The Slovak Academy of Science's departments will be subjected to accreditation by foreign experts in 2016. The evaluation should show which of the departments are at a high level, meeting the most stringent criteria, and which ones still need to be improved. "We wanted to avoid allegations that we evaluate our activities ourselves", said Academy's chairman Pavol Šajgalík. The experts will focus on activities over the past four years. The expert commission will be led by Marja Makarow, head of the Finnish Academy of Sciences. "We expect and hope that the new government will see this as a challenge for Slovakia and will grant us more resources to finance high-level departments as evaluated by the experts," added Pavol Šajgalík. According to Education, Science, Research and Sport Minister Juraj Draxler, the state would like to provide more money to science and research, but it doesn't dispose of enough resources to satisfy every element that applies for financing. He welcomed Šajgalík's initiative, as the state would like to support centres of excellence more. "We'd also like to carry out a nationwide audit of the research sphere in order to know where to put the money", stated Draxler. SAV representatives also introduced long-term objectives and visions up to 2020 at a press conference on Thursday. They would like to create a modern, dynamic, successful institution with a significant position within the European research sphere. They will try to secure multi-source financing and to transform SAV organisations into public research institutions. They need to develop infrastructure for research and development as well as to link SAV to universities, research institutions and other industrial and public sphere partners.
Source: TASR
