MOSCOW, May 18 (RIA Novosti) - Up to 2010 the number of structures in the state sector of science must be cut from 2,600 to 1,600. This statement was made on Wednesday by Russian Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko during an Internet news conference in Moscow.
Yet the minister remarked that the number of research institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences would not be cut considerably. At the same time he is against amalgamating research institutions.
Touching upon the fate of the organizations dealing with applied research, the minister said "their number will be cut."
Part of these institutions, he continued, will receive the status of state institutions, another part will become non-commercial organizations, and still "another part must be transformed into joint-stock companies."
However, the minister did not exclude a further privatization of joint-stock companies in the scientific sector. In connection with this the ministry is drafting amendments to the federal law "On Science," the minister said.
"We have proposed that in case of making an organization a joint-stock company and its further privatization, the appropriate law must provide for the preservation of its scientific trend," Fursenko said.
According to him, one of the ways to achieve this situation is to transfer to the account of the scientific institution its intangible assets, "which automatically increases the cost of the enterprise and makes it impossible to privatize it at the price of the walls."
This measure will be a barrier for an uncontrolled privatization and will make it possible to preserve the scientific trends of the institutions, the minister believes.
According to his estimates, some 10 to 15% of the institutions of the Academy of Sciences "grant on lease their premises to prestigious commercial shops."
Appropriate amendments to the law "On Science" must settle the issues concerning the use of this state property, Fursenko added.
