The Cabinet approved a bill to amend and supplement the Science and Innovation Code and the Education Code. The document aims to increase the quality of education and performance in research and innovation based on competition when distributing the funds, IPN reports.
Under the bill, a National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Research will be created to substitute the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Professional Education, the National School Inspectorate and the National Council for Accreditation and Attestation. The Agency will assess the way the national curriculum is implemented and how the exams and assessment process are managed in general education.
It is proposed adjusting the institutional framework for research and innovation management by delegating the powers in the field to the executive, which will approve policy documents centering on the sector priorities. The priorities will be elaborated by the scientific community at a supreme forum represented by the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, which will play the role of strategic consultant of the Government in research and innovation.
Another aspect refers to the improvement of the method of funding priorities in research and innovation. For the purpose, there will be constituted the National Agency for Research and Development that will assess project proposals fielded by researchers representing different institutions at a contest. Access to the funds managed by the Agency will be eased by excluding the mechanism for accrediting research and innovation organizations and replacing it with the scientific title assessment and confirmation instrument that will be managed by the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Research.
The law will be implemented at a cost of 2.2 million lei, but the authors say the reorganization of the aforementioned entities will lead to a decrease of about 9.1 million lei in the annual budget expenditure for research and innovation. The reform will enable to increase the funds allocated from the budget for research and innovation from 157 million lei this year to 340 million lei next year.
