Scientific mobility and the movement of researchers from universities, institutions and research centres worldwide to other universities, institutions and research centres has made a great contribution to achieving a tangible impact in the exchange of science and knowledge, building the capacities of those working in scientific research, transferring experiences and expertise, and increasing sound scientific publishing. All of this was through initiatives undertaken by non-Arab countries such as the United States of America, Germany, Switzerland and the European Union.
To date, there is no Arab programme that gives Arab researchers - academics and researchers working in Arab universities, institutions, bodies and research centres - the opportunity to carry out a scientific visit to another Arab university, institution, body or research centre. The same applies to the Arab expatriate minds working in non-Arab research institutions; there is no scientific Arab programme that enables them to carry out a scientific visit to Arab institutions to contribute to transferring their expertise and to building the competencies and capacities of their colleagues in Arab institutions.
At the same time, the Arab Strategy for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research aimed, in its fifth general objective, which includes "the existence of cooperation mechanisms between scientific research institutions and education institutions that achieve benefit from the human resources in schools and universities and from the laboratory capabilities in research institutions, and achieve a significant increase in these resources in quantity and quality."
And its seventh general objective, which includes "the existence of active mechanisms for cooperation between the institutions of the Arab world working in the field of research, development and innovation."
And its ninth general objective, which includes "the existence of an environment that retains Arab minds in the Arab countries and benefits from those who have emigrated."
These objectives can be achieved through the implementation of the Scientific Visitor project, which allows a number of Arab academics and researchers - whether working in Arab or non-Arab academic and research institutions and bodies (expatriate minds) - to carry out a short-term scientific work visit (5 working days) during which they perform a number of tasks, the most important of which are:
