As the host of the first-ever Malaysia–Africa Higher Education Forum, Kenya has once more confirmed its dedication to providing quality education and developing worldwide partnerships in higher learning.
In his speech during the opening ceremony, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba mentioned that the forum offers an essential opportunity for the countries to think about the role of universities and colleges in leading the Global South’s transformation.
He pointed out that higher education institutions have to be the leaders of academic collaboration, joint research, innovation ecosystems, student mobility, and cultural exchange if they want to retain their status in a world that is changing rapidly. “With this forum, we get to envision higher education’s future role and to find new, impactful partnership ways that facilitate knowledge creation, innovation and human capital development,” said Ogamba.
The Malaysian Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Anwar Bin Ibrahim, stressed the importance of education systems being grounded in human values even when they technologically adjust. In his speech, he cautioned that unless countries quickly and decisively adjust, they will lose the competition because innovation is happening at a very high speed.
“Education must be based on values that develop good citizens. Nevertheless, we must also recognize that technology is advancing rapidly, and our systems have to change just as fast,” he said.
The forum, which is held under the theme “Intensifying Internationalization in the Context of the Global South”, draws together policymakers, scholars, and higher education leaders from the two continents of Africa and Asia to exchange ideas on, and plan, ways of deepening internationalization in higher education through cooperative ventures.
They also aim to identify new routes to internationalization in higher education. This assembly is a very important moment in Kenya’s journey of raising her education sector to a higher standard and making her presence felt in the world through global and strategic partnership networks. Updated TextFinal word count
