Dean Najam at Task Force on Science in Muslim World
Prof. Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, participated in a seminal meeting of the Task Force on Science at Universities in the Muslim World, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Dec. 16-17. Najam serves as one of the members of the 13-member Task Force, which is chaired by Tan Sri Zakri Abdul Hamid, science adviser for Malaysia’s Prime Minister.
The goal of the Task Force is to jump start dialogue, discourse and debate on critical issues and big questions at the intersection of science and religion within the Islamic world, particularly on the role that Universities can play in this context. The mandate of the international Task Force is to focus on the state and potential of science education at universities of the Muslim World. The Task Force is expected to submit its final report in June 2015.
The first day was a closed-door session for task force members, while the second was designed to be more consultative, opened to other interested parties, including members of the academe. During the deliberations of the Task Force various members presented background submissions.
Najam presented his inputs focused on making science education relevant to society. He stressed that the goal of science education is to produce a society that believes in rationality and evidence; and such a society is essential to excellence in science education. Dean Najam, who had earlier served as the Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan, brought that experience to bear on his remarks and said that “science is not civilizational, but it is societal.”
On the second day, Professor Bruce Alberts, the former editor-in-chief of the journal Science, President Barack Obama’s science envoy to the Islamic world, and a recent recipient of the US National Medal of Science, gave a keynote address open to the piublic. This was followed by a panel discussion on the subject of Teaching Science in the Muslim World. Najam was one of the speakers at this panel discussion. He stressed on the importance of quality teaching and pointed out that this is as important as – and a prerequisite to – achievements in science research.