MINSK, 21 November (BelTA) – Representatives of the scientific sphere should train their own replacements. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during the government conference held on 21 November to discuss the development of the scientific sphere and the operation of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “At present the top-priority problem is the natural ageing of scientific personnel, particularly in fundamental research. We can increase funding, build new buildings and labs, fit them with the state-of-the-art equipment. But we should constantly remember who will work in them. Young people constitute approximately one third of scientific personnel. Some say 40%. We have a genuine age gap among scientists aged 40-50 years. We need continuity.”
The head of state pointed out that any knowledge and technologies get outdated. At the same time a scientific school powered by the intellect of young people is kind of a perpetual motion machine. “I have already said more than once: every one of you should train your replacements. First and foremost, doctors, professors, corresponding members, academicians,” he stressed.
According to the president, every doctor of sciences and candidate of sciences should have followers and pupils. As of today it is not only a measure of personal success of a scientist but a measure of the scientist’s professional aptitude. It is also the most important criteria for getting scientific degrees or for getting elected an academician or a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.
“We need a linkup between experience and youth. What do we have? The number of researchers of the highest scientific qualification is getting lower. In some fields the numbers are already close to the acceptable threshold. Its further reduction may result in a critical decrease in the level of competence of individual organizations and of the scientific sphere as a whole and may become a hindrance to modernizing the economy,” the head of state concluded.
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