Robert Williams: “Academia, an elitist concept that has existed for thousands of years, will no longer exist except at the university level ?”

While national academies express their concerns about the budget cuts, a “new concept” criticized for being promoted by totalitarian regimes is now found in Moldova, and it seems that Romania is experiencing this trend.

The Academy of Sciences of Moldova has been simply robbed of its heritage, which includes institutes and research that have ended up in various institutions or universities that have not managed to match global rankings and the scientific world even to this day.

” In order to perceive the current state of affairs in domestic science at its true value, we will compare the number of researchers per 1 million inhabitants in the Republic of Moldova with similar data from other countries. Thus, according to UNESCO data from 2021-2022, in the Czech Republic, there are over 4500 researchers per 1 million inhabitants, in Lithuania – around 4000, in Serbia – 2400, in Georgia – 1800, in the Republic of Moldova – 800, while in Serbia, which also seeks to join the European Union, there are 3 times more researchers per 1 million inhabitants than in the Republic of Moldova. Acad. Ion Thighineanu, the president of the Academy of Sciences claims that research teams from across the Prut can no longer meet the demands, becoming increasingly less competitive on an international scale.”

Photo: Acad.  Ioan-Aurel Pop , Acad. Ion Tighineanu

“According to official data, for all research conducted in Romania, only 0.18% of GDP is allocated annually, while the Academy receives 0.0… and I don’t know what else. Neither can the calculation be made. Some research appears to weigh heavily on the budget and some research is supposed to be blamed for today’s crisis, for the major deficits that threaten us?

The Bulgarian Academy has twice as many researchers as the Romanian Academy, and Bulgaria has nearly three times fewer researchers than Romania.

However, the Romanian Academy has initiated a self-cleaning project (by reducing the number of institutes), but the proposal to amend its law is stuck somewhere in Parliament. Without the approval of Parliament and the Government, we cannot reform ourselves. Scientific research and intellectual creation in Romania are, by no means, an impediment to the country’s development. However, like any human endeavor, research can be optimized, reformed, and must constantly adapt to contemporary dynamics.

I mention that, after Putin came to power in Russia, a dangerous process of purging national academies began in the former communist countries. Among the first to submit to orders from Moscow was the Hungarian Academy, which found itself forced to accept that all research institutes under its authority would fall under government control. Shortly thereafter, the Academy of the Republic of Moldova had to do the same, where the institutes were transferred to universities and are now almost buried in anonymity and marginalization. The recipe is old: here, in the 1970s, Ceaușescu transferred the institutes of the Academy to universities, and the experience was sadly negative. As a result, in 1990, all these institutes requested and obtained a return to the Romanian Academy.”  Acad. Ioan-Aurel Pop , the president of the Romanian Academy.

Questions arise naturally…

Academia is the concept of these thousands of years, what is happening? How does the university become an academy and is financed, moreover, it takes over the heritage of the academy.??

It has been found that the experiment of academic looting in favor of the university has immeasurable costs… in the case of Moldova and Romania, there is no comparison with or without heritage because the global rankings of science clearly record: academia is the supreme scientific forum.

While science has at its disposal an infinite horizon, the opposite is observed… why? What are the reasons behind political decisions?

Horizon Europe is the EU’s main funding program for research and innovation for the period 2021-2027, with a budget of €95.5 billion. It addresses climate change, contributes to achieving the UN’s sustainable development goals, and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth.

Is this a guarantee for European academies or a different future for science without academies?

In 2025, the U.S. is expected to spend around $193.39 billion on scientific research and development (R&D), according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)….

The bells do not ring well in the world of science due to successive cuts in funding, opportunism, and chaotic prioritization.

By

Robert Williams

Editor in Chief