Zernov Vladimir

Rector of the Russian New University (RosNOU)

Born in 1952 in the village of Krasnaya Yaruga, Belgorod region. In 1975, he graduated from the Faculty of General and Applied Physics of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), majoring in radiophysics. In 1981, he defended his dissertation at MIPT and received the academic degree of candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. In 1988 he received the title of associate professor in the department of general physics at MIPT.

In parallel with his postgraduate studies, Vladimir Zernov actively built his “party career”, holding the corresponding positions in the period from 1978 to 1990: deputy secretary and then secretary of the Komsomol (“communist youth”) Committee of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and then instructor and consultant of the department of science and educational institutions of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

In 1990, at the height of the so-called “perestroika,” his views apparently “suddenly” dramatically changed “180 degrees,” and he became director of the Soviet-American Cultural Initiative Foundation, a charitable organization created in the USSR in 1988 funds of George Soros. It is known that after a few years the fund ceased operation, as Soros was dissatisfied with the way it was managed by “people with a Soviet mentality .” The foundation was replaced by the Open Society Institute.

In 1991, Zernov became the founder and concurrently rector of the Russian New University (RosNOU). Since 1997, he has been a member of the accreditation board of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. In 2002 he defended his doctoral dissertation. In the same year he received the academic title of professor.

In 2011, he was a candidate for deputy of the State Duma of the VI convocation from “United Russia” in the Moscow region (he was not elected). In the structure of “United Russia”, Zernov is also the regional curator of the National Innovation System project.

He is a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Education since May 2021.
In addition, Vladimir Zernov is the chairman of the Expert Council on public-private partnerships in education under the State Duma of the Russian Federation, a member of the presidium of the Union of Rectors of Russia and the Association of Law Universities of Russia, a member of the Russian Public Council for the Development of Education, a working group on the modernization of education of the Center for Strategic Research. Zernov is also the Chairman of the Council of the Association of Private Educational Organizations of Higher Education and Professional Educational Organizations of Russia (ANVUZ of Russia).

Author of more than 200 scientific and methodological works on education, including 6 monographs. His research interests include: issues of the quality of education, criteria for evaluating universities, the impact of their effectiveness on the development of the economy, state and society, as well as the study of the radiophysical characteristics of radio signals, the study of the influence of electromagnetic radiation on humans.

Public support for a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

On March 4, 2022, the Russian Union of Rectors published an appeal in support of the so-called “special military operation ”, signed by several hundred rectors of Russian universities, including Vladimir Zernov. In it, the invasion of Ukraine was hypocritically justified by “increasing military threats” and “the pain of a long-term tragedy in the Donbass,” from which “logically followed” calls to “instill patriotism in young people” (and at the same time “strengthen the optimistic spirit” in them), “to serve as a support state”, “to support the country and the army” and “in the face of economic and information attacks” “to rally around our President” (who, it turns out, “made perhaps the most difficult decision in his life, a hard-won but necessary decision”) . The address ended with a loud and stylistically completely “non-academic” slogan: “together we are a great force!”

In June 2022, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky imposed permanent sanctions against the heads of several hundred Russian universities, including Vladimir Zernov.

Vladimir Zernov was included in the report “1500 Warmongers” compiled by the Free Russia Forum.

As a signatory to the aforementioned appeal, Vladimir Zernov bears direct responsibility for this act, which, of course, represents clear and undisguised support and justification for Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine.