The Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Management and Business (NIMB; official name — NOU VPO "Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Management and Business") was a private higher education institution in Nizhny Novgorod specializing in management and entrepreneurship. Alexander Petrovich Egorshin had served as rector of the institute since 1988.Alexander Petrovich Egorushin.[1] The institute was located at 13 Gornaya Street.[1] In November 2015, Rosobrnadzor revoked the institution's state accreditation and banned the enrollment of new students; by early 2017, the institute had effectively ceased educational activities, and its property complex was sold to the government of Nizhny Novgorod Region to house a state university.

Educational Activities

The institute offered programs at various levels: graduates received degrees of Master of Management and Master of Business, and could also complete an MBA program.[1] NIMB maintained a postgraduate (distance-learning) program and a dissertation council in economic sciences.[1] The institute had branches outside Nizhny Novgorod, including one in Gaginsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Region.[1]

Among NIMB's graduates and students were entrepreneurs, civil servants, and heads of industrial enterprises and municipal bodies of Nizhny Novgorod Region. In particular, Evgeniy Viktorovich LebedevEvgeny Viktorovich Lebedev (class of 1997) and Igor Nikolaevich BykanovIgor Nikolaevich Bykanov (class of 2000) received the degree of Master of Management; Valery Viktorovich Tarbeev graduated with a Master of Business degree in 1998; Alexander Borisovich Volkov completed the MBA program in 2004.[1] Nikolay Yurievich Sergeyichev, head of local government of Lyskovsky District, held the rank of associate professor at NIMB.[1]

Sale of the Property Complex to the Nizhny Novgorod Region Government

In July 2016, Nizhny Novgorod Region Minister of Investment Nataliya Kazachkova announced that NIMB had independently approached the regional government with a proposal to purchase the building complex at 13 Gornaya Street.[2] The buildings were being acquired to house a branch of the Nizhny Novgorod State University of Engineering and Economics (NGIEU, city of Knyaginino).[2] The buildings in which the NGIEU branch was located at the time (18 Gornaya Street and 24 Gornaya Street) were to be put up for auction by the region.[1] Publications by DK.RU described the transaction as the sale of a "private university stripped of state accreditation" of its building complex for 150 million rubles to house a state university.[3]

NIMB's initial asking price was 435 million rubles.[2] Following an independent valuation commissioned by the government, the value of the entire complex (two academic buildings, a dormitory, and a boiler room) was set at 357 million rubles by regional Finance Minister Olga Sulima.[1] The final transaction price was 270 million rubles — this figure was confirmed as final by Andrey Shchegrov, Deputy Minister of Investment, Land and Property Relations of Nizhny Novgorod Region, at a meeting of the relevant committee on December 7, 2016.[1]

Funding was provided in two stages: the Regional Legislative Assembly approved 150 million rubles in July 2016 and a further 150 million rubles in October of the same year (against an initially requested 207 million rubles for the second tranche).[1] In December 2016, the Nizhny Novgorod Region government issued a decree on the purchase of the buildings; three properties were acquired: a building of 5,500 sq. m and two academic buildings of 1,500 and 1,800 sq. m respectively.[2]

Closure

NIMB was stripped of its state accreditation by Rosobrnadzor; on November 20, 2015, the agency also imposed a ban on student enrollment, citing failure to comply with an order within the prescribed timeframe.[3] Following the loss of accreditation, NIMB filed suit against Rosobrnadzor, contesting the agency's actions in revoking accreditation and banning enrollment.[3] Subsequently, Rosobrnadzor lifted the order requiring the institution to remedy violations, and NIMB resumed enrollment of applicants.[3] Rector Alexander Egorshin announced plans to reform NIMB into a "small elite university" in the wake of the accreditation loss.[3]

In January 2017, the prosecutor's office of Prioksky District of Nizhny Novgorod, in the course of an inspection, established that NIMB had effectively ceased educational activities due to the revocation of its license.[2] Wage arrears of 1.482 million rubles had accumulated before 32 employees of the institution, including teaching staff. In response to the violations identified, the district prosecutor's office took a package of prosecutorial measures, as a result of which the debt was repaid in full.[2]

Sources

  1. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — The Nizhny Novgorod government intends to purchase the NIMB buildings before the end of 2016 for 270 million rubles
  2. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — NIMB paid off wage arrears of approximately 1.5 million rubles following the intervention of the prosecutor's office
  3. nn.dk.ru — NIMB was stripped of its state accreditation by Rosobrnadzor; on November 20 (2015), the agency also imposed a ban on student enrollment, citing…
  4. diplom-nizhniy-novgorod.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Management and Business (NIMB)