Financial mechanisms are holding back scientific development.

Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Van Tung said that the complexity and cumbersomeness of the financial mechanism prevent scientists from focusing on research. The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Central Propaganda Department are surveying and finalizing the project "Developing Science and Technology to serve the cause of Industrialization, Modernization and International Integration" to submit to the Party Central Committee Conference in October. PV discussed with Deputy Minister Tran Van Tung about this project.

- What is the project about to be submitted to the Central Executive Committee about, sir?

This project consists of 4 main parts, talking about the current situation of scientific activities, the viewpoints and goals of scientific development in the coming time, stating the basic tasks, solutions and recommendations. After evaluation, we see that in the past time, science and technology have played an important role in socio-economic development.

However, looking back, this field has not yet fully met the development of the socio-economy due to inadequacies in the organizational mechanism, management mechanism, scientific and technological operation mechanism, and financial mechanism; the coordination of management agencies such as the Ministry of Investment and the Ministry of Finance needs to be reviewed and lessons learned.

Therefore, the project focuses on overcoming the existing and weak factors. In the project, we want to emphasize solutions to improve the mechanism of autonomy and self-responsibility of science and technology organizations, develop the science and technology market, and study the contract mechanism in science, so that science and technology can make breakthroughs and become the driving force for national development.



Deputy Minister Tran Van Tung. Photo: Huong Thu.

- What does the project focus on, sir?

The project focuses on many issues of fundamental innovation in the organization of the operating mechanism and the management mechanism of science and technology activities, emphasizing the financial mechanism and personnel policy, because these are weaknesses and bottlenecks that need to be resolved. Currently, the financial investment mechanism is scattered, ineffective, and not thorough, so it has not yet produced valuable products, commercialized and exported, so the investment efficiency is not guaranteed; even the money invested in science is used for other purposes.

Regarding the current financial mechanism, it is very administrative, leading to the management of scientific and technological tasks according to construction investment projects. Research topics that want to be approved this year must have been planned since last year. But when approved for implementation, many things are very outdated, from standards to equipment becoming obsolete.

Not to mention the complicated and cumbersome administrative settlement, which discourages scientists. Many scientists even create fake projects to settle financial matters.

The next issue is to solve the human resource policy of our country. This is the most decisive factor for building and ensuring the success of science and technology. Most other professions have allowances, while scientists only receive a salary according to the state administrative system, thus not creating motivation for scientists to focus on research.

- The biggest obstacle to the operation of public scientific agencies today is not funding or facilities but the lack of motivation for staff. What is your opinion?

- It is true that scientists currently do not have enough to live on, so they have to find other ways to earn income to ensure their lives. The administrative financial mechanism does not create their creativity. According to current regulations, to prepare an annual science and technology plan, it takes preparation time to complete procedures up to 1.5 years before the fiscal year. Therefore, many topics, after going through all the stages of approval and funding, have become outdated. When the money arrives, it cannot be disbursed and does not need to be disbursed anymore.

When conducting research projects, scientists only worry about how to legalize documents, which takes too much time. As a result, many scientists are forced to make up topics. There are up to hundreds of topics, while in reality there are about a dozen topics.

Why do scientists have to 'hug' those financial documents and certificates? Even in a scientific institution, the finance department has more power than the scientists. How can they concentrate on scientific research?

- Is this what leads to the phenomenon of "brain drain" in science and technology organizations?

- In reality, the starting salary of a professor is only equal to that of a senior specialist. When moving to the state level, a professor is much lower than a specialist. While specialists receive a salary of level 5, professors still receive the same. Therefore, this makes young people participating in scientific organizations feel disappointed. This is because the policy on treatment of scientists is not guaranteed.

We hear a lot about brain drain. But the important thing is how to make Vietnamese people everywhere think and be responsible for the country. Don't think that when they go abroad, we lose talented people and are not useful to the country. Sometimes when they are abroad, have relationships with colleagues, teachers, and the working environment, they can help the country even more. For example, Professor Ngo Bao Chau still works abroad and has some executive instructions for the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics in Vietnam. Thus, the professor has the opportunity to gather information, and scientists abroad work together with Vietnam. The country is in a period of integration, information is shared, which helps the country's development process much better.

- What will the Ministry of Science and Technology do to remove financial policies to ensure the lives of scientists?

- Regarding the issue of salaries for scientists, the Ministry has worked with ministries such as the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, but they all said that it is impossible to have a salary regime for science and technology staff.

The Ministry of Science and Technology is implementing a mechanism to delegate autonomy to heads of science and technology. This operating mechanism has the appearance of a business, collecting the human expenses in the social state charity project to form an income fund, which will be divided according to internal spending regulations, agreed upon by all staff.

Those who contribute and do more will get a higher share, without a ceiling on the salary. Those who cannot do it will gradually be eliminated or receive a very low basic salary. This method should be implemented and applied, without asking for an additional salary scale from the State.

- Why don't we apply a specific contract mechanism and norms for each research task?

- In reality, not everything can be contracted. Currently, only the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is piloting the application of the contract mechanism in research because the specificity of this industry is that it can produce tangible products. The field of social sciences, humanities and applied sciences is not like that. After the pilot in the agricultural sector, the Government will review the effectiveness of this contract method to issue policies.

For example, the Mekong Delta Rice Research Institute once proposed 3-4 billion VND to research a new rice variety that can withstand salinity. If it cannot be implemented after 3 years, the money will be returned. This topic can be contracted because it has a specific product. However, in the field of social sciences, it is impossible to quantify each page as 2 or 3 thousand VND, what is important is the quality of each page, so it is difficult to implement a contract mechanism here.

We are submitting to the Government for pilot implementation of science contracts, first in the agricultural sector.

According to Vnexpress - nt