Since 2012, the number of scientists and highly qualified specialists leaving Russia has increased fivefold, said Nikolai Dolgushkin, Chief Scientific Secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). According to him, in the last three years alone, the number of scientists in the country has decreased by 30 thousand, and as a result, Russia cannot fulfill the indicators of the national project “Science”, which set the task of increasing the number of specialists. Among the risks for Russian scientists, he named, in particular, a lack of funding.
Mr. Dolgushkin spoke about the continuing decline in the number of researchers at the general meeting of the members of the RAS. In his opinion, “not the least role” in reducing the number of scientists is played by “not decreasing outflow” abroad. “The number of specialists traveling abroad every year has not decreased, and since 2012 it has increased from 14 thousand to almost 70 thousand people,” said the Secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences (quoted by TASS).
As Nikolai Dolgushkin noted, now Russia is the only developed country where the number of scientists has been declining for several decades in a row. In 1990, Russia ranked first in the world in terms of the number of scientists, but since then their number has decreased from 992 thousand to 348 thousand, that is, by 65%, the academician said.
According to the goals of the national project “Science”, the number of scientists in Russia in three years was to increase by 35 thousand people. “Three years ago, the Russian Federation was still in fourth place in the world in terms of the number of researchers. Today she is in sixth. Over these three years, the number of researchers in our country has decreased by 30 thousand, “- said the Secretary of the RAS.
According to Nikolai Dolgushkin, there are three main risks for Russian science: lack of funding for science, backward infrastructure, and the third, most important, “human and intellectual potential”.
In February, President Vladimir Putin asked to sort out the salaries of scientists in the regions. One of their scientists from Novosibirsk complained to the head of state that her salary was 25 thousand rubles, and together with the allowances she received 32 thousand rubles. The President demanded that the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Education and Science check the implementation of his decree on bringing the salaries of scientists to 200% of the regional average.
Read more about the results of the presidential council on science and education in the material of “Kommersant” “You can't figure it out without part-time.”
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