The College Fix

MIT, often considered the U.S.’s top scientific research university, is partnering with a Russian government-backed foundation that hopes to build a new academic center to rival the top science and technical universities in the world.

As an anchor of a planned high-tech hub and special economic zone, Skolkovo Innovation Center – an aspiring “Silicon Valley” that to date has attracted commitments to build research and development centers from such multinational companies as Cisco, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft – Skoltech [Institute of Science and Technology] enjoys tremendous support, financial and otherwise, from the highest levels of Russian government…

The foundation is also footing the bill for the collaboration between Skoltech and MIT. Duane Boning, the faculty lead for the MIT Skoltech Initiative and a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, estimates that about 70 to 75 MIT faculty members are deeply engaged in at least one element of Skoltech’s planning: they might sit on a faculty search or curriculum development committee, for example. An office of about 30 full-time staff in Cambridge also supports the collaboration. MIT is collaborating in virtually every aspect of the university’s creation, with teams dedicated to campus design and planning, education, entrepreneurship and innovation, faculty development, faculty hiring, human resources and administration, postdoctoral programs, research, and student affairs. “In some ways the MIT faculty are serving as surrogates for the Skoltech faculty until more Skoltech faculty exist,” explains Brian Anthony, who co-leads education development for the MIT Skoltech Initiative and directs MIT’s master of engineering in manufacturing program.

Read the full story at Inside Higher Ed

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