Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Russia)

• 1. Introduction

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  The Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation came into existence in May 2018. With it came authority over every institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The ministry was created when Russia split a much older agency into two. That predecessor, the Ministry of Education and Science, had governed education policy since March 2004. The split produced two new agencies where one had stood. The man chosen to lead the new science ministry came from inside the very system he was now inheriting.

• 2. FANO and the Founding

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  Mikhail Kotyukov had been the head of the Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations before the 2018 restructuring. That agency, known as FANO, had managed Russia's research infrastructure before its tasks were transferred to the new ministry. Kotyukov's appointment as the ministry's first minister followed directly from that transfer. The second agency born from the same split took responsibility for general schooling. Russian officials gave it several names, including the Ministry of General Education and the Ministry of Enlightenment.

• 3. Mandate and Leadership

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  State control is the ministry's defined mandate: it holds authority over both scientific institutions and university-level education in the Russian Federation. The ministry is headquartered in Moscow. On the 21st of January, 2020, Valery Falkov was appointed to lead it. Falkov became its second minister, taking up the post less than two years after the ministry was established.