Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences proposed restricting young scientists from leaving Russia

Russian specialists in demand in the West need to limit their freedom to travel abroad, obliging them to coordinate each trip with the leadership of the institutes in which they work.

This initiative was put forward by the Soviet and Russian biochemist, molecular biologist, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Georgiy Georgiev. DailyStorm reports this with reference to materials published in the Poisk newspaper.

According to the academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, it is impossible to completely deprive specialists of the opportunity to travel outside the country to participate in scientific conferences and foreign research.

“But all these trips abroad must be coordinated with the directorate of the institute and not turn into permanent work abroad. In 15 years, a strong scientist will undoubtedly get an excellent position in Russia and will probably not want to leave,” Georgiev notes.

In his opinion, the right to free emigration should be given to those who paid for their studies in full and did not receive a scholarship.

According to Georgiev, the next step is to introduce so-called credit education instead of free higher education. Basic training in this format will continue to be covered by the state, but in this case the future scientist undertakes to work for at least 15 years in the field of Russian science. If the young specialist refuses, he will be obliged to return the cost of training in full.

The scientist clarified that his initiative concerns molecular and cellular biology, information technology and certain branches of physics. As other methods of combating the outflow of young scientists from the country, Georgiev also proposes increasing salaries in this area, creating funds for financial support of science, issuing interest-free loans for the purchase of housing, as well as the formation of a special expert body to work with problems in this area.

In 2017, the media wrote that the Russian Academic Foundation wrote a letter to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, in which he expressed concerns about the mass emigration of young specialists abroad.

It proposed introducing a deferment from the army until the age of 27 for those with honors from a higher educational institution, students of state universities and those who study by correspondence and at the same time work at military-industrial enterprises and are not subject to other types of deferment. For those who were subject to such a deferment, it was also proposed to limit travel abroad.

In 2005, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation also proposed limiting the travel abroad of Russian scientists after increasing their budget salaries.

According to the then-current head of the department of state scientific, technical and innovation policy of the Ministry of Education and Science, Dmitry Livanov, “a scientist should not disappear most of the time abroad,” and the time of his stay in Russia should be recorded.