The President of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Farhod Rahimi, has denied reports that many public servants want to get high academic ranks as “unfounded.”
According to him, out of 111 candidates running for the titles of the Full Member (Academician) and the Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan only four are public servants.
“The legislation of Tajikistan does not prohibit public servants from nominating their candidacies for the titles of the Full Member of the Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences. The main criteria for being nominated for high academic ranks are to be known scientist, have enough scientific works and monographs and have own school and disciples,” Rahimi told reporters in Dushanbe on July 13.
Meanwhile, the final stage of elections of the Full and Corresponding Members of Tajikistan’s Academy of Sciences will be held on July 14, 2017.
According to some sources, eight candidates are running for the title of the Full Member of the Academy of Sciences and 103 candidates are running for the title of the Corresponding Member. All of them are researchers aged 35 to 80. Among them is President Emomali Rahmon’s press secretary Abdufattoh Sharifzoda, who was nominated for the title of the Corresponding Member by the Teachers’ Training University of Tajikistan.
Academic councils of institutes at the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan have already nominated their candidates for the titles of Full and Corresponding Members of the Academy of Sciences.
In all, five Full Members and thirty-five Corresponding Members of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan will be elected.
Twenty-one incumbent Full Members and thirty-three incumbent Corresponding Members of the Academy of Sciences will elect them.
The elections are carried out in two stages. During the first stage, which is considered the main one, elections have been carried out in three Sections: 1) the Section of Math, Chemical, Geological and Technical Sciences; 2) the Section of Biological and Medical Sciences; and 3) the Section of Social Sciences. The second stage of elections will take place on July 14.
Since 2014, directors of institutes of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan have been appointed and dismissed by government’s decisions.
“The majority of current directors of thirty institutes and research centers of the Academy of Sciences are former university teachers. Pedagogical activity and academic science are different things, you know. But authors of innovations and reforms do not want to comprehend this. Let the Academy leadership conduct unbiased poll and it will be possible to speak about effectiveness of the innovation [appointment of institute directors by the government’s decision]. Appointment of institute managers by election will bring to the forefront promotion of science,” an official source at the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences told Asia-Plus in an interview.
