The state of the social science research in Macedonia. Conference held on the 14th of April 2011

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At the conference present were members of the civil society as researchers from research institutes, CSOs including think tanks, university professors and assistants, a representative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Office Skopje and a civil servant from the Ministry of Education and Science, national coordinator for the FP7 Programme in Macedonia. Subject of discussion were firstly the different advantages and disadvantages of the two main members of the civil society - the CSOs including think tanks on one side and universities on the other side.

Conference “The State of Social Science Research in Macedonia” organized by Forum and Analytica and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation as part of the Regional Research Promotion Programme Western Balkans

File-pdf-32Participants' list
 

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Sostojba na istrazuvanjata vo opshtestvenite nauki vo Republika Makedonija

 

Photo Gallery | The state of the social science research in Macedonia


Conference proceedings

At the conference present were members of the civil society as researchers from research institutes, CSOs including think tanks, university professors and assistants, a representative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Office Skopje and a civil servant from the Ministry of Education and Science, national coordinator for the FP7 Programme in Macedonia. Subject of discussion were firstly the different advantages and disadvantages of the two main members of the civil society - the CSOs including think tanks on one side and universities on the other side.

The University Cyril and Methodius Skopje has only 13 research projects in social sciences. The SEE has presented more promising data for example its Research Strategy 2010-2014 and the fact that each of its faculties has own research center and there is also an overall research coordination office. Regarding the participation and performance of the universities in research activities, it was concluded that the universities are being perceived as passive, closed and mainly focused on teaching activities, which results in little research output. They are also reluctant to cooperate with the CSO sector. The universities are also overwhelmed by the red tape which poses a great barrier for participation in projects. For example, the finances received from a project are considered as public revenues, disabling an own financial management. The fact that the universities have to pay personal income tax for the project related expenses (and not only for revenues) poses a financial barrier to the researchers engaged in a project. Among the advantages can be listed the stable and bigger budget as well as the fact that the universities use better methodology. On the other hand, the CSOs are more skilled in project management and are facing much less red tape barriers then the universities. Since the source of financing for CSOs is mostly project related, they are much more engaged in research activities. The CSOs have also bigger opportunities for outsourcing. Since the two different representatives of civil society have opposite advantages and disadvantages, a joint action and cooperation would solve many of the mentioned issues.

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The Ministry of Education representative presented the FP7 programme but pointed out the lack of motivation, interest and support for it in comparison to the FP6. A key element for a successful FP7 projects is partnership and network building with institutes from abroad and between different actors in the society. Some other points for successful research project are: the project has to be problem oriented, has to have a political importance, to be multidisciplinary, to focus on dissemination, has to have an international or global dimension, to include women researchers etc. The Ministry has pointed out the issue of understaffing regarding the FP7 management as well as the lack of finances provided by the Government for science and research. One further particular problem is that the coordination unit for social sciences in Macedonia is non-functional.

At the conference some other problems were highlighted as well. For example there is a necessity for better methodology and there is no competent body which defines the criteria for evaluation of research. One best practice example in this regard was mentioned the case of Bulgaria. Namely, within the Bulgarian Ministry of Education a Commission ranks the research activities and performances of the universities. Moreover, there is no research database, no systematic analysis of information and no domestic science and research literature. Regarding human resources, Macedonia contrary to the global trend is facing reduction of the number of researchers in its territory. Some project evaluators have shown to be incompetent. A very important fact is that Macedonian education does not prepare the students for research.

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Furthermore, facilities were mentioned to be an important factor in research: while the Croatian National Library was mentioned to be a role model in this area, Macedonian libraries for example are not subscribed to international journals and therefore these journals are not being utilized. Regarding the important actors - the Government also plays an important role and has to simulate research. There were suggestions the business sector to be included in the research activities as a donor, although this sector has not considered this role so far. From the legal perspective, the Law on higher education should enable good basis for research and set high standards for the universities for example to define a number of publications that the universities should produce, the necessity to organize scientific meetings etc. In this line, important actors in shaping the Law should be the universities themselves which by giving input in the drafting of this Law. The previously mentioned problem of having no time for research, the university could easily solve by differentiating between teaching and research assistants. Also the function of mentorship should be developed.

Further discussion point was the influence of politics over research and researchers. Since the Government is setting the researching priorities, often problematic research topics are being left out. In this regard, surveys are most frequently presented as research results, posing the basis for political manipulation. The researchers should fight for their place in the society and should pressure the political stakeholders to receive more finances for research. It was also suggested there should be a research programme with focus on social sciences. While some participants advised the politicians to cooperate with research institutes, other argued that is less likely to take place in the reality. However, it was concluded that public policies should be based on research facts.

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