New regulation passed by the State Council will see the National
Natural Science Fund gain new fund outlay oversight aiming to deter
any potential fraud.
Xinhua News Agency on Monday released the full text of the
regulation, following the State Council's final review after the
collection of public submissions as to the management of science
projects.
Composed of 43 articles ranging across seven chapters, the
regulation states that anyone found guilty of embezzling or
misappropriating funding will be banned forthwith from any further
funding application for life. Further punitive methods will see any
who falsify research banned from applying for funding for up to
seven years.
The regulation, to come into effect on April 1, states that the
Natural Science Fund is establish to directly assist with basic
research and will be primarily funded by state financing. However,
although the Natural Science Fund's budget will be centrally
decided, any donations from individuals and organizations will be
welcomed.
A State Council managing body will both manage and supervise
sponsored projects. It will further lay out plans and guidelines
for the use of funds in accordance with national economic and
social development strategies. Its remit will also extend to
prioritizing fields or projects to receive preferential
sponsorship.
For example, special financial assistance will be attributed to
training young talent in the fields of science and technology.
This move comes following a series of scandals which erupted at
several of China's top universities last year, stirring up doubt as
to the quality of supervision of academics at higher-learning
institutions.
In May, Chen Jin, a dean at Shanghai Jiaotong University, was
fired after it was discovered he had faked state-funded research on
the Hanxin computer chip, while Liu Hui, of Tsinghua University,
was also dismissed as professor in March for forging academic
achievements and work records.
China's investment in science and technology has risen
consistently in recent years, reaching an estimated 71.6 billion
yuan (US$8.95 billion) in 2006, up 19.2 percent year-on-year,
revealed Minister of Science and Technology Xu Guanhua last
year.
The National Natural Science Fund was established in 1981 to
sponsor research in critical areas. It has since gone from strength
to strength aiding close to 100,000 research projects with over 20
billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) in funding.
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)