The deceptive promise of reform: Ukrainian science in crisis

Ukrainian science is poised on the edge of reform. It is also teetering on the edge of an abyss. Structural imbalances between universities and Academy of Science institutes; between the physical and technical sciences and the biological sciences; between the centre and the periphery; and between scientific administrators of the old school and reformists continue to plague the performance of Ukrainian science. Taken together with a deep financial crisis, the future looks dim... The government and the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences have announced plans for reforming research and development several times, but these have turned out to mean only cutting laboratories and laying off personnel... If Ukraine is to take advantage of its natural resources and deal with environmental problems ... its leaders must come to grips with the need to reform the apparatus of scientific research and development. (DIPF/orig.).