Opinion of ISL on the Decree of the Council of Ministers on remuneration in higher education institutions

The opinion

DEAR MINISTER,

The Institute for the State and the Law at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences welcomes the Government's decision to provide financial incentives for scientific and research activity in our country by having the Council of Ministers set a higher minimum salary for the lowest academic position in state higher education institutions. We believe that increasing these salaries will provide a foundation offering prospects and motivation to highly qualified young scholars who are continuing their development in the sphere of education and science.

At the same time, in our view the State's approach in this case is unjustifiably fragmentary, because an increase in the minimum salary for the lowest academic position is envisaged only in state higher education institutions, whereas no similar increase is provided for in the draft budget of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences for 2021, owing to which all the preconditions exist for a striking disparity to arise between the salaries of persons employed in identical positions in institutions financed from the budget.

Moreover, the partial preliminary impact assessment accompanying the draft Decree of the Council of Ministers (DCM) determining the minimum salary for the lowest academic position in state higher education institutions reinforces the impression of an unequal approach. It is one-sided and incomplete. It sounds rather like a continuation and supplement of the reasons set out in the report than like an objective study of the identified problem and a search for the optimal way of resolving it. At first glance, the identification of the stakeholders in the assessment appears complete and thorough, given the fact that a number of indirectly and comparatively less interested parties are included, such as "pupils who wish to continue their education in state higher education institutions" and "parents of … students, prospective students and pupils". Only in fourth place is the main interested group "lecturers in higher education institutions" mentioned, while scholars in the position of "assistant professor" in other scientific organisations, and above all in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), have been omitted. Evidently, a change in the terms of remuneration of some of the persons holding the same position and meeting the same requirements under the Act on the Development of the Academic Staff in the Republic of Bulgaria directly affects the remaining assistant professors, as well as the entire academic staff.

The impact assessment should have taken into account that, if the envisaged measure is not undertaken in combination with a corresponding increase in the budget provided for BAS in the State Budget of the Republic of Bulgaria Act for 2021, this would lead to inequality, unequal legal treatment and placing in a disadvantageous position, associated with negative social and economic consequences, of the persons appointed to the position of "assistant professor" in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, as well as of the entire academic staff.

In our view, it was mandatory for the assessment to analyse also the difference in the amounts of remuneration and the likelihood that it would be a motive for young scholars to leave the BAS system or for their possible migration from the Academy to state higher education institutions, and the way in which this would affect the quality of research life in Bulgaria. This constitutes a real negative social impact, which can be expected from the introduction of the proposed regulatory change.

In drafting the DCM determining the minimum salary for the lowest academic position in state higher education institutions, a significant omission was, in our view, made, as it did not take into account that, according to Art. 42, para. 1, item 3 of the Higher Education Act (HEA), the third level with which higher education concludes in our country is the educational and scientific degree "doctor". Besides in higher education institutions, under Art. 47, para. 1 of the HEA, training for the educational and scientific degree "doctor" is also conducted in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Agricultural Academy, the national centres for public health and other scientific organisations that have obtained the relevant accreditation. Neglecting this circumstance places the institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in an unequal position in relation to higher education institutions. The academic staff in the individual institutes of the Academy not only carry out research important to society, but also train doctoral students in the relevant doctoral programmes, thereby contributing substantially to the development of our higher education. For this very reason, different and unequal treatment of this academic staff should not be permitted, as will happen without the corresponding update of the State budget in the part relating to the salaries of assistant professors in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences as well.

In this sense, it cannot be claimed that the draft Decree of the Council of Ministers proposed and published for public consultation is fully in accordance with the current legal framework and the Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in the Republic of Bulgaria. What is more, it contributes nothing to addressing the low productivity and unsatisfactory performance of the research and innovation system in our country, which is due exclusively to insufficient funding of research and development (R&D). And this is the central, principal and key activity of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In this way we cannot expect any change to the unenviable and humiliating last place that Bulgaria occupies in the European Union in terms of the share of public expenditure on R&D, since according to the official data of the European Innovation Scoreboard for 2019 it ranks 27th in the whole EU in terms of the share of public expenditure on R&D  of 0.75% of its gross domestic product.

In view of the foregoing,

we ask you to examine and take into account all the effects of the draft Decree of the Council of Ministers published for public consultation determining the minimum salary for the lowest academic position in state higher education institutions, and to propose an option that takes into account and balances the interests of all stakeholders, so that the minimum salaries of scholars at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences are made equal to those of persons holding identical positions in state higher education institutions.

Yours faithfully,

Prof. Irena Ilieva, PhD

Director of the Institute

for the State and the Law at the

Bulgarian Academy

of Sciences