Hawzah News Agency (Tehran. Iran) - Here are some excerpts from Ayatollah Khamenei's, supreme leader of Iran, words regarding the scientific status of Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution :

If  we compare the conditions of the universities of the country in the present time with our universities during the early years of the Revolution - which were a legacy of the time of Shah and the time before the Revolution - then we will see that there are more surprising statistics.

The day when the Revolution became victorious, we had 170,000 students. Today, there are 4,400,000 students in the country. In other words, the number of our students has increased by 25 times. On that day, almost 5,000 professors, assistant professors, associate professors, teachers and other such people were responsible for teaching. Today, we benefit from almost 60,000 university professors, both in universities and research centers. These are important issues. These are valuable achievements.

The number of Iranian frequently-cited articles is increasing on a daily basis. The facts and figures about this issue have been reported to me in detail which I do not want to expand on in the present time. But this is a very important phenomenon. So, a scientific effort has been made in the country.

There is a question in this regard: Now that we can witness these scientific achievements in different areas, should we relax and sit idle? Well, it is clear that the answer is no. We are still behind the leading camps of global science. We still suffer from serious backwardness in areas which are necessary for our lives despite the achievements that we have made in a number of these areas. Therefore, because we suffer from backwardness, we should work.

Statements made during an address to University Professors; August 6, 2013.