Seek knowledge for community benefit: scholar

Addressing Zayed University students in Dubai, El Baz, who is also the Director of Centre for Remote Sensing at Boston University, urged students to imbibe good basic education and acquire knowledge because this is what will make them distinct.

“Keep your mind growing and continue to acquire knowledge for the benefit of the community,” he said.

He said the Arabs, during the era of the Caliphates, led the way in acquiring knowledge. “In fact, the Arabs invented the notion of globalisation and have always been open to ideas and knowledge. But today, they are not in the best possible position," he said, laying blame on his generation.

"But the new generation should learn from the mistakes of the past and unite to achieve a better place for the Arabs globally," said El Baz while urging the students to make the best use of opportunities available to them at educational institutions.

El Baz hailed Arab governments that are beginning to show changes. "However, we must, as individuals, help improve our institutions," he pointed out.

He agreed that the Arab world is facing ‘brain-drain’, but told people not to worry "as it will continue for a while, but it will not cripple the Arab world, provided the governments support their people in pursuing their educational goals and focus on research and development in varied fields of science and technology."

'Arabs presence in space technology is very small'

DUBAI — Dr Farouk El Baz noted: “Only a very small percentage of Arabs are in space technology.”

The absence of Arabs in this field "is due to lack of initiative of the Arab world because of a wrong perception that space technology is a luxury only for the very rich countries to explore,” he said.

"The Arab governments have, as a result, refrained from spending on research in this field,” he noted.

He said today the US is top-notch in technology due the success of the Apollo programme. "To make this programme a success, around 126 US institutions were funded by the government to carry out intensive research and development," he added.

He criticised the Arab governments for the absence of a unified policy on space science.