Translated material
Science Day. Is life easier in Africa?
Neither awarding bonuses nor awards will solve the main issue: evaluation of work. Researchers who have graduated from universities, have patents for inventions, scientific publications, scientific titles, receive less in Russia than foreign workers in the field of trade, construction and services. serg07011972 practically writes about this in the post Science Day .
Today, February 8, 2013, marks the 289th anniversary of the establishment of the Russian Academy of Sciences by Peter I. Now this day is called “science day”.
Today, the governor of the Sverdlovsk region Kuyvashev congratulated science workers on this day http://aktualno.ru/view2/25956 with the words: “I consider it necessary to pay special attention to supporting scientific, educational and innovative activities in our region. In the 21st century, the intelligence, intelligence and knowledge of scientific communities are in demand more than ever. I am confident that a close union of science, education, industry, and business will allow the Sverdlovsk region to rise to a completely new level of social and economic development.” We all know that a person should be judged not by his words, but by his deeds. In fact, a year ago, the Minister of Industry and Science of the Sverdlovsk Region, while on a visit to the Institute of Electrophysics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the institute’s projects were not interesting to him, and scientists should tell about them not to busy people like the minister, but to schoolchildren nearby Institute of Schools.
What is the actual situation of fundamental and applied science in the Sverdlovsk region?
First, about the situation at the Academy of Sciences.
The average salary at the Academy is no higher than the average salary in the region, and there is a tendency for wages to decrease.
The income of the Academy of Sciences consists of budget funds and money received through grants and contracts with industry. If funding from the federal budget grows from year to year by several percent per year, then in recent years there have been almost no contracts with industry: the entire state policy is not aimed at developing industry, but exclusively at the export of raw materials from the country. Therefore, industry stopped funding scientific research. Therefore, the total budget of the Academy of Sciences this year is the same as last year and the year before. But starting last year, the state refused to pay for utility expenses of the Academy of Sciences; the Academy is forced to pay these expenses from funds received under contracts with industry, which are almost non-existent anyway. Therefore, the nominal wages of scientific workers have been declining for the fourth year in a row.
Almost all the funds received by the Academy of Sciences are spent on staff salaries; almost nothing is left for equipment and consumables for experiments. But in Europe and the USA, the average service life of equipment is no more than 5 years. Most of our equipment has a service life of more than 10 years. What breakthrough achievements can we talk about when working on obsolete equipment?
In recent years, the Academy of Sciences has sharply reduced the number of research positions. In order not to completely bleed science, managers are forced to divide the rate into several parts and pay the researcher a share of the rate. A significant number of scientists work at 1/2, 1/4, 1/5, ...1/20 rates. It is not uncommon for senior researchers, candidates of science, authors of monographs and patents to receive 5-10 thousand rubles a month.
How is applied science going? The same as fundamental science, only even worse: applied science has no budget funding.
Science in Russia is dying. If the situation with the financing of science is not changed in the next 3-5 years, then science will die completely, Russia will turn into an African country, after which it will quickly disappear. After all, Africans cannot survive in a cold and large country.
Isn't death a vice?