Novosibirsk College intends to continue its work after the founder is included in the register of foreign agents
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A precedent has been created in Russia for the application of legislation on foreign agents: the founder of an educational organization has been entered into the register of persons under foreign influence for the first time. According to the Ministry of Justice, Sergey Chernyshov, the founder of the Novosibirsk private Novokollezh, criticized state policy and interacted with foreign media. Mr. Chernyshov hopes that his status will not affect the work of the college, but intends to withdraw from the founders. The lawyer notes that foreign agents can teach in private educational institutions, but only to adult students.
On Friday, May 26, the Ministry of Justice expanded the register of foreign agents. Among others, the candidate of historical sciences Sergei Chernyshov was included in it. According to the Ministry of Justice, he “distributed inaccurate information” about government policy. In addition, he “participated as a respondent on information platforms provided by foreign media” and “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine.” This decision of the department creates a certain kind of precedent. The fact is that Mr. Chernyshov is the founder of a private educational organization – the Novosibirsk ANO PO “Novokolledzh”.
Novocollege received a license to implement secondary vocational education programs in May last year. In total, 1.2 thousand people study in it. The Ministry of Education of the Novosibirsk Region emphasizes that the college does not yet have state accreditation, therefore it can only issue its own diplomas; On May 19, Novocollege applied for accreditation in several specialties. As previously reported by Kommersant, the Novosibirsk Council of Fathers complained about the public position of Sergei Chernyshov due to the fact that he refused to add “Conversations about the Important” to the curriculum, considering them “unacceptable”. After that, the prosecutor’s office opened three cases of administrative offenses in the field of educational activities.
Sergey Chernyshov also planned to open the Siberian University of Liberal Arts and Sciences named after Yadrintsev in the city. On May 25, the corresponding legal entity in the status of an autonomous non-profit organization of higher education was registered with the tax authorities. It was assumed that in September the private university would enroll 50 students for bachelor’s and master’s programs.
Mr. Chernyshov believes that his status as a foreign agent will not affect the work of Novocollezh. “Because this law (No. 255-FZ “On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence.”— “b”) were also written by losers, then no sanctions are provided for such cases. You can’t teach a foreign agent, but you can organize educational institutions,” he said. The official report of Novokollezh notes that since the beginning of this academic year, Sergey Chernyshov has not been its director, so no changes are planned in the work of the college.
However, in order to avoid the risk of the college itself being recognized as a foreign agent, Sergei Chernyshov plans to withdraw from the founders of Novocollege. At the same time, “the ownership structure will definitely not change, at least in the short and medium term, the college will remain under the control of those who work there now.” But he does not intend to leave the leadership of the university and the composition of its founders yet: “Let there be such a performance: the first university is a foreign agent, if they recognize it.”
Director of the Media Rights Protection Center (included in the register of foreign agents), lawyer Galina Arapova (also included in the register of foreign agents), draws attention to the restrictions provided for by the relevant law: “A foreign agent is not entitled to carry out educational activities in relation to minors and (or) state and municipal educational organizations”. The expert calls the wording “educational activity” too vague. Nevertheless, the current law gives a foreign agent the right to be the founder of any organization, including educational ones: “Nowhere is it said that a legal entity whose founder is a foreign agent cannot obtain a license to conduct educational activities. If further on the part of the Ministry of Education and Science there will be attempts to deprive them of their license on this basis, this will be arbitrariness.” The expert emphasizes that Sergei Chernyshov even has the right to teach at Novocollege, because the “foreign agency” ban applies only to state or municipal educational institutions. However, all students of a foreign agent must be of legal age, and any materials for his authorship (for example, on the institution’s website) must be marked as “18+”.
It should be noted that in March 2023, the Prosecutor General’s Office declared the Free University Internet portal (opened by former HSE teachers, registered in Latvia) undesirable. The department considered that the educational organization popularizes extremism and literature “with a pronounced anti-Russian character”, and its leadership “includes persons who question the territorial integrity of the Russian state.” The Academic Council of the Free University announced the suspension of activities in Russia.
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