ONCE AGAIN ON THE QUESTION OF THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF DEPRIVING A PERSON OF AN ACADEMIC DEGREE AND OTHER ISSUES IN THE SYSTEM OF SCIENTIFIC CERTIFICATION

This article examines the legal aspects of the consequences of depriving a person of an academic degree, previously not covered in the legal literature, as well as certain issues of the existing state system of scientific certification. In the process of work, two problems associated with depriving a person of an academic degree were identified and analysed. The first is predetermined by the fact that, being a candidate or doctor of sciences, a person subsequently deprived of an academic degree, can participate in the procedure for defending other theses. The second is due to the fact that a person who was subsequently deprived of an academic degree could, before this moment, be involved in the work of dissertation councils. It is stated that the solution to these issues requires a differentiated approach, with the inadmissibility of unreasonable and unnecessary complication of the institution of state scientific certification and the need to prevent significant temporary and detailed uncertainty in the status of scientific personnel. Particular attention is paid to the problem of depriving a person of an academic degree in the context of the existence of parallel schemes for state awarding of academic degrees in Russia – dissertation councils at scientific and educational organisations included in the Higher Attestation Commission system under the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, and dissertation councils at scientific and educational organisations vested with the right to independently award scientists’ degrees. A conclusion is formulated about the advisability of returning to a unified state system of scientific certification, headed by the Higher Attestation Commission under the Government of the Russian Federation.