Procedures for Consideration of Dissertations by Specialized Councils and for the Awarding of Degrees

Abstract

The certification of scientific and of research and teaching personnel, which takes place in accordance with the Statute on the Procedure for Awarding Learned Degrees and Academic Titles, established by decree of the USSR Council of Ministers, December 29, 1975 (1), marks a qualitatively new stage in the training of scholarly personnel of the highest qualifications. The issue is not one of particular additions, changes, or modifications of the acts previously in force to regulate the procedure for awarding learned degrees but of a significant raising of the requirements both for those seeking learned degrees and for the research they conduct. The experience accumulated in the recent past with the work of specialized councils on defense of dissertations and awarding of learned degrees makes it possible to draw the conclusion that their work of certification has been elevated to a higher level. The councils have begun to take a more rigorous approach to evaluation of the scientific and practical significance of the dissertations submitted for defense, and also of the personal contributions of candidates to knowledge. It is obvious that improvement of the work of certification of scientific and research and teaching personnel largely depends on how correctly members of the specialized councils, the official opponents, the research advisers and consultants of candidates, the candidates themselves, and finally, the academic public as a whole perceive and interpret the norms of the prevailing Statute on the Procedure for Awarding Learned Degrees and Academic Titles. Let us examine some questions arising in the experience of applying this statute.