UN Arab development report calls for closing growing 'knowledge gap'

Arabs, coming from a knowledge-rich past, must urgently close a "growing knowledge gap" in the present by investing heavily in high-quality, analytical education, promoting open intellectual inquiry and developing an authentic Arab knowledge model, a new United Nations report says.

The report, published Monday, is the second Arab Human Development Report (AHDR 2003), prepared by 40 distinguished Arab scholars, along with 30 advisers and peer reviewers, and co-sponsored by the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. Basic education should become universal and last 10 years in an educational system that should be radically improved and an independent Arab organization should be established for the accreditation of all higher education programs, the report says.

Appropriate institutions, with appropriate funding, are needed to encourage basic research that will meet regional demand, especially in science and technology. "A starting point for this is to overcome the illusion that importing technology, as embodied in products, machinery and services, is equivalent to acquiring knowledge."

The report recommends "shifting rapidly towards knowledge-based and value-added production," thereby diversifying economic structures and markets. Creating the Arab knowledge model will involve "delivering pure religion from political exploitation and respecting independent scholarship," undertaking serious linguistic research into and reform of the Arabic language and "promoting cultural diversity in the region and opening up to other cultures abroad."

The report estimates that there were 371 research scientists and engineers per million citizens in the Arab states, compared to a global rate of 979 per million. Only 1.6 per cent of the Arab population has Internet access, compared to 68 per cent in Britain and 79 per cent in the United States, it says. It also notes rising anxieties about cultural dissolution in an emerging global culture, but says, "The Arab-Islamic culture at its zenith was a role model for borrowing and assimilation, followed by generous giving when it established its distinguished knowledge edifice."

Recent advances, such as more women elected to political office and the expansion of satellite news broadcasting, have been partly eclipsed by tightened security in several countries following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

"In human development terms, Arabs expressed support for building the human capabilities of women, but not for their utilization," the authors say.