The following is the full text of the speech delivered on August 14, 2006 by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a meeting with heads of universities and officials in charge of higher education.
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
Welcome good friends and valuable officials in charge of knowledge in the country.
What we want to say in this meeting is about the significance of knowledge. This is a much-discussed issue, but it is necessary to repeat it again. We should repeat it to such an extent that we believe in it in the real sense of the word and from the bottom of our hearts. We should repeat it to such an extent that we can save the country from the serious disease that it has been suffering from for many years. We should repeat it to such an extent that all the activities of the country become knowledge-based and research-based. We have discussed this issue many times and we will discuss it hundreds of times more.
If students, professors, managers, officials, and ministers ask us for a piece of advice, this is our advice: you should do your best to get to the depth of the ocean which Allah the Exalted has provided for people. He has given people the capability to reach the depth of this ocean. Therefore, knowledge is vital for the present time and the future. Whatever we do will turn out to be useless and futile if we are ignorant.
Our human talent for entering and moving forward in the arena of knowledge is a good talent. Our talent is higher than global average and today, this has become an evident fact. When we used to say this in the past, some people looked at it with suspicion, but today, it has become a fact that Iranian talent is an outstanding talent.
Besides, the successful experience of the Revolution has shown that if we enter this arena as the officials of the Islamic Republic and the country, our movement will be a satisfying and encouraging movement. Today, we have 15 times more students than the pre-revolutionary era. While the population of the country has almost doubled, the number of our students has increased by approximately 15 times. The number of universities, university professors, fields of study and innovative tasks in the area of science and technology encourages officials to move forward in this area.
There is not a large gap between us and the countries that play a leading role in new sciences. Because we have opened our eyes and showed determination, our gap with the world has been narrowed in a number of new sciences and if we show more determination, we can overtake these countries in our movement.
These are all successful experiences that encourage us to swim in this endless ocean. These are clear issues. I have said many times and I will continue to say hundreds of times more that knowledge should become the dominant discourse of society in all areas. You too should speak about this and follow it up. The issue of orientation towards knowledge and making it the pivot should become the dominant discourse in all sectors.
The gentlemen - the two honorable ministers - delivered good reports. If the tasks that were referred to - especially the tasks that Dr. Zahedi referred to - are carried out, many of our goals will be achieved. But they should be carried out. This is our issue. You who are heads of universities and research centers and who are decision-making activists in this area have no excuse to make. I would like to raise a few points about this matter.
One point is that we need a comprehensive scientific plan in the country. We should know what our comprehensive scientific plan is for achieving the 20-year strategic plan which is constantly referred to. We should formulate this plan. Then, we should gradually fill in and complete this plan - like a puzzle - on the basis of practical road maps and time-based and systematic planning. This task has not been carried out yet despite the fact that we need it. Therefore, it should be carried out. It should be carried out by the intellectuals and those outstanding and broadminded personalities of the country who are active in universities, the educational system and its affiliate organizations.
Another point is the issue of knowledge production movement which we have put forward and followed up since six, seven years ago. Well, some of the arguments and questions about this issue are really a waste of time and a diversion. Some of these questions are: "What does producing knowledge mean anyway?", "Can knowledge be produced?" and "Can it be discovered?"
Such questions remind us of the memory that was narrated for us many years ago. A group of people were holding a discussion about cinema and they went to someone to ask for his opinion. This person said, "Is it cinema or cinama or cinoma? We should first resolve this issue". Well, whether knowledge is discoverable, producible and open to research, it is clear what we mean. What we are saying is that the basis of advanced technologies and the basis of the growth of material civilizations and those civilizations which pivot around the issues of life is knowledge.
If you want to buy this knowledge from others and become a consumer, you will get nowhere. This knowledge should grow inside the country. Imagine that we learn something from someone to the extent that they want to teach and that we become their student forever. Another scenario is that, as I said many times before, we do not remain a student forever. A people cannot always remain students. One day, we were teachers in the world of knowledge and civilization. Now, we have been reduced to being students. And for a while, we were very lazy students. But today, we are moving forward and we should move forward particularly in the area of fundamental sciences which are, in fact, the theoretical basis for any scientific movement and any advanced technology.
I have always stressed this point and I would like to stress it again. Of course, as well as this attention and orientation towards knowledge, we should move towards putting knowledge into practice and paying attention to the needs of the country. This is the second point to which we should attach great significance.
Of course, when we take a look at every academic and student group inside the country, we see that they fortunately repeat the issue of knowledge production movement and the software movement. This has become a convention today. However, we should follow this in the real sense of the word so that it can be achieved. We should grow knowledge from the inside. This is not something that can be done in an ideal way without proper management and investment.
The next point is about the issue of the Elite Foundation. I think that it is more than two years that we have been bringing up the issue of forming such a foundation. On the face of it, it seems that it is a mere foundation, association or organization, but the truth of the issue is that if such a foundation is formed in the country, we believe that the scientific environment and appearance of universities and research centers will witness a fundamental change.
What encourages researchers and those who pursue knowledge is the basis of the work. Morale is the most important issue during wars. The same thing is true of scientific environments. Building this morale requires decisions, planning and action. This is what we have manifested under the name of the Elite Foundation.
Another point is that we should employ graduate students of different levels in universities and research centers. This requires planning. These young, talented and enthusiastic students have made many efforts to take such degrees - including all graduate degrees. Why should they remain idle? This should not happen. We should make certain plans to employ these youth. Many of these youth do not think about the material aspects of working. Those who are interested in science like to do scientific work.
The news that the honorable minister told me really makes me happy. He said that they have developed research and educational workshops and they have collected the necessary funds for it. This task is necessary. Another achievement is the science and technology parks that have been built in the country - I will refer to this issue later on. These are good tasks, but they are not enough. We should focus and work on them.
It should not be the case that the youth who have made enthusiastic efforts to reach this position see that they have nothing to do and that they have no responsibility to carry out. You should take care not to let this happen. When I say "responsibility", I do not mean a responsibility in an office. Rather, these youth should be entrusted with a scientific responsibility - that is to say, the kind of scientific work and effort which can make them satisfied and happy.
A number of youth held an exhibition in this hussayniah about our nuclear plans. They built different pavilions so that I see the different parts of their programs. I visited these pavilions for a few hours. One of the outstanding and satisfying points that attracted my attention was that most of these youth - perhaps 90 out of 100 of them - felt that they had a vocation and that they had a sense of scientific and practical identity. This is a very valuable and significant point.
We should engender this feeling in all young and student groups who are continuing their higher education. They can both grow and produce results. This is a young and fruitful tree. It both yields fruits and it grows. The suggestion that the friends in this meeting put forward is a practical suggestion. I have no suggestion to offer in this regard. For example, universities can give scholarships to the students who are active in this area and who are continuing their higher education so that they do not at least have problems related to living conditions. Of course, I believe that although material problems are important, they are not the only important issue.
Another point which was raised by the gentlemen in this meeting is the issue of the criteria for offering promotion to academic boards. What are the criteria for this? Well, publishing articles in ISI journals and other such things are good criteria. However, these should not be the only criteria. Of course, in the present time, publishing articles in ISI journals are not the only criteria for offering promotion to university professors. There are different levels and it is not the case that this is a permanent criterion.
However, there are other criteria as well such as building students. If a professor plays an outstanding role in building and nurturing students and if a professor puts forward a new idea in scientific and academic areas, this is a criterion for promotion. These different criteria can be identified in order to determine which professors should be promoted.
Another issue is the issue of the well-balanced outlook of heads of universities to fields of study. This issue is dependent on the same comprehensive scientific plan I referred to in the beginning. If that plan is formulated, the outlook towards different fields of study will naturally be a well-balanced one.
It should not be the case that all of a sudden, a number of fields become isolated and peripheral for a long time and that a number of other fields - such as medical or engineering sciences - suddenly take on an added importance and become the top fields. It should not be the case that many fields of study become isolated. A number of humanities and fundamental sciences have been isolated in this country for many years. If some people follow up this issue and carry out research on it, it is possible that they find evidence of ulterior motives behind this issue.
Notice that we need physicians, engineers, scientists and the experts who offer public and practical services. A physician is necessary for people like water, air and bread. The same is true of a number of other fields and there is no doubt about this. I liken these fields - on which people's everyday lives are dependent - to that amount of money which we put inside our pocket so that we can spend it. A society needs this money, wealth, physician and engineer for its pocket so that it can make a living.
However, this money is not a source of investment. If you want this money to be permanent, you need a profitable investment so that it can be a source of support for this money. Our lives are not confined to the money that we have today. This money requires supportive and fundamental bases and fundamental sciences are one of such bases. These sciences were consigned to oblivion in this country for a long time. They focused on those fields which are like one's pocket money. If someone pays attention to this issue, they might find evidence of malevolence. What I want to say is that our outlook towards fields of study should be a well-balanced outlook, one that originates from that general outlook. For a while, humanities were really abandoned in our country. Persian literature - our national identity depends on our language and our writing system - we essentially ignored for some time. This should not happen.
Another point is about the qualitative growth of universities. We repeatedly say that we should achieve qualitative growth on the issue of universities. I agree with this, but this should not mean rejecting quantitative growth. We need quantitative growth as well. We will benefit, for a very long time, from increasing the number of universities and research centers no matter how many we build.
Notice that in the 20-year strategic plan, our goal is to achieve the first rank in the region in terms of scientific progress. This requires quantitative moves and development as well as qualitative moves and transformation. It requires increasing students, student and research centers and the other requirements that arise everyday and that should be fulfilled. We should reach the level that can meet the requirements of the 20-year strategic plan.
Another issue - which is, in fact, the continuation of the issue about the comprehensive scientific plan - is that the scientific growth of the country is a process. Universities are not a separate island from their past and their future. In order to help the country achieve scientific growth in the real sense of the word, we should guarantee this process. That is to say, we should guarantee this process from elementary school to graduate levels in universities. After graduate levels, we should attend to research centers, research achievements, interaction between universities and industries, technological progress of the country and technological leaps in different areas.
These are steps that should be taken after paying attention to graduate levels in universities, but this process should begin from elementary schools. This is not only the responsibility of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Health. This is also the responsibility of the administration, the Council of Cultural Revolution and other decision-making organizations.
Of course, I would like to address an important issue in this regard with officials in charge of the Ministry of Education. This is related to them. They too have some problems in this regard in the educational system and these problems should be resolved. However, with a cooperative outlook, the educational system, higher education and medical education organizations and even a number of other sectors should work on this area so that they can formulate this process.
From the beginning, we should prepare our children for developing a productive, constructive and innovative mind. We should not build them the way we were built. We were given something to utilize and benefit from within the scope of our capabilities. This task depends, to a great extent, on primary scientific and intellectual education and this education begins from elementary and high schools and other such educational levels. The students' textbook materials are very important in this regard.
Another point is about offering true promotion to professors and helping them to be up-to-date. We should do something to help our professors make time for studying. It is the responsibility of you gentlemen to plan for this and make it happen. A professor who attends many classes in different universities - like those who perform rowzas in different places and on different occasions - cannot offer much help to students.
I hold one, two meetings per year with university professors. Perhaps, a number of you have attended those meetings or perhaps you have seen them on TV. Professors themselves acknowledge and believe that their problem is lack of time. Of course, they do this to make a living and we can almost say that they have no other option. But you should help them make time. As I said, you are the officials in charge of this task. It is you who should follow up and think about this issue.
Professors should make time to attend to students. They should sit in their rooms so that students can go and interact with them. It should not be the case that, like elementary and high school teachers, they teach something and then drop the chalk and say goodbye. This has no value. They should make time for attending to students and for studying. They should sit and study. The teaching of a professor who does not study is really useless and vain.
One of the advantages of our clerical studies is that if a professor teaches without studying and if he talks nonsense, the students will not attend his classes. After a while, his classes are reduced from 100 students to 50, 20 students and sometimes, his classes are cancelled. But this is not the case with universities. Poor students have to attend the classes and they have to take classes with any professor that their university chooses. They have to wait for their professors to give them their grades and they cannot say anything to them. Therefore, this is the disadvantage of universities and the advantage of Islamic seminaries. You should do something to help professors broaden their knowledge.
The next issue is the issue of moral education and religious and cultural environment in universities. This is a very important issue and the country needs it. It has become a popular belief that when a young person enters a university, his level in the area of religion and culture will naturally go down.
Why should the opposite not happen? When a young high school graduate enters and leaves a university, he should have made progress in terms of religious depth, observation and morality. Universities should be like this. You should make it a principle for yourselves and this should certainly happen. Which place is better than universities which are enlightened places for the hearts of young students?
As you can witness, many efforts are made in the present time to make our youth drift away from religion and religious practices. Take a look at our universities to see how itikaf and public prayers are held. I have been given a report about public prayers in universities. The average of the presence of students in public prayers is higher than everywhere else in the country. Of course, holy places, Goharshad Mosque and those places where pilgrims are present are an exception to this rule. But the number of the university students who participate in public prayers is larger than the number of the people who participate from neighborhoods and markets. This is a very important issue.
So, students too - those who participate in university and other mosques - take part in itikafs. The hearts of student are very good and pure hearts. We should envy students. I myself envy them. Their hearts are pure and enlightened and this is accompanied by understanding. Such students are not at all like some ordinary youth who know nothing. Their hearts are enlightened with the light of knowledge and at the same time, they are pure and sincere. We should do something to decrease the influence of those factors and elements which make youth drift away from religious environments and religious morality. People are different. Families and parents are not like one another and there is some influence. We should do something to decrease this influence as much as possible.
The minds of young students are inquisitive. This is a very good thing. Some people think that this is a weak point, but this is not the case. On the contrary, it is a strong point. Sometimes, students do not ask us questions so much so that we become sad. We want them to ask us questions so that we can inform them. Students should ask questions so that one can explain fundamental issues to them. The best people who can ask questions about religious, ideological, political, philosophical and monotheistic issues are young students. Considering these capacities and talents, we should make efforts to improve religious, educational and cultural areas in student and academic environments.
On this issue, we should revive the spirit of national self-confidence in students. It is common to say national pride. Some people say that pride is not a very good and meaningful word, but it is common anyway. What we mean is national honor and national self-confidence. We know the names of ancient Greek scholars - for example, Thales - and different other western scholars in the area of geometry and chemistry. Our lessons have been like this from the beginning. The same is true of other scholars.
We do not know our scholars as much as we know a science historian like George Sarton. I took a look at both Pierre Rousseau's book - which is a history of science - and George Sarton's book which divides the eras of Islamic science into the Jabir ibn Hayyan era, Kharazmi era and other eras. Our students do not know our scholars, but they do!
In the western world, Khayyam is known as a great scholar and mathematician, but even if our students know him, it is for his clay pitchers. They do not know who Khayyam was. Notice that these things will shatter national self-confidence. They will prevent our students from having enough knowledge about their scientific background and glories and their great legacy. This is one of the tasks that should definitely be carried out in academic environments. I do not know what you want to do in this regard. Perhaps, you might want to hold different classes and do different promotions. These are not related to me. What I know is that this task should be carried out.
Another issue is the issue of student orientations. The political movement and activities of university students are positive things. Many years ago, I said something in this hussayniah, but a number of officials became upset. What I said was about the political activities of students in universities. This is necessary, but the purpose is not only to let them release their political enthusiasm.
Some people think that the only advantage of students' political activities in universities is that youth can release their enthusiasm to some extent. But this is not the case. We need youth for the future of managing the country. Therefore, they should understand politics. Their political understanding should be at a high and expert level. Otherwise, they will deceive and ruin him. So, students' political activities are necessary, but what is necessary besides this is the power to analyze and understand political issues.
Unfortunately, this is what non-academic political orientations - which have constantly targeted universities for furthering their political goals - have not considered at all. Unfortunately, these political orientations have used - particularly in recent years - the same exploitation that we suffered from for a long time in the area of economy, culture, politics and other such areas. This is wrong.
You should think of a way to help healthy student orientations - whether student congresses, Basij and different other student groups - gain the power to analyze political issues as well as working on scientific issues. Thankfully today, there are good student groups. But if the power of analysis does not exist, one will be deceived by the deceptive analysis of foreigners.
In the world of politics, no one will explicitly say, "I want to oppress you". They say this neither to a people nor to an individual. Rather, they use political sophistry so that they can dominate them. Like philosophical sophistry, they change the mind of the other side with scientific magic and juggling. They use political sophistry to prove their point. We should do something to make our youth know sophistry the way we do it in the area of philosophy and logic which is one of our arts. We should be able to familiarize our youth with sophistry so that they can prove the sophist wrong. This way, they can say to him, "What you have assembled is flawed". This is the power of political analysis and it should be developed in youth.
The next issue is the issue of research. Because it has been repeated and stressed a lot, the issue of research does not receive enough attention. This is like the religious words that one repeatedly says out of habit while one's attention is engaged elsewhere. In the fourth plan, they have allocated three percent of our gross production to research budget. They have said that by the end of the fourth plan, research budget should reach three percent.
Last year too, - I think it was late 1383 or early 1384 - there was a discussion about research budget in this meeting and in a meeting with university professors. Someone said that research budget has reached such and such a percent. I said, "No, it has reached one percent and by the end of this year, it will reach 1.5 percent". However, recently a report has been delivered to me which says that it has reached 0.6 percent and apparently, that 0.6 percent has not been given yet. They have only allocated 0.45 percent. This is not a good thing.
First of all, that fifth-year plan is a plan and a law and it should be implemented. Violating this plan is violating the law. Second, this is vital for the future of the country. We speak so much about knowledge, knowledge production, research and other such issues, but the research budget of the country is decreased and ignored. This cannot be done. Well, who should we blame now? If we say this to the president, he will say that they will discuss it in the administration. We should ask these two ministers [who are present in this meeting] to follow up this issue in the administration. The issue of research is not really a small issue.
Another issue is the issue of the ratio of graduate students to all students. I have heard that the ratio is very low. According to the report that has been delivered to me, the ratio is 6 to 100. This is low. According to the viewpoint of experts, this ratio should reach 30 to 100. This should be worked on. In order to have this number of graduate students, we need to increase higher education organizations and to develop those fields of study that we do not have in the present time. We also need to preserve this ratio. This is important as well.
Science and technology parks is a good task. It is a few years that they have been carrying out this task. According to the explanations and reports that a number of friends delivered to me three, four years ago, it is a very good task. Of course, I have heard that only two, three parks out of the 10 science and technology parks of the country are active and that the rest are not working. This is one of the good tasks that officials in charge should pay attention to.
We should address and repeat these issues. You should not consider these to be some pieces of advice. I request that heads of universities, heads of research centers, the two ministers and the presiding board in charge of ministries - whose members are present here - do not consider the statements that I made to be some pieces of advice. I request that they do not think that this was a minbar in which we offered some warnings. You should not think like this. These are issues that need to be obeyed and implemented. You should carry out these tasks.
If you do not, there is not a specific punishment in the criminal law for this so that we can say, "If such and such a minister or official does not carry out this task, they should be punished". However, there is a more severe punishment which is the judgments people will make about you. What is our judgment about those people who established universities with a foreign structure - which did not address the needs of our people and our country - and who imposed such a deviation on us? If we show negligence, there will be such a judgment about us. Under such circumstances, our punishment will be more severe than the punishment that the law has specified for a specific crime. I hope that by Allah's favor, you will be successful.
Greetings be upon you and Allah's mercy and blessings