Battle of “Old” and “New” Academics

The Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek's statement about the National Academy of Sciences caused quite a stir. The news about Nazarbayev losing his academic status and the dissolving of the old academy caused the commotion. The minister later stated that this is not what he meant. However, the old academy did not remain silent and issued a public appeal to Qasym-Jomart Toqayev. It stated that it was going nowhere. Orda has looked into the matter.

Nazarbayev's Academic Status

The news about former President Nursultan Nazarbayev losing his academic status emerged after an online briefing with the Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek. Speaking about the new National Academy of Sciences under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NAS RK), he said that the so-called "old" academy (LEA NAS RK) was to be dissolved. Its members include Nursultan Nazarbayev, Timur and Dinara Kulibayev, Valikhan Bishimbayev, etc. 

Answering a journalist's question about whether the academic status of its members had been nullified, the minister replied:

It's been nullified. Most likely, the old academy will be dissolved. Some of the scholars were really strong, and they will transfer to the new academy through a competition. The competition will be in stages. But most likely, we will insist on dissolution so that no one gets confused: new or old. There should be one National Academy of Sciences. It has a high status.

The ministry later hastened to refute this information, stating that Nazarbayev's status is life-long.

Nobody has deprived former President Nursultan Nazarbayev of his academic status. This is an eternal academic status, the ministry noted.

The minister later stated that he did not mean nullifying Nazarbayev's status as an academician but that the ex-president did not join the new academy but remained in the old one. The ministry emphasized that the state finances only the new National Academy of Sciences under the president, and "the former one maintains a public status." Academicians from the old academy can earn a spot in the new one via competition.

Nazarbayev's status as an academician may still be lost, but only if the old academy ceases to exist. 

Only if this public organization dissolves itself, then membership in it is automatically terminated in accordance with the law. Academicians who pass the competition for the national academy under the president will be awarded the status of academicians of the National Academy of Sciences, the minister said in a telephone conversation with an Orda correspondent.

Sayasat Nurbek did not retract his statements about the need to dissolve the old Academy of Sciences. He noted that by law, the state cannot intervene in the activities of the public organization. At the same time, according to Sayasat Nurbek, there should only be one National Academy of Sciences.

We will recommend that the LEA (Local Education Authority - Ed.) either dissolve itself or change its name. Because you must agree there should be only one National Academy of Sciences. For example, here we already have confusion. Foreign partners come and say: please tell me, which is the main one, which academy is national? There cannot be two national academies of sciences. At the same time, our Academy of Engineering and Natural Sciences operates quite successfully. They also have a public status, no one interferes with them. We cannot prevent the creation of public associations. But there should be only one national academy. This is our fundamental position, the minister added.

"Pressure and Humiliation"

The old academy made its opinion known. Its academics published a statement in which they accused Sayasat Nurbek of pressure and humiliation and of being unable to handle Qasym-Jomart Toqayev's decree to transform the academy. They believe that the new academy was created in a foreign academic spirit and is becoming an absolutely undemocratic, strictly bureaucratic structure governed by the dictate of an authorized body - the government. 

The President's decree to grant state status to the Academy of Sciences was initially turned into all sorts of actions, not only to prevent its transformation from a public association into a new organizational and legal form but to completely dissolve the LEA "National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan," to lustrate full members (academicians) and corresponding members of the NAS RK at their own discretion,said members of the old academy. 

The authors consider everything that is happening now in this field to be “an amazing mixture of bureaucratic illiteracy and defiant lawlessness.”

The global academic community is very wary of this and is extremely negative about such strange reformism of Kazakhstani science organizers. (...) Not once during this time has the State Commission for the Transformation of the National Academy of Sciences, created by the decree of the Prime Minister in November 2022, convened. More than 20 letters from the LEA NAS RK sent to the government and the MSHE were ignored, they added in the statement.

The academy also stated that in 2023, the stipend payment to 15 academicians who had been receiving them since 1996 was “groundlessly” stopped for four months, “putting some of them on the brink of life and death due to the lack of funds for vital medications.” The publication of academic journals of the Academy of Sciences, published since 1946, was also “deliberately put at risk of disruption.”

Difficult-to-repair damage to the long-established relations with international academies continues to be inflicted. Currently, there is illegal pressure on the LEA NAS RK to select premises in "Gylym Ordasy" (the building of the Academy of Sciences, built, as is known, specifically for the Satpayev Academy of Sciences). (...) the RSE Representatives at the REM "Gylym Ordasy" are issuing an order to block the entrance to the building for LEA "NAS RK" academicians,
  said the academics.

NAS RK considers the Ministry of Science's actions strange and illegal. The presidium of the old academy intends to hold early elections in September 2024.

The President of the country has given the invaluable trust to carry out the transformation of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences together with the LEA "NAS RK." This should be a partnership work and not humiliating acts of reversal of the merits of the past generation and the currently living Kazakh scientists-academicians,the statement states.

Should An Academy with Pseudo-academics Be Financed?

There was indeed a decree to transform the National Academy of Sciences. Toqayev issued it in 2022.

The Academy should become a center of scientific thought and an authoritative structure that carries out expert activities. It is extremely important for us to enhance its role. In this regard, the Academy will be granted state status and will be financed from the budget. Along with the tasks already being implemented, other goals must also be clearly defined. In particular, this structure should determine the priority areas of scientific research,Qasym-Jomart Toqayev noted.

The president gave this speech at the academy's 27th anniversary.

The state did not want to finance an organization with people with dubious academic achievements. Orda.kz wrote that, in addition to Nazarbayev and his close associates, the list of 155 members of the old academy includes six pairs with identical surnames, i.e., brothers, sisters, fathers, and sons.

PhD candidate and gender studies researcher Aida Alzhanova has experience working at the old Academy of Sciences. 

She attended the defense of doctoral dissertations and has told Orda.kz about their poor content.

Firstly, I often couldn't finish reading the dissertation. It's some kind of mishmash of words and references, the logic of the dissertation is not always clear. Secondly, the members of the dissertation council at one of the defenses on gender were not specialists in gender issues - mostly economists. Nevertheless, the dissertation was approved because one of the reviewers was Dariga Nazarbayeva herself, who is also not a specialist in gender issues. Therefore, I admit that we have many such "scholars",  Aida Alzhanova told Orda.kz earlier.

This could be the reason for the new academy. Minister Sayasat Nurbek notes that the law "On Science and Technological Policy" gave this academy the status of the highest scientific institution. And the selection is strict. Only those engaged in scientific activities, publishing scientific articles, leading scientific teams, and conducting research are selected. Nine people were already been selected in the spring. The second competition will be held in August. By the end of the year, the ministry plans to form a core group of 20-25 people.

Yes, they (members of the old academy - Ed.) demanded that a transformation be carried out through reorganization, and all members of the public association automatically become academicians of the National Academy under the President. But we could not agree to this. Because it was very important for us to form a full-fledged academy of sciences with those who are engaged in real science. (...) We decided to start from scratch to stop all these conversations: who is a real scholar and who is not, Sayasat Nurbek said.

He emphasized that the competition for the new academy is open, and members of the old academy can easily participate.

If you are a genuine scholar, come and take part in the competition. Nothing prevents members of the old public organization from taking part in the competition. Moreover, several members of the new National Academy were previously members of the LEA. Serik Akshulakov, for example. They became members of the new Academy through a competition with strict criteria. The door is open. If you are genuine scholars, engaged in science, want to dedicate yourself to it - please, come,he added. 

He noted that the members of the old academy retained their stipends. This was the initiative of the ministry.

They have been retained by a separate decision of the president. We ourselves petitioned for this. They have merits, we decided not to stop their stipends. We have it in our budget, they will receive all personal stipends for life, the minister emphasized.

Orda.kz also contacted the new academy under the president. However, they declined to comment. Its official address is in the same building as the old academy. Both academies, which do not recognize each other, coexist in one place — Almaty, Shevchenko Street, 28. As the website of the new academy writes, it is currently undergoing renovation and is temporarily located at a different address.

Original Author: Zhadra Zhulmukhametova

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. For accuracy, please refer to the original piece published on 28/07/24 in Russian.