A System for the Certification of Scientific Cadres

Abstract

In the documents of the Twenty-fifth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the further improvement of the training and certification of research and research-teaching cadres is viewed as one of the necessary conditions for the economic, social, and cultural progress of our society. This is associated with the role science plays as a direct productive force in the building of communism. The solution of a historically important problem posed by the Party — the problem of intimately combining the attainments of the scientific-technological revolution with the advantages of the socialist system — imposes higher demands on research and research-teaching cadres. The quality of their training is determined basically by the certification system and depends on its effectiveness. The October 18, 1974, decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers, "On Measures for Further Improving the Certification of Research and Research-Teaching Cadres," established a new interagency system headed by the Higher Certification Commission under the USSR Council of Ministers, which bears responsibility for resolving this problem.