Abstract
Knowledge is now the single most important factor for socio-economic development and science & technology are the great equalisers. Countries that have realized this and invested heavily in developing their human resources to the highest possible levels and then and agricultural products have leaped forward, leaving others far behind. The extent of darkness that prevails in the Islamic World is apparent from the fact that while ninety Nobel Prizes have been awarded to faculty members of one University in UK, the University of Cambridge, and thirty two Nobel Prizes have been awarded to faculty members of just one College of this University (Trinity College), not a single Nobel Prize in science or medicine has ever been won by any scientist working in an Islamic country. We still live in an age of darkness and superstition. In order to transition to a knowledge economy the universities in the Arab world need to be strengthened and linked to industrial and agricultural sectors. This can only happen if our leaders in the Islamic world realise that their real wealth lies in the human resources that they possess and the only way forward is to transition to strong knowledge based economies from their present natural resource driven economies. For this they must give the highest budgetary priority to education, particularly higher education, and to science, technology and innovation. The model developed by Pakistan under my leadership has attracted world wise praise and it can be readily implemented in Arab universities. It focuses on developing a top class faculty and providing them with an enabling environment where research and innovation can flourish.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The Triple Helix Model, Loet Leydesdorff, Annual Review of Information Science and Technology 44 (2010) 367–417).
References
After Musharraf. Nature 454 (7208): 1030–2008. 2008. https://doi.org/10.1038/4541030a
Cash costs (2009) Nature 461(7260):11–12. https://doi.org/10.1038/461011b
Evaluation of USAID Higher Education Portfolio** TASK ORDER NO. REE-I-07-05-00053-00 ORDER NO. 09 WITH ACADEMY FOR EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/Pdacm417.pdf (**A section of this article on the role of private sector in research and development was written jointly with Dr. S.T.K. Naim (Adviser COMSTECH) and published in The News.)
Haq, Riaz, (2013). In defense of HEC’s key role in Pakistan’s Higher Education. Pakistaniaat, California
Hayward, Fred M. (Winter 2009) Higher Education Transformation in Pakistan: Political & Economic Instability International Higher Education Quarterly (54)
http://www.nust.edu.pk/INSTITUTIONS/Schools/ASAB/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-6-273635-Chinese-award-for-Dr-Atta-ur-Rahman
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/pgasite/documents/webpage/pga_061771.pdf
Mehta, Neha Pak threat to Indian science, Hindustan Times, 23 July 2006,
Osama A, Najam A, Kassim-Lakha S, Zulfiqar Gilani S, King C (2009) Pakistan’s reform experiment. Nature 461(7260):38–39. https://doi.org/10.1038/461038a
Rode, Bernd Michael. Letter from Chairman/European Coordinator of ASEA-UNINET published in DAWN today, Dildilpakistan, Wordpress
The paradox of Pakistan. Nature 450 (7170): 585–200. 2007. https://www.nature.com/articles/450585a, https://doi.org/10.1038/461874c
The report is available at. http://images.info.science.thomsonreuters.biz/Web/ThomsonReutersScience/%7Bdab71dc1-d7d8-48af-88a6-fa7efa61ae22%7D_Pakistan_Citation_Report_FINAL.pdf
Voelter, Wolfgang (2008). The golden period. Dawn area studies, 2008
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Atta-ur-Rahman (2018). Building a Knowledge Economy. In: Baydoun, E., Hillman, J. (eds) Universities in Arab Countries: An Urgent Need for Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73111-7_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73111-7_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73110-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73111-7
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)