TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that university students and faculty members are in frontline of serving the country and society.

Rouhani made the remarks during an Iftar party with university professors in Tehran.

He also said university students should not be seen with “security glasses”.

Rouhani said his administration has made many efforts to create a “freer” and “more secure” atmosphere in the universities.

Rouhani said he attaches great importance to the university students’ “free” and “conscious” approach toward towards “revolution”, “Islam” and “morality”.

He also defined revolution as “independence, freedom and the Islamic Republic”.

It is not possible to seek independence and, at the same time, an implementation of resistance economy without “science” and “knowledge”, he noted.

“We should trust on university,” he added.

“Today, university bears heavy responsibility on the path of the country’s development. A government that seeks help from university in all spheres can be successful and the link between the government and university should be strengthened,” Rouhani pointed out.

He said that problems in the country cannot be resolved without using the academicians’ knowledge and expertise.

Pointing to post-JCPOA atmosphere, he said that pace of scientific progress would be slow without interaction with the outside world.

The Rouhani administration has succeeded to strike a nuclear deal with the 5+1 group - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany – that among other things has facilitated scientific cooperation between Iranian and foreign academic bodies.

NA/PA