On February 7, Minsk /BELTA/. Belarus needs a fundamental modernization of its scientific sphere. This was stated by the Head of State Alexander Lukashenko today at the ceremony of awarding Doctor of Sciences diplomas and Professor certificates to scientific and scientific-pedagogical workers, reports a BELTA correspondent. According to the President, much has been done in recent years to preserve and strengthen Belarus's intellectual potential and enhance the role of science in the state. "However, today qualitative changes are needed in the organization and content of research activities. This is precisely the task set for the government and the Academy of Sciences. But the proposals they have submitted do not yet withstand criticism. There is an attempt to substitute fundamental modernization with cosmetic repairs," Alexander Lukashenko noted. The Head of State stated that Belarus currently has a scientific sphere structure that has been preserved since Soviet times. "But how justified is its existence in modern conditions?" Alexander Lukashenko posed the question. "We need to seriously consider whether the country needs a cumbersome and multi-profile Academy of Sciences. I am posing the question, not asserting. It may be more expedient to follow the path of those states where research is concentrated in universities and enterprises and yields real results," the President noted. He also raised a number of other questions for those present, in particular, about which scientific fields should be developed independently, where cooperation with foreign colleagues is possible, and which research is worth abandoning altogether to avoid reinventing the wheel. "Minor rearrangements will not suffice," the Head of State warned. "We will stimulate the Academy of Sciences, and science in Belarus as a whole, towards reforms in the most effective way - with money, by reducing budget funding and simultaneously demanding an increase in its return."