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The draft law on scientific research/Zhupa: It must be removed, it violates the Constitution

2024-10-28 12:19:00, Politikë CNA

The draft law on scientific research/Zhupa: It must be removed, it violates the

PD MP, Ina Zhupa

DP MP, Ina Zhupa has stated that the draft law on scientific research is scandalous and contradicts the Constitution and the laws of the country.

Zhupa emphasized that the PD opposes this draft law, just as it supports the opposing positions and amendments of the higher education union and the rectors' conference.

The deputy has also listed the reasons why this draft law should not be approved.

Ina Zhupa's statement

For several days, the draft law on scientific research in Albania has been discussed, a scandalous draft law that contradicts the constitution and other laws such as the law on Higher Education and the law on the Academy of Sciences, and yet it has passed two parliamentary committees such as the one on Laws and the one on European Affairs .

Tomorrow, this draft law will be submitted for approval to the responsible committee, the committee that I lead if it were not for the exceptions without regulations to approve it and pass it to the plenary session.

Scientific research and science is not an elite issue, but a national issue because it is related to the country's development, to the country's human capital and to its future as a developed country or as a "dumping ground for waste, refugees, drugs, crime"

I want to make it clear that we oppose this draft law, just as we supported the opposing positions and amendments of the higher education union and the rectors' conference.

The basic but not the only reasons why the bill is unacceptable to us.

First, the law must not conflict with the Constitution, as already stated in point 7 of article 57 that, "7. The autonomy of higher education institutions and academic freedom are guaranteed by law".

Pursuant to this constitutional provision, the Assembly of the Republic of Albania has approved law no. 80/2015, "On higher education and scientific research in institutions of higher education in the Republic of Albania", which in point 2/a, of article 3, has determined that academic freedom is guaranteed through the right to organize activities teaching, research-scientific, innovation, as well as creative activities.

Second, all conflicts with the "Higher Education and Scientific Research" law must be resolved integrally in the law. By not taking the competences of HEI research units - such as departments, doctoral schools, institutes or research centers. It is very serious that the draft law does not include the educational and scientific departments of HEIs as subjects of scientific research. In this way, the draft law creates the conditions for the division of HEIs into two parts, in current departments that are deprived of their scientific research dimension and in scientific departments without having anyone to develop teaching as well. By turning this into a HEI organization model, the draft law again contradicts the law on higher education.

Thirdly, the undoing of the scientific council composed of ministers and political directors headed by Prime Minister Rama, an anti-scientific and anti-European model. Except putting your hands in the control of knowledge by trying to centralize science. The composition of the council manifests the will to undo the reform in scientific research and bring it back under the Academy of Sciences and Ministries, manifested with the centralizing tendencies before the 90s, which time proved to be a failed experiment.

Fourthly, the draft law gives the minister the right to classify the fields of scientific research, as an obligation for science! Meanwhile, this is meaningless. Another is the freedom for scientific research and another are the priorities that the state and society can have in this field. This is clearly regulated by the law on higher education when it requires HEIs to have oriented their programs in priority areas, based on Decision no. 386, dated 1.6.2022.

The fields of scientific research should be based on the Frascati Manual of the OECD and not as a governmental prerogative, which creates problems in the principle of autonomy and freedom of scientific research.

Fifth, the proposed draft law gives extralegal roles and functions to the Academy of Sciences. According to this project, the Academy of Sciences is both a development institution and an evaluation institution, giving it the function of controlling research-scientific activities, including HEIs. The law on the academy of sciences in the Republic of Albania does not give any competence to exercise authority neither to the assembly, nor to the sections, nor to the commissions, nor to the presidency nor to the president of the academy of science outside that institution.

All the more so that an inequality is created in the competences and authority of the academy of sciences and HEIs. According to the above provisions of this draft law, the Academy of Sciences makes a self-evaluation of the research and scientific work of the research and development institutes and centers that it has, while HEIs are deprived of the right to evaluate the research and scientific work of theirs.

Sixth, it creates overlaps, ambiguities and conflicts in the benefit of titles and degrees and creates new designations for scientific research. While a doctor, prof.assoc, or prof.dr gets these titles and degrees through scientific research work. Even their value becomes relative in terms of the new government project.

Seventh, the criteria and procedures for the creation of institutes and special public scientific research units, as well as their creation, are determined by the decision of the Council of Ministers....". This article leaves the space to create special units at HEIs, which are not created based on and in implementation of the institution's internal rules. We estimate that here a premise is clearly presented, for the separation of the units and institutes created in HEIs.

Finally, the closure of scientific institutes makes no sense with processes that depend on the ministry: first they are warned, then they are monitored for two years and then they are closed. First of all, for HEIs that can create these centers or institutes with non-public money, there is no reason why the ministry should have a role in closing them. Scientific usefulness or futility is decided by the scientific community itself and whether they are published or evaluated, while the financial benefit belongs to the financier. For centers with public money, evaluation criteria should be elaborated that each person is able to measure by himself and the continuation or closure is judged by himself. There is no reason for the ministry, with closed commissions and processes, to decide on the closure or not.

For the above but also for other more specific reasons, we completely oppose the draft in the assembly and call for its withdrawal.

We want to believe that the Rectors will not fall prey to the government's pressure or militancy mechanisms to not make changes or to make small retouching changes and leaving the lecturers and the university at the mercy of politics and with a law that is not found in any country of the European Union.

We will stand by our objections and follow every democratic way to protect the interests of lecturers, students, scientific researchers and all academics in the country./ CNA