Universities’ Role In National Development [Archives:2001/35/Reportage]

Ismaeel Ali AlGhabri 
The University is an institution of high education and specific specialization. It has a number of faculties to meet different national objectives. The studies and researches contribute a lot in finding appropriate solutions related to environmental pollution, social as well as economic problems. It is the beacon that enlightens the intellectual movement for the continual development everywhere. 
University is the centre of tertiary education that is responsible for the turn-out of skilled youths so as to enhance the national manpower. It serves the society and guarantee its development. The social, educational, scientific and intellectual participation offered by the university plays a major and distinguished role for the achievement of comprehensive development goals in the short term as well as in the long term. 
Through development, the living standard of the citizen is increased and is augmented with increased incomes. 
The main goal is the development of mankind, with himself as the first beneficiary and it is he who will be driving the wheel of development. Environmental circumstances polishes a man’s skills and increases his abilities as well as broadening his imagination in the field of progress and prosperity. 
As a matter of fact, the reality of the development process is something much more than mere construction or importing fabricated technology and using others techniques as they have been made by others without any interest in the technical know-how. how. It is a matter of new trends, concepts, social improvement, creating new skills and awareness are all related to the comprehensive development and the ability to lay the foundation for more regularity and creativity. The difference in the development and the augmentation, allows for the former to attain progress mainly related to one’s prosperity. Some of these concepts are cultural whereas others are material. However, the most important thing we are predicting is the development of human society. 
Culture is one of the main criteria for the comprehensive development of any society. There is no wonder in finding a natural harmony between the number of universities in a society and its scale of development. The more universities and educational institutions the society has, the more progress and developments it achieves in different fields. 
The role of the university in the field of comprehensive development could be formulated in short as follows: 
The graduates : The university graduates are people who are skilled and qualified in different fields such as engineering, medicine, administration, economies, arts, languages and mathematics. The university is responsible for this turn-out. 
Social service: The university contributes by serving the society and that is one of the most important demands of the society. This should be guaranteed throughout the institutes of research, social services, and administrative development programs, general lectures, holding workshops and seminars, training sessions and scientific conferences. 
The institutes of research: These institutes contribute a lot to push the development process further throughout offering valuable consultations for the ministries, governmental departments and private firms and all together they work to build a nation. 
Experts: University is the crossroad where scientific conferences, sessions and symposiums are being held frequently. This gives the interested people a chance to exchange information with expertise each in his field of specialization. Some foreign experts come from abroad to join these conferences for the purpose of enriching the discussions related to the society and its comprehensive development. These activities then come out with appropriate suggestions, recommendations and solutions to be utilized by the officials in the state. 
Scientific and intellectual publications: The articles, studies and researches issued by the university lecturers which cover a wide range of scientific and cultural fields lay the corner stone of the comprehensive development. 
To sum up, the universities play a major role in the enhancing the development process. They are the source that provides the nation with highly qualified and skilled hands in various fields. After all some ministers, deputy ministers and other senior officials have been members of the university staff upon whom we can rely on to see that the theoretical studies are applied. 

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