DOHA: Prince El Hassan bin Talal, prominent Jordanian leader and thinker, yesterday made a fervent appeal to the Arab and Islamic countries to redefine their policies from a scientific and educational perspective to prevent the massive brain drain and address the genuine concerns of the masses.
Prince El Hassan, who is the founding patron of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS) based in Jordan was addressing the 18th conference of the IAS that started at the Doha Sheraton yesterday.
"Fifty four per cent of the Arab students studying abroad do not return to their home countries. Thirty four per cent of the physicians in the UK are Arabs. Seventy five percent of the educators in the US are from other parts of the world and Muslims and Arabs in the US have made major achievements in science and education," said El Hassan bin Talal, drawing attention to the issue of brain drain in the Arab world.
His speech touched on a wide range of topics from the Arab revolutions to research and development and intellectual property rights in the Arab and Islamic countries.
Calling for a fresh look at the university system in the Arab world, El Hassaan bin Talal said only 30 percent of the university students in the region were being enrolled on merit. The remaining are taught under government patronage.
He thanked Qatar for allocating 2.8 per cent of its GDP to promote research and development while drawing attention to the poor status of R$D in the Islamic countries. He, however, added that R&D can not be promoted only through government funding while the presence of an intellectual community is a basic prerequisite.
On the patents system in the Arab world, El Hassan bin Talal, the patents of Israel were more than that that of the whole of the Middle East.
" We lack a coherent intellectual property regime. We need a fast, cost-effective patents system," said El Hassan.
He said the Arab and Islamic worlds that possess 70 percent of the oil reserves and 60 percent the gas reserves in the world need to play a big role in developing new energy technologies.
" Why are we becoming exclusive while talking about energy sources. Instead of excluding one source of energy against another, we should diversify the sector by integrating all the sources of energy such as oil, gas and solar, with a focus on green economy," said El Hassan bin Talal.
In brief remarks to The Peninsula later, he said the Arab revolutions could reflect positively on the intellectual development of the region since it underlines human dignity and can lead to good governance.
© The Peninsula 2011
