SCIENTISTS BELIEVE ALL FINANCIAL SOURCES ALLOCATED FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE SHOULD BE SPENT ON SECURING COMPETITIVE SCIENTIFIC RESULTS
By Rouzan Poghosian
AZG Armenian Daily
13/12/2006
On December 9-10, the Interdepartmental Commission, as well
as RA National Fund for Promotion of the Science and Leading
Technologies initiated "The Principles for Reforming in Scientific
Sphere" discussion in Tsakhkadzor. It’s worth mentioning that the
leadership of RA National Academy of Science didn’t participate in
the discussion. As for the absence of the leadership of RA National
Academy, Harutyun Karapetian, head of RA National Fund for Promotion
of the Science and Leading Technologies, stated that they have no
problems with the academy leadership and they only have a concept
that has almost nothing in common with the science. "Armenia isn’t
rich in financial sources and, at the same time has huge scientific
potential. Thus, all financial sources allocated for the development
of the science should be spend on securing competitive scientific
results," he said. He added that provincial approaches are applied
at the Academy when giving the various academic degrees.
Karapetian added that only competitive scientific results should be
financed. He said that the concept is a good one, expect for the points
for the Academy and the Higher Qualification Committee. "Their statuses
remain unchanged, they can yield good results neither for the country’s
development nor for European development approaches," he said.
On his turn, academician Eduard Ghazarian touched upon the issue of
Nan technologies. He stated that Nan technologies can’t be a primary
line for the Armenian science, though in 1991 there were 21 thousand
specialists of Nan Technologies in Armenia and we still have the same
potential," he said.
As for the concept for scientific development, he said that wee
seem to be fallen into a swirl for already 4-5 years and fail to
make progress. He said that in order to make progress, one should
elaborate the scientific development program and mechanisms for its
implementation as soon as possible.
Ara Avetisian, RA Science and Education deputy Minister, emphasized
that the newly appointed Director of RA Economy Institute at
RA National Academy should elaborate the economic aspect for the
concept’s implementation.
Samvel Gevorgian, lecturer at the Yerevan State University’s Physics
Faculty, stated that a council dealing with the scientific development
issues should be shaped at RA President’s or RA Prime Minister’s Office
that will include also young Armenian scientists that work abroad. He
added that the academy should only evaluate the scientific value of
the researches and elaborate strategic plans, the rest should be done
by the council. He added that the concept is a plan of actions that
should lead us to the destination we attain.
It’s worth mentioning that RA Science and Education Minister Levon
Mkrtchian wasn’t present at the conference, either.