Science academy subsidies to be halved

The Czech Academy of Sciences (AV ČR), the largest scientific body in the Czech Republic, called an extraordinary meeting of its council June 30 in response to a draft budget outlook approved by the government June 29 that will decrease the amount of subsidies the body will receive in the coming years.

In what representatives of the academy called "absolutely unacceptable," the budget would allocate 4.61 billion Kč ($248.8 million) to the academy in 2010, 3.75 billion Kč in 2011 and 2.81 billion Kč in 2012. This year's subsidy was 5.88 billion Kč.

Prime Minister Jan Fischer has maintained that science funding will be curtailed because of the economic crisis and as part of his commitment to keep deficit spending to an absolute minimum.

Overall funding from the state budget for research and development will stagnate, with 24.84 billion Kč dedicated in 2010 and the same amounts allocated for 2011 and 2012. AV ČR's budget will shrink as a result, while other organizations will see slight increases according to the budget, including the Czech Science Foundation and the Czech Technology Agency, an organization that has yet to be created.

The approved budget was drafted by the government's Council for Research and Development, which creates an annual proposal for subsidy distribution among research and development institutions.

The AV ČR represents 50 institutes and had enjoyed steadily rising state subsidies over the past decade. In 1999, the share of state subsidies into the AV ČR's budget stood at 2.41 billion Kč and had grown to 5.62 billion Kč in 2007, dropping slightly to 5.52  billion Kč in 2008 before growing again to 5.88 billion Kč this year. Now, the three-year draft budget outlook would nearly halve the amount of state subsidies the academy receives from the state, rendering the academy's recent growth unsustainable. In 1999, AV ČR had 6,517 employees, 3,421 of which worked in research and development. Last year, the number had grown to 7,730. The average monthly pay for AV ČR employees also grew in the same period from 14,660 Kč to 30,592 Kč last year.

AV ČR President Jiří Drahoš told the daily Právo after June 30's vote that, while he does not like demonstrations, he would not rule out street protests by his institutions' employees over the budget cuts. He also criticized the council for shifting money from basic to applied research.

Claire Compton can be reached at
ccompton@praguepost.com