On March 1, a meeting was held in the building of the Presidium of ANAS on the results of the activities of the dissertation councils that operated under the scientific institutions and organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan and higher education institutions during 2019-2022.
The meeting was attended by members of the Presidium of ANAS, heads of a number of state institutions, rectors of higher education institutions, chairmen and scientific secretaries of dissertation councils across the republic, representatives of scientific institutions and organizations of ANAS.
Academician Isa Habibbeyli, President of ANAS, who gave an introductory speech at the event, said that with today's meeting, the Higher Attestation Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan presents its report in dialogue with the Azerbaijani society and declares that it is open to discussions. Stating that the Higher Attestation Commission serves to protect Azerbaijan's national, statehood and human interests in science, the head of ANAS said that AAK has made significant contributions to Azerbaijani science in recent years.
"The statutes of the Higher Attestation Commission have been updated in the last few years and adapted to personnel training in the country and the processes going on in the world. The procedures in the improved regulation have been greatly simplified for the benefit of applicants and are directed towards serving the quantitative and qualitative retraining of scientific personnel. Discussions to be held today, opinions to be voiced, suggestions will be another step to be taken in the direction of the training of scientific personnel in our country and the improvement and renewal of the institution's activities. The report we will listen to today is a kind of monitoring of the activities of scientific institutions and organizations of the republic, as well as dissertation councils at higher education institutions. This, in turn, will help to rebuild the activities of the dissertation councils in the next stage and to define our tasks ahead", stressed academician Isa Habibbayli.
The head of ANAS noted that the discussions held as a whole will become an important event that will create new challenges in the field of implementation of the tasks set by President Ilham Aliyev for the science of Azerbaijan, in the direction of training the new generation of scientific personnel in our country.
Then the report of the Chairman of the Higher Attestation Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Doctor of Economic Sciences, Professor Famil Mustafayev on the awarding of scientific degrees and academic titles in the years 2019-2022 was heard. Famil Mustafayev said that the regulations on the procedure for awarding scientific degrees and scientific names, approved by the President of the country Ilham Aliyev's Decree dated June 11, 2019, are considered the beginning of a new era of activity in this field. He noted that during the past 3 years, the activities of dissertation councils and scientific seminars were organized according to new rules, fundamental changes were made in defense and voting procedures.
The chairman of the EAC said that due to the emergence of the pandemic and the application of modern technologies in accordance with the special quarantine regime, scientific seminars and defenses were held in an online format.
Giving detailed information about the changes to the relevant statutes with the Decree of President Ilham Aliyev dated November 26, 2022, the chairman of the EAC said that those changes will have a positive effect on the rejuvenation of science and the procedures for awarding scientific degrees and names.
Famil Mustafayev, who presented statistics on the activities of dissertation councils during the reporting period, noted that after the adoption of the relevant regulations, 1034 people were awarded scientific degrees in 25 fields of science, and 452 decisions on refusal were made. The number of cases in which the awarding of the doctor of philosophy scientific degree was refused was 198 for higher educational institutions, and 212 for scientific institutions and organizations. Emphasizing that scientific plagiarism cases are regrettable, Famil Mustafayev said that there are 70 cases where the doctor of philosophy degree was refused based on the facts of plagiarism. It was noted that the Commission received 213 cases regarding the degree of doctor of sciences, and a decision was made to grant the degree of doctor of sciences to 156 persons. The number of rejected cases was 42.
Presenting statistical information on academic titles, the chairman of the AAK said that 353 people were given the title of "Docent" and 57 people were given the scientific title of "Professor" during the reporting period, and he also pointed out that the documents of 76 people were recognized on the basis of nostrification and re-attestation.
Famil Mustafayev, who also talked about the shortcomings in the work of the dissertation councils, said that the improvement of the activities of the Scientific Research Coordinating Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan was approved in each field.
