert J. Wagner, senior counsel to the president, and Voldemar Innus, vice president and chief information officer.

"I think that the IREX Program is extremely important, and that our three participants have been wonderful representatives of their universities," says Johnstone, who is a member of IREX's selection committee for the fellowship program and a presenter at an international symposium, "University Administration: Methods and Models," hosted by IREX and held in Moscow last spring. His presentation focused on multi-campus, university-system governance.

"Bob, Voldemar and I have also learned, both from them (the fellows) and from our own struggles to make our problems and our solutions comprehensible to those from such very different systems, but facing still much the same kinds of problems," he says.

Li, whose interests are budget management and design, strategic planning and international relations, says that problems such as rising tuition and fees that are faced by American universities are similar to those at his university and sees the exchange program as a two-way street.

"I think it's not only profitable for us, but profitable for American universities; the experience can show how American experience and North American standards will be useful, not only in the United States but worldwide," says Li.

He pointed out that the UB School of Management's relationship with the Riga Business School in Latvia, as well as its programs in Hungary and China, are examples of the global economy at work.

According to IREX, the bureaucratic structure governing most of the former Soviet Union hasn't changed substantially since the fall of communism.

"Many institutions still function under policies that assume academics must be regulated instead of acting as members of a support structure promoting academic development and the quest for knowledge," says Mark G. Pomar, IREX president. "While the intellectual vibrancy of the system remains, institutions lack the administrative capacity to be financially self-sustaining and often are isolated from their international colleagues"

While Internet technology has been embraced in the West as a management tool, Mikhno is emphatic about the importance of utilizing Internet technology throughout all systems of management at institutions in higher education. He's focused much of his attention while at UB on the information infrastructure that supports those systems of management.

"Information systems are the necessary instrument for effective management—(UB) provides good experience in this field," he says.

In addition to information systems, he says he's also interested in the principles governing high-level university management and in attracting high-quality high school graduates. He also believes it's important to consider the labor market in the strategic planning of the university's development.

Ultimately, Li hopes that improving the financial management of his university will yield better institutional market analysis. His interests are in creating a system of transparent financial planning and clear budget systems for university departments and services, and in improving the training of administrative personnel and generation of income. However, he hasn't been solely focused on UB's administrative processes during his time at the university.

"The most impressive thing at American universities is the high motivation of students," says Li, a drive he sees as geared toward finding a job in the U.S. marketplace. "They are more independent and self-sufficient." Li, who has worked in higher education for 15 years in Siberia, Latvia and Belarus, says it is rare to see students there studying in the library early in the morning or conducting research in labs late into the evening—a phenomena he has witnessed at UB-in part because the facilities just aren't available. In fact, says Ermakov, "it's impossible for Russia; you don't see students sleeping in halls on soft sofas."

Ermakov also notes a crucial difference in the educational processes of the two countries. "We try to give professional information to our students, but American try to get those same skills," says Ermakov, adding that American students are more available to work, while Russian students need two or three years to adapt to the marketplace and may need to support parents in the process.

Interestingly, Ermakov says he has seen great changes in the U.S. since his first visit 17 years ago to Stanford University, when the U.S. and Russia still were in the midst of the Cold War.

"People are more friendly, more kind and for us it's very important because we want to be partners with the United States," says Ermakov.

The fellows, who plan to return to their home universities in early December, say they've enjoyed their time at UB and think fall is especially pleasant in Western New York. They attended the Buffalo Sabres' opening game and witnessed the defeat of the Buffalo Bills by the New England Patriots, as well as taking in the local theater scene.