Réplicas

A continuación, publicamos dos réplicas a sendas publicaciones, una en el País y otra en Nature, sobre política científica en España.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v446/n7134/full/446347b.html

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/opinion/Excelencia/universitaria/elpporopi/
20070402elpepiopi_1/Tes

Su editorial de ayer sobre la reforma de la LOU es de una candidez sorprendente, e insiste en ignorar las escandalosas cifras de endogamia, acoso y abuso de poder de la Universidad española, que no por casualidad tiene niveles de calidad docente e investigadora muy inferiores a los que corresponden a un pais europeo de nuestro potencial económico. No es de esperar que las tibias reformas introducidas ahora en los mecanismos de evaluación y financiación cambien en un ápice dichas prácticas, como evidencia la falta de resistencia de la conferencia de rectores (a comparar con su abierta desobediencia a la anterior reforma). Y desde luego, es una ironía anticipar que las Universidades vayan a “establecer mecanismos de elección que incorporen académicos … de otros países” viviendo en una de las escasísimas “potencias” europeas que aun bloquea la llegada de académicos de otros países (incluyendo, si, la Unión Europea) mediante la exigencia de innecesarios trámites de homologación que, cuando hay suerte y se resuelven favorablemente, suelen prolongarse entre uno y dos años.

En realidad, nadie se opone a la autonomía universitaria en la contratación y la promoción bien utilizada. El problema es que, a día de hoy, la gran mayoría de las comisiones toman decisiones que vulneran el derecho constitucional a la igualdad de oportunidades y a la selección en función de méritos (con apoyo de los sindicatos mayoritarios). Como estas prácticas vulneran la fuente de todo nuestro ordenamiento legal, la solución no solo pasa por hacer una reforma que introduzca mecanismos de evaluación con consecuencias para la financiación, aunque estos funcionaran de verdad (y no solo de cara a la galería). También pasa por modificar la ley que ampara las decisiones injustas, corruptas y prevaricadoras en la constitución y funcionamiento de los tribunales, introduciendo consecuencias para los responsables en forma de multas, inhabilitaciones y, en los casos más escandalosos (de los que podemos suministrar numerosos ejemplos), procesos penales.

Eso ayudaría a detener la corrupción y la endogamia, porque la realidad demuestra que, incluso cuando se demuestran las irregularidades y llegan a ganarse los juicios y recursos, el caso no tiene consecuencias prácticas de importancia para los responsables universitarios ni para los miembros del tribunal prevaricador. Tan solo más dinero público malgastado (que se suma a la contratación de un mal profesor) y nuevas dosis de acoso y amargura para el denunciante.

Y así seguimos, con una de las peores universidades de Europa, y en la cola de Europa en los indicadores en innovación y desarrollo de la sociedad de la información (y bajando…). Podemos caminar con la cabeza bien alta.

Independence Day or Election Year?

In a recent editorial, you present a positive view of the putative increase in Spain’s R&D investment during the last legislatory period, advancing the view that the main bottleneck lays now in the outdated structure and functioning of the research institutions. Though we congratulate ourselves for the Government’s reiterated compromise to modernise our R&D system and increase significantly its funding, we cannot share your optimistic view of its actual achivements during the last three years. Not only are the limited increases in funding insufficient to correct a long history of chronic underfunding: they are largely jeopardized by the inability of the present Administration to ensure its distribution according to the principles of transparency, innovation and merit.

We must first emphasize that the actual investment in Spain’s R&D (and therefore its increase) remains untractable, following the decission of the previous Government to collapse the figures of military and civil R&D, and the failure of the current Government to fulfill to its electoral promise of presenting these figures separately, as it is custom in most countries. The issue is not of minor importance, since Spain’s spending in military technology is the one of the largest in Europe, while its total R&D investment is one of the smallest – despite a 50% co-funding of its national research programs by EU’s FEDER funds. In addition, a sizable contribution to the increase in funding publisized by the Government is in the form of credits to private investment, which cannot be regarded as real R&D funding. These credits aimed at correcting the meagre contribution of the private sector to Spain’s R&D funding but, in the absence of more ambitious structural policies, they have proven largely inneficient, with a large proportion of credits not even requested.

It is true that the Government has made a clear effort to increase the number of tenured researchers in certain research institutions, like the Spanish Research Council (CSIC), putting an end to years of insufficent openings that resulted in extended periods of precarious temporary contracts for many qualified researchers. We still await, however, similar policies for hundreds of Ramon y Cajal researchers (enroled in Spain’s first tenure-track program) which, five years after being recruited at Spanish Universities, have not obtained the tenured positions promised (despite their success in the two customary evaluations requested) and are leaving the country or enroling back in new types of precarious, temporary contracts. Their situation is worsened by the Government´s tolerance towards the maintenance of corrupt hiring practices at most Universities, despite an increasing number of judicial cases ruling against them.

In a country already characterized by a sclerotized, hyerarchical R&D system with serious problems of cronyism and lack of transparency, the limited budget efforts made by the Government are not felt by most laboratories and research groups. Some of the new funding programs truly include long-awaited programs for young, innovative researchers. But a large portion of its funds are also centred in a hyerarchical and conservative program, focused on huge teams headed by “consolidated” leaders – which maximize the above-mentioned risks of cronyism and abuse of power in the selection procedure and during project development.

What daily reality tells us is that, with more young researches being incorporated to stable positions and meagre increases in project funding, Spanish researchers are confronting increasing difficulties to obtain enough funding to do their jobs. Such lack of funding is worsened by the inadequacy of the procedures and practices adopted by the funding agencies, which improved considerably during the eighties but have experienced little modernization since then. It is customary for Spanish researchers to face cuts of 30-50% of the requested budget in public programs, most often involving a complete elimitation of funds for personnel, irrespective of the quality of the project or the recommendations of the evaluation pannel. The strategy of maintaining high funding rates, extending the funding to less competitive groups through widespread budget cuts in all granted projects (localy known as coffee for everyone), is compounded by the participation of researchers of modest quality in the national evaluation agencies, which systematically refuse to make its coordinators and evaluators public (at long term intervals, to ensure the confidenciality of specific project reviews).

Though the public compromise of the Spanish Government to bring the Spain´s R&D system to competitive levels is certainly commendable, it does require much more that limited funding increases and timid reforms. Decissive action is required to clean up research intitutions, end inadequate hiring and ensure that the funding reaches our most innovative and productive researchers. What will mark our Independence day? More funding, quality-driven procedures, and less lip service.

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