According to the public relations and information center of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, Sorena Sattari, the vice president for science and technology affairs, expressed on the “third meeting of heads of universities and research centers as custodians of the national workgroup of coordination and follow up of international cooperation”, which was held in the presence of Mansour Gholami, minister of science, research and technology, and a number of heads of universities and research centers of the country: the only way for returning non-resident Iranians and elites to the country is forming a suitable ecosystem for their activities and cooperation. This ecosystem can be realized by serious determination of all organizations to create an efficient attraction model.

President of the national elites foundation expressed that forming the ecosystem to attract and return elites require the ability to provide funds for Iranian students in important fields. In this regard, he expressed: a clear ecosystem must be formed so that students could clearly see the future of their return and flourishing of their capabilities.

He added: foundation can be laid for policy making and executive modeling of using the cooperation of elites so that their abilities could be used in many areas, such as conference presentation and holding, and creating knowledge-based and startup businesses.

Necessity of Emphasis on Attraction Policies

Sattari affirmed that the main emphasis of universities are process of exit of elites, mentioning: an integrated model and ecosystem must be formed based on cultural modifications to create a comprehensive program for attracting and returning elites and graduates to the country.

He continued: policies in the area of emigration of elites and students only emphasis on the exit of these individuals, whereas all sections in universities, research centers and executive organizations of the country must be responsible for creating the ecosystem for attracting elites to the country.

Political and Exaggerated Statistics on Exit of Elites

The vice president for science and technology affairs emphasized the necessity of recognizing the actual position of Iran regarding the issue of emigration of elites without any exaggerated and false statistics to form the attraction model. In this regard, he asserted: unfortunately, there are exaggerated and false statistics of emigration of elites of Iran by some media members, which have had unfavorable consequences.

Sattari reminded that the Vice-Presidency has a serious determination for showing a clear and actual image of the process of emigration of Iranian elites.

In this respect, he mentioned: as a book was published in this area last year, another book will be soon unveiled by the research center of policy-making studies of Sharif University of Industry, which contain accurate statistics on emigration of students and comparison of the current position of Iran and other countries.

Support of the Elites by the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology Affairs through the National Science Foundation

Sattari pointed out the support of elites and researchers of the country by the national science foundation as the subcategory of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs, affirming: support of innovative research projects of academic elites is one of the missions of the national elites foundation.

Improving the Keeping of Elites and Students Regardless of Inaccurate Statistics

Sattari talked about the statistics presented by the United Nations, expressing: accurate statistics on the emigration and return of elites are presented every year by the United Nations in details and based on various components. Therefore, claims on annual exit of 150-180 thousand elites from Iran based on a report by the International Monetary Fund are not true since there is no such report in real world.

Serious Attempts at Attracting Elites

Sattari pointed out the programs of the national elites foundation for creating a proper ecosystem for return and attracting elites and using their cooperation capacity.

Sattari also explained about the full preparedness of the Vice-Presidency for science and technology affairs for defining and implementing an efficient model for return of elites with full cooperation of organizations, including universities, research centers and ministry of science, research and technology, affirming: as the continuity of transfer of technology, which was approved in contracts related to industry, was achieved,  defining the foundation for attracting elites and creating joint investment foundation with other countries will be realized as well. In this regard, we are prepared to accelerate the pace of attracting elites and students in the form of a clear and structural model with the cooperation of the ministry of science, research and technology.