Azerbaijan, Baku, 30 April / Trend corr I. Alizade/ As a result of conscription of master degree and post-graduate students to military service in Azerbaijan, post-graduate positions in the National Academy of Sciences remain empty. "Negative results of conscription of master degree students became apparent after post-gradate exams of 2007. About 200 places were allotted in the Academy, but 46 of them remained empty," Mahmud Karimov, President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), said to journalists on 30 April.
At the beginning of 2007, the Azerbaijani Parliament made change in the Law on Fundaments of Military Service which annulled draft deferment for post-graduate and master degree students. The Parliament is expected to reconsider the issue.
Each year about 500 people are accepted to post-graduate study in Azerbaijan, with about 250 of them being youths.
Karimov said that conscription of master degree and post-graduate students to military service reduces interest to science amongst young people.
"Therefore, master degree and post-graduate students should not be drafted to military service," he said.
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