The 17th Conference on Private Higher Education in Africa ‘African Higher Education in the Realm of Sustainable Development’

The 17th Conference on Private Higher Education in Africa ‘African Higher Education in the Realm of Sustainable Development’

The 17th International Conference on Private Higher Education in Africa opened at the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy Auditorium and will stay from July 25-27, 2019. Organized in collaboration with African Union Commission, Association of African Universities, the Ethiopian Ministry of Science and Higher Education, International Network of Higher Education in Africa, the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy and St Mary’s University, the conference focused on the theme of ‘African Higher Education in the Realm of Sustainable Development’.

 

It is also indicated that the conference is held in conjunction with the Second Symposium of the Higher Education Forum for Africa, Asia, and Latin America (HEFAALA) organized by the International Network for Higher Education in Africa, University of Kwazulu Natal (UKZN), South Africa. Partner Universities of the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST), both UKZN and Stellenbosch University attended the conference, an opportunity for EGST to make wider linkages for advocacy, accreditation and related engagements in the future.

 

The conference included a focused thematic agenda on Private Higher Education and Privatization; Policies, Strategies and Practices in Higher Education; Demographic Dynamics and Graduate Employability as well as Diversity and Its Management in Higher Education. About 31 thematic papers are expected to presented and discussed from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Puntland, Egypt, Somalia and USA.

 

In her opening remark to the conference, the Guest of Honor, Prof. Hirut W/Mariam, Minister for the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MoSHE) of Ethiopia underlined the relevance of the conference at a crucial moment of reforming higher education in Ethiopia. She mentioned that the newly established MoSHE is revising the curriculum of higher education by focusing on differentiation and specialization in the areas of polytechnic, teaching and humanities. She further disclosed that a 30 members advisory group composed of national and diaspora specialists are supporting the road map of the reform. In a knowledge based digital economy, reforming the education sector by focusing on sustainability, internationalization and research has become a requirement of the day to be relevant and eminent in the global arena, the Minister emphasized. She further highlighted the need to work hand-in-hand with private higher education institutions to improve competitiveness, to mobilize untapped resources and automate the service sector of the country.

Key note addresses were also made by prominent scholars on the themes of African Higher Education Institutions and Sustainable Development; Private Higher Education, Global Perspectives and Indian Experience; Effective Governance, Leadership and Administration: A Panacea for the Success of Universities and the Internationalization of Higher Education.

Welcoming the confence particiopants to the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy, Mr Solomon Debebe Director of the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy announced that the Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy will be upgraded to Ethiopian Aeronautics University in the near future.

 

(News by EGST Public Relations and Communications, July 26, 2019).

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