International Academy of Sciences San Marino

The Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino (AIS) or International Academy of Sciences San Marino is a scientific association of universitarian character. It was established in 1983 and had its first convention, SUS 1, around New Year 1984 at San Marino City. After the sanmarinian skeleton law on higher education had been passed the academy was officially founded on September 13, 1985, in the presence of the Captains-Regent.

History

The AIS was founded on an initiative of scientists from various countries, such as Helmar Frank, Humphrey Tonkin, and Reinhard Selten.

The sanmarinian government at first gave the academy broad moral support. When, however, the università degli studi was founded at San Marino in 1988, it gained priority over the AIS, which then concentrated on working abroad from San Marino. Conventions and summer schools were held in Bulgaria, Korea, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden. Several of these countries granted the AIS the right to hold academic exams and grant the academic degrees of bachelor (baccalaureatus/a), master (magister/magistra), PhD (doctor), and Doctor habilitatus. These exams are always held during an academic convention, called SUS (Sanmarineca Universitata Sesio = Sanmarinian University Session).

Structure

AIS consists of six faculties. Its structure follows a strictly philosophical system, based on two criteria:

• The basic approach used by a scientific discipline, either idiographic (descriptive) or nomothetic (predictive), as proposed by Wilhelm Windelband;
• The position of the object of scientific research in Karl Popper's "three worlds": the outer world as perceived sensually, the mental world and the world of abstractions.

This leads to a division into six sections:

	nomothetic	idiographic
World 1	(natural) sciences	morphologic sciences
World 2	cybernetics	arts
World 3	structural sciences	philosophy

Beside its scientific sector the AIS consists of an artistic and an applied sector, and a supporting sector. These three sectors do not at present have a teaching program of their own. The artistic and the applied sector sometimes contribute to the scientific sector's conventions and summer schools.

Principles

The AIS is based on three principles that its member see insufficiently supported in other universities:

1. The absence of any cultural and linguistic bias not only in scientific content but also in the teaching of this content. In order to achieve this goal as far as possible the AIS holds its conventions and summer schools in a neutral language, at present using Esperanto. Students write their thesis in two parallel languages, in Esperanto and a second language of their choice (usually their native language). Research papers, too, are often written in two languages, to reduce influence of language on the paper's logic.
2. Studying in several places. Students are encouraged to spend part of their studies abroad, or at least at an AIS summer school, so as to get in contact with other cultures.
3. Interdisciplinarity, intense contact and scientific exchange between the faculties and scientific branches. To achieve this, other faculties must be represented in examination committees, and students get maximum freedom in choosing their minor.

Members

In 2006 the AIS consists of about 250 scientists, among them a little fewer than 50 full members, including co-founder Reinhard Selten. Mikhail Gorbachev is a member of the applied sector.

Some 300 scientists contribute to the AIS as members of the "International Scientific College" (Internacia Scienca Kolegio, ISK). They are not active in teaching for the AIS but are available for opinions on theses and similar tasks. Knowledge of Esperanto is a precondition for membership in the ISK (as well as the AIS).

External links

• www.ais-sanmarino.org The AIS web site