Russian Education and Science Minister Andrey Fursenko (left) and President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yury Osipov
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
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Ed. Ministry Reverses Itself on Science Financing
The Ministry of Education and Science has submitted a proposal to the government to expand the rights of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Academy may receive the authority to submit financial documents to the government itself and to be financed in separate articles of the federal budget instead of through the Education Ministry. At the same time, the Academy will be held directly responsible for its use of government funds and its commitments before the government.
This is a radical concession to the leadership of the Academy. Along with financial independence will come the ability to make decisions without conciliating them with the Education Ministry. A source on the Academy presidium noted that “The Education Ministry was largely forced to take this measure. The procedure for financing the Academy was very confused. Amendments to the law On Science' were in conflict with the Budget Code and the simplest way in this case was the direct financing of the Academy.” The same source expressed reservations about the possibility of institutes receiving financing independently of the management of the Academy.
Financial independence may also be given in exchange for stricter state control over the management of the Academy in the form of a supervisory board, which the Academy presidium is strongly opposed to. Kommersant has obtained information that the government is developing a system for the competitive financing of institutes. The Academy will receive 46.5 billion rubles from the federal budget in 2008.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 08, 2007
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