ABSTRACT
Experience has shown that no country has achieved sustained economic and industrial development without the support of a minimum core of highly skilled and innovative scientific manpower. The significance of scientific training in the miraculous economic development of the newly industrialized countries (NICs) of Asia cannot be overemphasized in this regard. The failure of the many governments in the South, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, to sustain a critical minimum of investment in research and development (R&D) has resulted in a gradual erosion of the institutions of learning and research and the loss of the most able scientific minds to the industrial North. Most developing countries suffer from substantial shortages of world-class university staff and research leaders in the basic sciences and of incentives to attract talent into these disciplines. The establishment of solid training and research in the basic sciences is a long-term process that is complexly intertwined with the educational development of a nation.
