A large group of university professors and elite academics from across the country met the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei on Thursday, October 13.
The participants at meeting expressed their views for almost two hours on various issues, including the need for greater attention to organized academic research as the basis of sustainable national development, the allocation of necessary budget for universities and other higher education centers, the country's self-sufficiency in the field of medical treatment, the promotion of humanities courses in universities and also the need for providing elite students with their needed facilities in order to prevent brain drain.
Speaking at the meeting, the Leader stated that scientific growth constitutes the cornerstone of the country's progress and development. He noted that only science and research will be able to advance and improve human infrastructure, the county's most important infrastructure.
Ayatollah Khamenei also referred to the attempts made by Western countries to monopolize science and, as a result, exercise political and economic dominance over other countries in the world.
"Fortunately, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian people have gained two kinds of awareness, and this has thwarted those countries in their objective. The first awareness is that the Iranian people have come to believe in their inherent potential and capability. The second awareness is the realization that arrogant and expansionist powers are trying to dominate Iran and, for this reason, they are strongly opposed to our country's scientific progress and development," Ayatollah Khamenei told the audience.
He expressed hopes that in the light of their awareness, the Iranian people will succeed in making considerable progress in various fields of science and technology.
Further in his statements, the Leader of the Islamic Republic emphasized that realities on the ground indicate that Iranians, with their great and superior talent, are capable of putting an end to Western monopoly on science.
"Considering this, and also in view of the Islamic Republic of Iran's pursuit of justice and its opposition to oppression, the world's expansionist and domineering powers feel that their interests are being threatened," the Leader noted.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei told the university professors and elite academics that initiative, innovation, originality and the opening of new frontiers in science will pave the way for the country's full-scale progress and development.
Also, in response to those academics who had called for the promotion of research in the country, the Leader of the Islamic Republic endorsed their request and instructed the officials in charge of the country's higher education to take the due measures in this regard.
Ayatollah Khamenei stated that progress in the field of science and technology will not be achieved without the existence of active research centers. "Thus, it is the duty of our higher education officials to dynamize and give impetus to our research centers," he further remarked.