The Legislative Yuan today froze NT$1 million (US$30,815) of Academia Sinica’s budget following discussions about minimal usage of expensive equipment.
The Education and Culture Committee met today to continue reviewing next year’s overall annual budget, focusing on Academia Sinica and its scientific research fund.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲), Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) and Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷), as well as Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) called attention to equipment utilization at the institution.
Photo: Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Academia Sinica allocates funds annually for the procurement, replacement and maintenance of expensive instruments, but some of these instruments have low utilization rates, they said.
As of the end of July, Academia Sinica possessed 241 pieces of equipment valued at more than NT$10 million, 80 of which were still within their expected service life, the legislators said.
Among these instruments, 38 had a utilization rate below 50 percent, seven were below 20 percent, three below 10 percent and one had not been used at all, they said.
Academia Sinica should use its annual budget to buy equipment, but the equipment should be used effectively and not left to gather dust, Ko said, calling on the research institute to increase utilization rates.
Academia Sinica’s instruments are separated into two broad categories: main items that are used across fields and have a high utilization rate, and specialty instruments that are used by specific researchers and are not used as often, Academic Affairs and Instrument Service Director Chen Chien-chang (陳建璋) said.
Academia Sinica is taking strides to make specialty instruments available for more widespread use, Chen said.
The instrument that has not been used was purchased in 2016 and now has a newer model, so it should be disposed of, he added.
Academia Sinica only discards instruments when they are no longer accurate, using them as much as possible even beyond their expected service life, Academia Sinica Vice President Chou Mei-yin (周美吟) said.
The Legislative Yuan decided to adopt proposals suggested by Wan and Lin, merging additional proposals and freezing NT$1 million of Academia Sinica’s budget.
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