Academy regional branches to be preserved in reform - Duma committee head
MOSCOW. July 4 (Interfax) - All the academies will retain their state-financed status in the course of the Russian Academy of Sciences' reform, State Duma Science Committee Chairman Valery Chereshnev said after the meeting of State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin with an Academy delegation led by Academy President Vladimir Fortov.
"Every unit will be preserved," Chereshnev said. "Everything is safe, and the hastily submitted draft law will not entail a significant change in the status of the Russian Academy of Sciences."
"Regional branches will also be preserved. Terms of their operation will be laid down by the Academy Statute," the deputy said.
As to the formation of an Academy administration stipulated by the draft law, "this obscure structure will not come into existence; this provision has been removed," Chereshnev said.
"There will be an agency for managing assets and importantly it will be headed by the Academy President," he said.
The Academy will decide on how to manage its property and which innovations it will need. "The position of corresponding members will remain effective for three years. A general meeting of the Academy will decide on the way it will be transformed," he said.
Chereshnev was an active opponent of the governmental bill on the Academy reform. His committee gave a negative opinion on the reform project. He said he would now attend the second reading of the Academy reform bill due on Friday "with a light heart".
