Do you learn from mistakes?

Dear colleagues !

Like many of you, I constantly receive and read various materials dedicated to the deplorable state of academic institutions and in general Russian science.

I received one of the latest materials on this topic by e -mail on December 2, 2015: five academicians (Alexander Aseev, Alexander Nekipelov, Robert Nigmatulin, Sergey Rogov, Alexander Spirin) on the “Council of sages” on November 30, 2015 discuss the problems of Russian science. Many of their statements are fair, and I share them.

However, for the sake of justice, you need to pay attention to those serious mistakes and miscalculations that the Academy made, or rather, its presidium in the period from 1991 to 2013. Scientific ethics teaches us that it is necessary to consider each problem from different sides, to objectively take into account all the arguments related to the case.

Here are some facts that defenders of academic science almost never recall.

1. In the period from 1991 to 2013, the number of academic institutions increased significantly. New institutions were opened despite the difficult economic situation and insufficient financing. If in 1991 there were about 200 institutions at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, then in 2013 there were already more than 400 of them in the Russian Academy of Sciences. And this despite the fact that Russia in terms of population amounted to a little more than half of the Soviet Union.
2. Grew and the administrative-bureaucratic apparatus of the Academy. It is enough to say that the reference book, which provides information about the organizations of the Academy, totaled in 1990 544 pages, and in 2012 - already 1009 pages. From the nominal alphabetical pointer at the end of the reference book we see that some persons are mentioned 10 or more times. This indicates the number of posts held by them (mainly members of the Presidium).
3. Repeatedly raised the question that senior positions at the Academy can occupy no more than two terms. This proposal usually met approval, but was never implemented. Therefore, for decades, some persons have been in the leadership chairs.
4. An age limit for managers - at that time 70 years - was also repeatedly discussed and even approved by the Presidium. But it was somehow imperceptibly forgotten.
5. In the 2000s, a campaign was held to reduce the number of academic institutions. I had to work in the commission on our department of energy, mechanical engineering, mechanics and management processes, which was supposed to give proposals to close some institutions. These proposals were given. But the director of the institute, scheduled to reduce, turned to the vice presidents of the Academy, and in the end the institute was preserved and moved to another department. In some cases, the reduction was reduced to the unification of institutions or the formation of branches.
6. After some time, the task of ranking of institutions was set, that is, dividing them into three categories: “certainly good”, “good but in need of strengthening”, “weak or to be closed”. The Academy said that she would perform this ranking herself, without the participation of officials from the Ministry of Education and Science, since only scientists themselves can evaluate the work of scientific institutions. Commissions were created, information from institutes was collected. As a result, almost all institutions, except a few, were attributed to the highest category.

From the high rostrum of the Presidium at general meetings and at other meetings, we, members of the Academy, have repeatedly inspired the idea that we should rally around the presidium in order to confront officials together. But it was almost not said about what the Academy itself can and should do in organizational plan. The result of this policy is known.

It seems to me that you need to honestly and openly recognize the mistakes of the Academy leadership. By the way, the participants of the “Council of the Wise men” were members of the Presidium, and not for one period.

Academician RAS Felix Chernowo
Photo from the Site of RAS

1. Academics of the Russian Academy of Sciences recognized Russia as an asocial state // MK .ru. December 1 , 2015 . http://goo.gl/w274l7

2. “Science will survive , but you have to suffer” // IA REGNUM . November 30 , 2015 . http://regnum.ru/news/innovatio/2024152.html