Rebuff to outflow
How to keep talented young people in science
Georgy Georgiev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, "Search" No. 6-2019
Our science is going through another crisis. Talented young people leave for the West either after graduating from a higher educational institution or after defending a PhD thesis. Even the heads of strong laboratories complain that it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to recruit graduate students and young employees when bids appear for them.
The main reasons for the outflow of young people from science are, in my opinion, a high degree of bureaucracy in the organization of the research field; insufficient funding of laboratories, even those working at the world level; low salaries of graduate students and researchers; uncertainty of scientists in the future; lack of affordable housing; the opportunity to leave the country, having received a free education. The condition of the instrument base is also a serious problem: only the most privileged institutions can boast of having the necessary modern equipment. There are also "local" factors that are important for certain fields of science. So, chemists and biologists can tell a lot about how clumsy and cumbersome the domestic reagent supply system is. If in the USA it takes a maximum of a week to get the drugs necessary for work, in our country it takes many months.
It is not easy to work effectively and compete on an equal footing with Western colleagues in such conditions. At the same time, in the West there is a shortage of graduate students and postdocs (young scientists who have defended their dissertation), the "workhorses" of science. Therefore, the doors for talented young people from Russia are always open.
I want to offer my options for dealing with the problems that stimulate the emigration of intelligence. I am sure that the use of these recipes will contribute to the strengthening of Russian science.
Curb formalism!
Observing his supervisor, a young scientist sees that he spends most of his time on drawing up all kinds of plans and reports and gradually turns from a scientist into a clerical worker. And it would be fine if someone was seriously concerned about the quality of scientists' work. Not at all. The officials responsible for science need only visibility, the fulfillment of decrees and orders coming from above. As a result, strong works published in highly rated publications are taken into account on a par with articles in "junk" magazines. The prospect of putting his life on writing meaningless papers, of course, does not please a talented young man who dreams of becoming the head of a promising research team and making a serious contribution to science.
To combat formalism and bureaucratization, it is necessary to create a special body, which will include world-class scientists of various specialties who are well aware of the pain points of our science as experts. And the executors of the recommendations developed by them should be people with broad administrative capabilities. It seems to me that it is not shameful for the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Minister of Science and Higher Education, representatives of other ministries and departments, for example, customs authorities, to join such a commission.
Don't skimp on science
Everyone knows and for some reason it is considered normal that funds are allocated for the so-called state task in an amount sufficient only to pay very modest salaries and maintain the infrastructure of the institute – heating, power supply. There is practically no money left for scientific activity itself. It is forbidden to receive grants on the subject of state tasks. No one is interested in how to set up experiments without reagents and equipment.
The situation with wages in science is also not encouraging. If the salaries of scientists have recently increased, then a graduate student of an academic organization receives about 8 thousand rubles a month – less than the subsistence minimum. But in the same Skolkovo postgraduate scholarship is about 70 thousand rubles. At the same time, graduate students from Skolkovo often conduct research at institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, working side by side with academic ones. This situation clearly contradicts common sense and undoubtedly contributes to the destruction of our science.
It is known that the most important part of the experimental work is carried out by young highly qualified specialists. In the West, these are postdocs corresponding to our young candidates of sciences. They do not hold leadership positions. Their salary in Russia is 18 thousand rubles a month, and in the USA – 4 thousand dollars. About 14 times more!
It may be objected to me that the incomes of our graduate students and young scientists working in laboratories supported by large grants are greater than the figure I have given above. Yes, in some laboratories it is possible to raise the salary of graduate students up to 40 thousand rubles, and young candidates of sciences – up to 100-120 thousand. But this is the exception rather than the rule.
As a result, a strong scientist who already has a family, in search of a high salary and stability, decides to emigrate. To reduce the outflow of highly qualified personnel, it is necessary to raise salaries in science. Part of the problem can be solved by eliminating weak laboratories, but the funds released are clearly not enough. The state should increase funding for science! As my German colleagues told me, that's exactly what their government did. When the emigration of young scientists to the United States became widespread, the salaries of young scientists in Germany were raised to the American standard.
Stability is required
The most important factor preventing brain drain is a scientist's confidence in the future. If a person gets serious fundamental results or creates advanced technologies, he must have guarantees that the provision of such work will not be interrupted. Unfortunately, the current system of receiving grants is organized in such a way that funding for even strong works may stop.
Grants for fundamental and exploratory research, which allow us to work at a decent level, are given today only by the Russian Science Foundation (RNF). The funds of the majority of grants from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the money allocated under the programs of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences are completely insufficient. Therefore, the termination of funding from the RNF, as a rule, makes it impossible to continue serious work.
I will give an example showing what this can result in. In 2017, three-year grants to leading laboratories (20 million rubles per year) and research groups (5 million) ended. At first, the performers were promised an extension of funding for another two years in case of successful work and fulfillment of all obligations assumed. However, later, perhaps due to financial problems, it was decided to reduce the number of grants for laboratories by almost two times, and for research groups by three times.
A young employee of our institute, who had two talented graduate students, fulfilled all the requirements for publications. Moreover, the scientific group under her leadership made an important, of course, unplanned, discovery in a related, but close area. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to find qualified experts in all areas in Russia. The experts invited to evaluate this work "did not notice" the discovery. And although they did not make any significant comments on the report, but (apparently, fulfilling the reduction plan) they gave him low scores. The group was left without funding. Graduate students, who by that time had already made presentations at international conferences about their discovery, came to the attention of the heads of foreign scientific organizations. After the termination of funding for work, both received a lot of offers from potential employers and eventually emigrated to America, of course, along with the results. It turns out that a significant part of the money was thrown away or, more precisely, donated to our foreign competitors.
What can be done to prevent this from happening again? I believe that there should be several well-funded foundations in the country so that strong laboratories and scientists have constant financial support. In addition, funds should not rely on the opinion of only one or two experts in controversial cases. Implementing the program of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Molecular Cell Biology", we have carefully worked out a system of objective assessments, expertise and effective appeal. This experience is open, you can get acquainted with it on the website molbiol.edu.ru .
Right to leave
In our country, even paid tuition does not cover all costs for a student. Meanwhile, many talented guys leave Russia after graduation due to the reasons outlined above. This, of course, does not apply to all specialties, but only those for which there is a demand in the West. These include molecular and cellular biology, information technology, and many branches of physics. At the same time, in many countries the cost of education is significantly higher than in our country. Therefore, having taken measures to improve the state of science in the country, it will be necessary to think about how to limit the free emigration of trained specialists.
First of all, it is necessary to establish which specialties are in demand abroad. In less intensively developing fields of science, everything can be left as before, and the rest must be urgently reformed. Education in such areas should be paid for, and prices should cover all state tuition costs. The right to free emigration after graduation can be obtained only by those who have fully paid for their studies and have not received a scholarship. There are unlikely to be many of them – the children of rich parents rarely choose difficult scientific professions.
In fact, instead of free higher education, a "credit" is being introduced: the state, as it is now, pays for everything, but on the basis of an interest-free loan. The state expenditure also includes a scholarship, its size may vary within certain limits, the student chooses the option that suits him. The loan is issued by an agreement that is valid both in Russia and abroad. After graduation, a young scientist must work in Russian science for 15 years, after which the loan is automatically extinguished. In the case of emigration, he must repay the loan in full.
This, of course, does not mean that a scientist does not have the right to leave the country to participate in scientific conferences or to conduct joint research with foreign colleagues. But all these trips abroad should be coordinated with the directorate of the Institute and not turn into a permanent job abroad. In 15 years, a strong scientist will undoubtedly get an excellent position in Russia and probably won't want to leave anymore.
I addressed these proposals to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin during his meeting with scientists in Sochi in 2001. The President's reaction was positive. But then there was no law on credit education, and the laws are not retroactive. In my opinion, such a law should be urgently developed now, given that it will begin to operate only five years after the first-year students who have signed the contract finish their studies.
Apartment incidents
Often young people come to study at the center from the periphery, where there are no suitable scientific institutions. After graduation, talented children are ready to take to graduate school or to work at the place of study, but then the notorious "housing issue" arises. It is clear that you will not rent an apartment for a postgraduate scholarship. Not every laboratory, even a very strong one, can pay for a postgraduate student's accommodation. When a family arises, with the appearance of children, apartment problems arise not only among scientists from the periphery, but also among local residents.
Many dormitories of the Academy of Sciences have been liquidated or turned into hotels, accommodation in which is often more expensive than renting housing. Some guys try to get out by renting an apartment far from their place of work, and spend a lot of time on the road. Having pushed around like this for several years, they come to the idea of emigration.
The issue of housing subsidies to young scientists, partially covering the cost of housing, does not solve the issue. Firstly, it is not easy to get such a subsidy. Secondly, you can go abroad, and after a while sell the apartment. The same situation arises in those rare cases when people get housing for free. One of our employees, who received a living space from Moscow, gave it to his wife, divorced and emigrated to Germany.
What should be done? One of the options is to provide young scientists with an interest–free loan from the state for the purchase of housing. Those who decide to leave the country must fully repay the loan regardless of the period of work in Russia or transfer the apartment to the state. The loan is reset only when the retirement age is reached, as well as in case of disability or death. The second option is the construction of office housing for scientific youth in the areas where the institutes are located. The constructed apartments should be issued first of all to talented young scientists who have successfully completed postgraduate studies – with the possibility of privatizing them only on the above grounds.
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