Where is Azerbaijani science in light of future official propaganda broadcasts? Altai Geyushov, historian and scholar of Islam history, and professor of Baku State University and University of California in Los Angeles made these comments in an interview with Turan.
- Everyday the number of doctors, candidates, etc. grows, but why are there no significant scientific findings or papers?
Yes, there is science in Azerbaijan, but the education system is in disrepair. Not just decay, but catastrophic degradation and has lost the old traditions. The underlying reason is inept management in the grip of corruption. We became a country, and this may sound weird, but people with a university degree are uneducated and the ones with advanced degrees are ignorant.
Well, to say it specifically, the main reason is split into several blocks. Let’s start with personnel policy. In the science field, knowledge and education are tampered with bribery, nepotism, rough clannishness, political loyalty and so on. This manifests not only in recruitment, but also in career advancement. As a result, the most incompetent, politically loyal bureaucrats of pseudoscience monopolize management science and priorities for its development. Scientific councils are made of scientists who are most loyal and obedient, meaning they have at most a mediocre academic career.
The law “on education” further exposes the incompetence and dependence on the corrupt system of governance, and is artificially synthesized by the past and present. As a result, a master’s degree have bee replaced with doctoral degrees.
Why do developed countries have bachelor, master and doctoral degrees and we have doctors with dual degrees? The reasons are the same, mediocre science officials who defend their corrupt income and material authority, which prevents any adoption of a normal law.
A strategic development law can not pass without bringing attention to the corrupt system of governance. It is impossible to consider these two mutually exclusive things. Either you give up corruption and reanimate science, or you simply “do it for a living, sacrificing true science and education”.
In countries abroad, you cannot imagine a teacher or researcher who can’t use the Internet or a computer. But we have the majority of scientists over 45 years old who do not have the basic elementary knowledge about the Internet and have never used Google or e-mail.
- What is the higher education situation? What do you think about the academic degrees obtained abroad?
- Deception, falsehood, fraud dominate everywhere. That is, the majority of people having diplomas of higher education are ignorant, who bought their diplomas either at educational institutions in the country, or at fictitious universities abroad. Only 17% of the population of Azerbaijan officially have a college degree. If we exclude the highly educated, the overall picture will be dismal. By the way, people with a higher education in developed countries are no less than 35%.
Human Resources for Science are virtually nowhere, and those who receive adequate higher education in universities abroad, will not go into science in the country. This is because of first, meager salaries, and secondly, for the youth who studied abroad it is impossible to adapt to local conditions that is intolerant to academic freedom, which makes it unthinkable to achieve in science
- In pseudo-scientific circles, they say that many people simply rewrite papers off the Internet. Is there a system in Azerbaijan that checks for plagiarism, as there is in the West?
We are talking plagiarism and the same people who do not know the power of the Internet and Google therefore continue to translate scientific work from Russian. Even though, this practice cannot be hidden the situation does not change.
The same goes for the Higher Attestation Commission (HAC), who tighten dissertation requirements trying to stop the growth of fake scientists, but the situation does not change.
Do you know what a scientific compliment is today? Surprisingly, it sounds like this, “he is the real author of his dissertation.” There is a widespread phenomenon where dissertations are not written by the authors indicated on the cover page, even though most members of the pseudo-scientific council know about it.
Thus, because of administrative measures implemented by HAC, the number of scientists with a degree does not increase, and is multiplied by the amount of bribes "buying" academic degrees.
Many talented people fall victim to these obstacles. For example, the Commission requires publications abroad before the defense, which seems to be correct. However, our pseudoscience members have managed to turn all of this into a farce. Neighboring countries instead issue “scientific” journals that publish only papers from our “scientists”. A self-respecting candidate would never participate in these games but they would seek out prestigious journals to publish with, which can take years. Thus, the same “scientists” rise in the ranks becoming members of scientific councils with advanced degrees given as gifts.
Sometimes you read news about a scientist publishing a book in Western countries. Common people can be deceived with this news, but experts understand that this overseas "publishing" is not considered a research. A scientific publication abroad is considered an article or book, published at famous universities or recognized publishers. In general, it is necessary that the work been published where they use a "peer review" system, that is, the work is sent to a so-called “black referee”, who is considered to an authority in the area and only after a positive review and approval of the work on principle, the work is accepted for publication. The exhausting process can take months or years, but after the publishing, you can be proud that you are cited.
But, if these criteria are used to assess achievements of our "luminaries", it appears that they will not be published, even in the slightest degree of relevant journals. One of the most tangible indicators is citation. There is only one or two of our scientists, whose work is quoted abroad. Most often, these scholars are in disgrace in Azerbaijan, or have left the country for a long time.
Our system of science management badly lags behind the civilized world. The formation of scientific councils, procedures could be made simpler, thus achieving results. At respected research centers, members of the dissertation councils are only 5-6 scientists, directly related to the protected subject. In this case, sometimes the candidate is not required to have direct involvement in his own defense, he just sends his work to the council members, and they make decisions.
"Scientists" do not possess even the minimum skills required to conduct studies. A professor, engaged in, say, medieval history of Azerbaijan, not only does not know Arabic or Persian (which is binding), but he does not even know how to read texts written in the native language with the old Arabic alphabet. The question based on sources in which he wrote his own thesis. Abroad, people engaged in social sciences simply must know more than one language.
Moreover, our "scientists" do not read. It's not their job. Our scientists are not familiar with modern literature and the latest developments in their field, and their research and editorial work are mere formalities. Imagine, even books that have received state awards are replete with egregious errors.
MPs and government officials involved in the race for academic degrees defend themselves just by using their names, which is an insult to science. However, by getting these fake degrees, they immediately head a branch of science. They create a science fund that becomes a political tool, dominated by parochialism and nepotism.
- What do we need to do to let Azerbaijani science grow from mere quantity to quality? Using an example in the West, could you describe the path of scientific development in which Azerbaijan should follow?
- Let's start with the funding. There should be adequate public funding, and our country has enough money for this. The state should fund basic science, plus the areas of priority. However, one state, of course, cannot do. The state must promote the involvement of large companies by rewards and privileges. Applied science also must be active in seeking its own funding.
There should be effective science management and personnel policy, but primarily there must be political will, which, unfortunately, is lacking.
The education system should finally put an end to reform imitation, which exacerbates an already bad situation. We need adopt a specific educational model, preferably from the most advanced, i.e. American. The same is being done in Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan as in Singapore or Qatar. Also, begin to implement a model and not torment others or ourselves with fairy tales about our national peculiarities. It is necessary that students of universities begin to read books. In general, there is no need to reinvent America, but learn from its best practices, and then progress will begin.
If there is political will, it will be a feasible task. At the time of the First Republic (1918-20) the first university was established from nothing.
They did not hesitate to invite famous Russian professors, headed by Razumovsky, to create the first higher education institution.
We also remember how in 1992, thanks to political will, the method of admission to universities was changed. Although I am not a supporter of this system, this system saved our education system from imminent destruction and collapse in the face of militant corruption. -26B-
Question-answer
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