Vasily ZHURAKOVSKY, Russian Federation Vasily Zhurakovsky is former first deputy minister of education of the Russian Federation. He previously served as deputy chairperson of the State Committee of the Russian Federation on Higher Education, as deputy minister for science, higher education, and technological policy of the Russian Federation, and as deputy chairperson of the State Committee for Science and Higher Education. Dr. Zhurakovsky was formerly rector of the Rostov-on-the-Don Technical Institute. He is a member of the Academy of Engineering and the Academy of Natural Sciences and holds a doctorate of technical sciences from the Rostov-on-the-Don Institute of Agricultural Engineering. Dr. Zhurakovsky is a member of the Universities Project Advisory Committee, and is an alumnus of several Universities Project and Russian Higher Education Program symposia.