| Abstract: | The transformation of a socialist‐type Academy of Sciences into an institution capable of functioning in a democratic market economy is described. Prior to 1989, the Slovak Academy of Sciences was the state mandated coordinator of science and technology in Slovakia and was funded directly by the state budget. Since 1990, the Academy has had to share many of its prerogatives with other authorities and institutions, as in the case of the universities in regard to doctoral programmes, or to cede them out‐right, as in the case of the Ministry of Education and Science in regard to the coordination of basic research. Its budget has been drastically cut. It has also had to contend with the introduction of a western type of grant programme and system of evaluation for its subordinate institutes, some of which have been closed. In short, the Slovak Academy of Sciences must compete in an increasingly open science market in which it must give proof both of the quality of its work and of the relevance of the latter to the needs of society. |
