Distinctive Features of Russian Science and Government Policy

Distinctive Features of Russian

Science and Government Policy

Irina DezhinaHead of Economics of Science and Innovations Division,Institute of World Economy and International Relations,

Head of Research Group on Science and Industrial Policy,Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology

[email protected]

Contents1. Financing, workforce and scientific

results: major trends2. Government measures to strengthen

research in universities3. Inviting foreign scholars: approaches and

results4. Institutional reform 5. Conclusions

Expenditures on R&D, as % of GDP (Russia-2012; other –nearest year available)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

1.12

4.4

3.42.88 2.8

2.241.77

0.910.6 0.74 0.93 1.03 0.84 0.63

Total expendituresFrom the federal budget

Expenditures on R&D Financed by Government and Business

Government Business Government Business2003 2012

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

59.6

30.8

67.8

27.2

38.4

52.1

37.0

53.5

33.4

57.6

21.7

73.9

31.2

63.1

33.4

60.0

18.2

73.9

16.4

76.5

RussiaFranceChinaUSAJapan

Foreign Financing, % of total Expenditures on R&D in Russia

1998

1999

2000

2005

2010

2012

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 18.0 20.0

19.3

16.9

12.0

7.6

3.5

4.0

Changes in the Number of Researchers (thousands, headcount)

  2000 2005 2008 2010 20122012/2000

%

Researchers - total 426.0 391.1 375.8 368.9 372.6 -12.5From total:

RAS institutes 61.9 60.8 54.7 55.1 52.9 -14.5

Universities 28.3 30.1 33.2 38.6 43.0 +51.9

Dynamics of the Age Structure

1994 2000 2010 2011 20120.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

Younger then 2930-3940-4950-5960 and older

Average Age of Researchers in Russia

1994 2000 2008 2010 20120

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

4549 49 48 4849

53 53 53 5258 60 62 62 63

TotalCandidate degree holdersDoctorate degree holders

Share of Publications in World Total: Top 5 Countries and Russia (WoS)Country 2002 2012USA 32.0 27.13China 4.68 13.7Germany 8.29 7.28Japan 8.84 5.67France 5.93 5.04Russia 3.09 2.06Source: http://isterligov.blogspot.ru/2013/06/web-of-science-1998-2012.html

Articles and Citations: BRIC Countries and USA, 2008-2012, WoS

Country No. of Articles Citations per Article

Russia 135363 2.56

Brazil 160443 3.22

India 207086 3.87China 699044 4.01

USA 1664136 7.43

Share of Publications with Russian Researchers in Country Total, SCOPUS-2012Country Share of publications in co-authorship

with Russian researchers, %Belarus 30.41Armenia 30.28Georgia 30.12Ukraine 10.09Germany 2.23France 1.90UK 1.09Japan 0.76USA 0.60

Government Programs to Strengthen Universities

Government Programs

Innovational Educational Program (2006-2008)

Research Universities(since 2009)

57 universities 29 universities1 billion USD 1.7 billion USD

New quality of education

Inclusion in the list oftop-500

within 10-15 years

20% co-financing20% co-financing

Federal Universities(since 2006)

8 NEWUniversities,

0.6 billion USD

Regional development

“5 in top 100” Program15 universities (since 2013)Total 1.1 billion USD for 4 years Special status to MSU

and SPbSU,1.75 billion USDfor 2011-2013

Programs for Development55 universities (since 2012)

Leading Universities: General Regulations• New goal: 5 out of 15 have to be in top-100

leading world universities by 2020 (Presidential Decree from 07.05.2012)

• System of indicators. Attention to publications and citations; foreign students (at least 15%) and professors

• Research and Federal Universities: low flexibility in spending budgetary financing (it is not allowed to spend money on R&D, support of graduate students; salary for technicians who operate equipment)

• Teaching loads have not been reduced and may be even increased

New Role of Universities: Government View“IVORY TOWERS” BUT ENTREPRENEURAL:- Should become centers of fundamental research- Should substitute corporate research (in-house R&D) and should be in demand from industry

Foreign Scholars in Russian ScienceCooperative projects led by diaspora

members76% PIs - from universities; 31% - from USA; 44% - professors. Average citations per article – 7.7Megagrants119 labs; 1/3 of leaders – 45-60 years old; 800 publications in WoS or Scopus journalsMegagrants: expert evaluation of

proposals and monitoring of results (half of reviewers are foreigners)

Current Institutional Reforms1. Reform of RAS: combining RAS, RAMS, and

RAAS2. 1007 former Academy institutes

transferred to the Federal Agency of Scientific Organizations

3. New approaches for assessing performance of research institutes (not linked to assessment of research universities)

4. Possible shutdown of institutes and cuts of personnel

5. Growing grant support: Russian Science Foundation

Major sectors in Russian R&D Complex (2012)

  Academy Higher education

Business enterprise

Number of organizations

involved in R&D

871 (24.4%)

660 (18.5%)

1362 (38.2%)

Researchers, thousand

72.3 (19.4%)

43.0 (11.5%)

192.3(51.6%)

Intramural expenditures on R&D, thousand RUR

91.2 (13.0%)

65.0 (9.3%)

408.3 (58.3%)

Share in total basic research, %

63.5 16.7 10.2

RAS ProductivityRussian Academy of Sciences

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Max Planck Society (Germany)

National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, France)

Number of publications in Scopus

81,075 109,727 43,109 117,311

Average number of publications per researcher

1.43 2.81 9.17 10.11

Average number of citations per publication

2.66 3.8 11.97 7.42

Source: Nature 464, 1257 (2010)

Basic Research Expenditures, % GDP (2011)

France

USA

Israel

Japan

Russia

UK

China

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

0.55

0.48

0.420.42

0.19

0.17

0.09

Budgets of Foundations (federal financing in billion RUR)

2014 2015 2016

Russian Science Foundation

11.4 17.2 19.1

Russian Foundation for Basic Research

9.2 10.93 14.3

Russian Foundation for Humanities

1.54 1.82 2.37

Measuring Performance of Research InstitutesInteragency evaluation of performance25 major criteria which will be grouped (by 6-7) for

assessing different types of institutes4 groups of indicators:

1) Outputs (bibliometrics, patent stats, and attracted funds)

2) Workforce development (number of graduate students and personnel who took part in various trainings)

3) Integration into the world’s community (co-authorship)

4) Resources (funding, researchers and their demographic profile, salaries)

Role of qualitative indicators?

ConclusionsRussian R&D complex is mainly

government-owned and government-financed. The role of government is increasing

The biggest problem is researchers – they leave, they are getting older in average, the “generation gap” is growing

Positive developments: support of research in universities; inviting foreign scholars

Negative: absence of strategic vision; ill-conceived decisions