doAs happens in every budget discussion or public finance crisis, articles by public sector researchers abound to, on the one hand, criticize the tax credit for research (CIR) granted to the private sector and, on the other, demand more resources ( as in this case). column published in the world October 10). This system of tax incentives for research and development should be greatly reformed and its criticism is legitimate. But the researchers’ argument would be even stronger if they also agreed to take a critical look at their own institutions.
It seems that, in the eyes of most researchers, it is enough to add the term “public research” to “investment” or “expenditure” to affirm its effectiveness! However, in research, as in any other field of activity, there are institutions that work well and others that work worse. To think that a simple transfer of resources from the private research sector to the public research sector is a solution to the economic problems of the latter is utopian. Is it not appropriate to first observe how institutions operate and possibly propose reforms before demanding additional resources?
Thus, the CNRS evaluation report, published in November 2023, by an international committee of experts and led by Professor Martin Vetterli, president of the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland, recommends putting an end to this surprising historical anomaly that affects an army of researchers exempt from teaching obligations. This is an institutional anomaly, because academic freedom is normally paid for by the teaching tasks performed by professors: this is the academic’s fundamental contract with society.
Volunteer level
However, the CNRS researcher behaves like a professor without being subject to the same obligations: butter and butter, so to speak. Faced with this unique institution, even statisticians are at a loss: while the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies classifies the CNRS as a national research body, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and Eurostat classify it as a higher education institution. .
We see no good reason why an academic researcher in sociology, economics or engineering should be exempt from teaching obligations. Of course, there is a certain level of volunteerism among CNRS researchers, but we are far from that level in terms of hours worked annually compared to the standard service of a professor. Furthermore, volunteering to teach a very specialized course or seminars to a small number of doctoral students has nothing to do with the obligation to teach the fundamentals of a discipline to a very large number of students.
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