Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei underscored the need to sustain scientific progress to be able to keep pace with the world.
"If we let the pace of scientific progress slow down, we will fall further behind the world in scientific development. So we need to maintain our pace of progress," the Leader was quoted by his official website as saying.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the statements in a meeting with the heads of universities and higher education centers in Tehran on Wednesday.
The Leader said universities can significantly contribute to the creation of a "modern Islamic civilization" by helping identify the present and future needs of the country, sustain scientific progress, effectively implement the Comprehensive Scientific Roadmap and enhance the quality of education.
"Efforts should be made to establish a link between university and industrial sector, and strengthen the role of universities in helping meet the objectives of the Resistance Economy," he said.
Resistance Economy is a set of policies outlined by the Leader with the aim of cutting reliance on oil revenues and bolstering domestic production.
The Leader said knowledge-based firms could facilitate more active involvement by universities to help promote the principles of Resistance Economy, but noted that "what was expected concerning the Resistance Economy has not yet been materialized."
Ayatollah Khamenei said the West's refusal to provide Iran with nuclear fuel to feed Tehran's research reactor prompted Iranian students to take the initiative and produce the fuel themselves.
"At some point, the fuel in stock used in Tehran's reactor for radioisotope production was running out and westerners set humiliating conditions for the delivery of the fuel to us. But our talented and faithful youths managed to produce 20% enriched uranium to fulfill the needs of the country," he said.
"The most difficult stage in refining uranium is achieving fissile purity of 20%. Afterward, it would be easy to increase the purity level from 20% to 99%. This was what created anxiety among westerners over the nuclear issue."
