Translated material
Hazing proposals
Academicians did not agree to introduce an age limit for managers
Russian academics continue to fight for the right to remain in leadership positions for life - both for themselves and for the directors of institutes included in the Academy of Sciences system. Yesterday, during the first day of meetings of the general meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, almost the first thing delegates did was exclude the provision on the age limit from the draft charter - the main legislative document of the academy, which they must finally approve today. In essence, this step means a new round of confrontation between the academy and the Ministry of Education and Science. After all, the voting members of the Russian Academy of Sciences rejected the draft charter that was proposed to them by the ministry.The delegates of the academic congress, two-thirds of whom, according to the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yuri Osipov himself, have already passed the 70-year mark, voted almost unanimously to abolish the age limit. Although at the same time there were calls in speeches for the rejuvenation of personnel. In particular, the chief scientific secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Valery Kostyuk, noted that “the rejuvenation of Russian science is proceeding at a slow pace.” However, academics, defending their version of the charter, refer to the absence of an “upper” age threshold in Russian labor legislation. “Until the clause on the age limit appears in the Labor Code, it will not be in the charter,” Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Mesyats explained to ITAR-TASS yesterday.
At the same time, Mr. Mesyats believes that the charter will most likely be approved today, which means that the RAS, while leaving its leaders the right to be re-elected for another term, is still making concessions to the government. And he agrees that the head of the academy will be approved by the President of Russia, and to control financial and property issues of the life of the scientific community, a supervisory board will be established (it should include three representatives each from the RAS and the government, and one each from the State Duma, the Federation Council and the presidential administration). It is precisely these amendments to the charter that are proposed by the law “On Science” updated last year.
The goal of all these transformations, along with a reduction in the number of academic staff, was to transform the Russian Academy of Sciences from a closed institution into an institution for the development of a domestic economy built on knowledge. Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko insisted on establishing an age limit for heads of research institutes (up to 65 years of age) and managers of the Russian Academy of Sciences (up to 70 years of age). In his opinion, science needs to update its personnel. And the problem of young scientists is not that salaries are low (although in order to increase them, cuts are being made, which by 2008 should free up a fifth of the budget rates previously available in the RAS), but that with the dominance of honored “veterans” they have practically no growth potential.
From the very first days, the government program for the modernization of the Russian Academy of Sciences caused a fierce war in the information field between academicians and officials. The temporary truce was achieved thanks to the promise of officials not to carry out massive cuts to institutions, as well as some support from the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yuri Osipov, who celebrated his 70th birthday last year. However, yesterday's changes to the charter and debates about the need to stop the cuts, which academic unions insist on, showed that the struggle continues.