Zhang Guohua, a young teacher in a university in southwest China, has a headache in the preparatory work before applying for provincial, municipal and national projects every year, especially in the budget declaration.

　　The "Several Opinions on Expanding the Autonomy of Scientific Research in Universities and Research Institutes" jointly issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education recently made Zhang Guohua very excited, especially "‘ Milestone ’ Type management and ‘ Contract system ’ The implementation will further loosen the front-line researchers. "

　　Focus on national strategy and empower "key minority"

　　Colleges and universities are an important part of the national innovation system, which play a unique role in basic research, personnel training, discipline construction and frontier exploration, and are the strategic scientific research force of national basic research.

　　"In recent years, Lanzhou University has served as ‘ Expand the autonomy of universities and research institutes, and give innovative leading talents greater control over property and technical route decision-making power ’ ‘ Extraction of incentive funds from stable support for scientific research funds ’ The pilot units have continuously improved the relevant scientific research management system, stimulated the innovation vitality of scientific researchers, and achieved remarkable results. " Xu Pengfei, assistant president of Lanzhou University and executive director of the Institute of Science and Technology Development, said.

　　In Xu Pengfei’s view, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is booming, and the international competition between basic research and frontier research is becoming increasingly fierce. In the new historical period and new situation, in order to strengthen the "from 0 to 1" basic research, university researchers should aim at major original basic frontier scientific problems and "stuck neck" key core technical scientific problems, carry out collaborative innovation and continuous research, work hard on originality and uniqueness, and comprehensively enhance the original innovation ability.

　　Hou Zhijun, director of the school office of China Geo University (Wuhan), said that the Opinions allow the person in charge of the national scientific research project to adjust the research scheme and technical route independently according to relevant regulations, organize the scientific research team independently, and treat the local talents and overseas talents equally. The distribution of performance pay should be tilted towards key innovative positions, researchers who have made outstanding contributions, outstanding young talents and other groups, giving innovative leading talents greater scientific research autonomy, which will greatly enhance the sense of acquisition of scientific researchers.

　　According to Sun Nan, vice president of the Research Institute of Northwest A&F University, colleges and universities, as an important force of scientific and technological innovation, should give full play to their own disciplinary advantages, actively integrate into the national mission, combine scientific research planning, scientific research tasks and national needs, undertake major national scientific research tasks for the main battlefield of the national economy, play the role of the source of scientific and technological innovation in colleges and universities, produce original results, and contribute to solving the problem of "sticking the neck".

　　Focus on long-term "pain points" and further loosen the shackles for scientific researchers.

　　In recent years, China has continued to deepen the reform in the management of science and technology projects and funds, and the autonomy of scientific research personnel in project management and the use of project funds has continued to expand, which has achieved great results. However, in terms of policy implementation, universities and research institutes still face many practical obstacles.

　　"Expanding the autonomy of personnel has the greatest impact on our team and is also our biggest pain point at present." Zhu Guoqiang, a professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine of Yangzhou University, said that after the personnel management reform, researchers can be liberated from trivial work, and self-employment and preferential treatment can also make young researchers feel at ease.

　　"The Opinions proposes to strengthen the training of doctoral students and high-level talents. I especially hope to increase the protection in the recruitment, introduction and training of postdoctoral researchers." Zhu Guoqiang said that the development of postdoctoral individual scientific research business, the potential of engaging in high-level research and the expansion of high-quality scientific research teachers play an important role in the development of the discipline. For these young people, it is necessary to improve their treatment through appropriate measures, so that they can devote themselves wholeheartedly to scientific research.

　　In terms of optimizing the scientific research management system, the Opinions put forward the implementation of "milestone" management during the project implementation, which made many scientific researchers feel excited.

　　"Implement ‘ Milestone ’ Management, simplify process management, reduce all kinds of process evaluation, inspection, spot check, audit and other work. Integrate the work of science and technology management and the link of material submission, realize multi-purpose of one form, effectively reduce the burden of scientific research personnel, and liberate scientific research ‘ Cousin ’ ‘ Cousin ’ 。” Hou Zhijun said that the implementation of the "contract responsibility system" has improved the procurement management of equipment and consumables for scientific research. For equipment and consumables urgently needed for scientific research, the procurement mechanism of special handling and on-call handling can be adopted, so that the bidding process can be avoided and the funded equipment can serve people, not artificially funded equipment.

　　Based on systematicness and wholeness, it emphasizes "landing"

　　The introduction of the policy is only the beginning, and the key lies in implementation. The "Opinions" clearly stated that the departments of science and technology and education should improve the supporting system in a timely manner with relevant departments such as organization, institutional establishment, development and reform, finance, human resources and social security.

　　"The Opinions focus not only on a specific field of scientific and technological system reform, but also on the systematicness, integrity and coordination of scientific and technological innovation policies, and put forward 14 specific reform measures from four aspects, which made a good response to the long-standing pain points of scientific research management, effectively linked the previous scientific and technological reform policies, and highlighted the implementation of the policies, reflecting the sincerity and determination of the Chinese government to reduce the burden, empower and empower researchers through decentralization." Hou Zhijun said.

　　According to Han Xiaoning, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Journalism, Renmin University of China, the implementation of scientific research autonomy needs to improve the supporting system, and any small part of it may not be fully implemented.

　　Han Xiaoning said that to implement the expansion of scientific research autonomy, more specific implementation rules are needed, such as clarifying who will take the lead and how to establish a linkage mechanism including scientific research project management, personnel management and financial management.

　　"In terms of specific implementation, we must also emphasize the equivalence of powers and responsibilities, strengthen internal process control, and improve the risk assessment mechanism." Hou Zhijun said that in terms of performance, a lifelong accountability system for performance should be implemented. At the same time, improve the scientific research credit system, while emphasizing decentralization and burden reduction, pay attention to the balance of policies, and make a series of arrangements in effectively regulating the operation of autonomy to ensure that autonomy can be accepted, used well and without accidents.

　　Sun Nan believes that in the process of implementing the Opinions, universities and research institutes should further emancipate their minds, change their concepts and make full use of policies. "Management autonomy often involves many departments, such as people, property and so on. It is necessary to strengthen overall coordination within the school, and multiple departments should keep pace in order to truly implement it. Therefore, we should pay attention to optimizing management details and releasing vitality from system regulations and work processes." Sun Nan said. (Trainee reporter Liang Dan reporter Dong Lu Xiaolong)