Strategic leadership and planning in higher education towards achieving the Agenda 2030 in Sudan
Monday 2nd July 2018 (10:30-13:00) REGISTERATION
University Square Stratford, Room 1.01 (Harvard Theatre), London, United Kingdom
Target audience: Higher Education officials, minsters, undersecretaries, vice chancellors, deans, head of department, academics, researchers, students, youth, NGOs (voluntary) and civil society groups (public).
Focus: Higher education, universities, research institutions, colleges, knowledge-based economy and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Professor Moiz Bakhiet, Professor and Chairman Department of Molecular Medicine CMMS, Arabian Gulf University and Director, Princess Al-Jawhara Center for Molecular Medicine, Genetics and Inherited Disorders, Manama – Bahrain
Dr. Anwar F. A. Dafa-Alla, Assistant Professor Computer Science and Chair, Sudanese Researchers Foundation, Doha – Qatar
Join us for this exciting debate, where international experts and high level Diaspora (students, researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, ordinary citizen) from the public and private sectors will give their views on the critical situation of higher education in Sudan and how the Diaspora can contribute to shaping the future of Sudan’s peace and development.
Today, more than ever before in human history, the wealth or poverty of nations depends on the quality of higher education (HE). Revolutionary breakthroughs in the knowledge economy are leading to remarkable changes in the way forward-looking nations capacitate their graduates. In this era of global skills and knowledge race, all universities cannot fail to realise, accept and accomplish its natural and ascribed roles as a strategic agent for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Universities must confront new realities rapidly manifesting themselves in a diversely complex and fast-changing world. Business as usual will not suffice. Universities need to be expansively re-focused in order to become more sensitive and responsive to its mission of developing graduates who, in addition to conventional graduate training, are also able to fight the intellectual battle for self-confidence and self-assertion as equal players in the global and intensely competitive knowledge economy.
Whilst there has been a tremendous growth in size, the expansion of HE in Sudan has caused average quality of education to decline as resources are stretched increasingly thin. Essentially, the expansion has been less differentiated and, therefore, ill-planned to confront emergent development needs. Rather, what is evident is a stupendous replication of traditional disciplinary-based techniques of knowledge production. These have, nevertheless, increased the richness of knowledge about the universe we live in but without apparently translating or transforming the catchment societal environments in terms of measurable productive capacities. There are also grave concerns that HE in most Arab and African countries is becoming increasingly obsolete which, in part, is why development programmes are stultified even from the outset. There are also serious issues regarding the under-performance in research – state of academic research is less-than-satisfactory in almost all universities in the Arab countries and Africa. Therefore, Sudan HE institutions must confront the ‘new realities’ evident in the environments in which they operate. Many scholars and policy makers have called for a transformative innovation agenda which embraces radical change for new synthesis and approaches for transforming HE in Sudan.
Youth in the Sudan are growing fast and universities and research institutes in Sudan are expected to make a leading contribution by producing graduates ready to grasp the various opportunities generated in the digital economy. It is therefore important that all HE institutions and societies to consider the youth in all their curriculum design, programs development as well as fulfilling their role as major agents in the realisation of the various future strategic visions in most parts of Sudan. According to recent reports by the World Bank, with a large youth representation and youth unemployment ratio, the Arab region faces a potential crisis and the education sector should be reformed to include specific qualifications and specialisations in the digital economy. The private sector can play a larger role in helping governments and academia focus investments on high-priority and high demand skills, thus young students are ready for employment the moment they graduate.
For a recent debate organised by WASD and SK, about the challenges of scientific research and its impact on the development in Sudan, please watch the video.
This multi-disciplinary debate is part of our Sustainability Debate Series aims to provide the participants the opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences from all over the world on major global issues; the emphasis is on the importance of evidence-based planning to overcome the challenges facing global efforts to achieve a sustainable future. For more details watch presentations from WASD’s previous events.
During the debate the panel will answer questions posted by the participants, please send your question for the panel to the debate coordinator (admin@sudanknowledge.org) by the 1st July 2018.
This debate will follow on the previous debates organised by WASD/SK:
- “The role of the private sector and the diaspora in achieving the 2030 SDGs“, held in London 5th February 2018.
- “The future of Sudan after lifting the US sanctions“, held in London 28th October 2017.
- “SUDAN AT A CROSSROADS: Towards a Vision for the Future & Youth Empowerment”, held in London 14th January 2017.
You can watch more videos from our previous events here.
Venue and Registration
The debate is co-organised and hosted by the Centre for Islamic Finance, Law and Communities (CIFLAC), University of East London at the following address: Room 1.01 (Harvard Room), University Square Stratford, 1 Salway Road, E15 1NF, London, United Kingdom
Please complete the form below to pre-book your place at the event. Due to security and logistics issues at the venue, ALL participants must register in advance to attend the event.
REGISTERATION