Academy of Sciences plans redundancies and mergers

The Academy of Sciences intends to implement reforms given that its allocation from the state budget was decreased by almost 50 million lei. In a news conference on February 4, the Academy’s president Gheorghe Duca said that according to the reformation strategy, a number of employees will be made redundant, while some of the institutions will be merged so as to reduce costs, Info-Prim Neo reports. About 700 units of personnel will be cut and the researchers will be remunerated according to the results achieved in their work. Those with good results will have higher salaries. Gheorghe Duca said that some of the institutions of the Academy of Sciences will be merged, while others liquidated or transformed into joint stock companies. The Academy of Sciences plans to include Moldovan experts into the database of European experts and the regional database of experts. The researchers are also encouraged to attract foreign funds and financing to carry out studies. The Academy will shift to e-government and all the websites of its institutions will be reexamined. Gheorghe Duca said that 286 million lei will be allocated to the Academy from the 2013 budget. Also, the Academy plants to obtain 50 million lei from funds and from the provision of services. Parliament approved the decrease of the Academy’s funds by 46 million lei. The Liberal-Democratic MP Veaceslav Ionita, who heads the commission on economy, budget and finances, said then that most of the researches are made by universities and NGOs, not by the Academy.