Luanda — Angola is participating from this Wednesday in Maputo, Mozambique, in the international conference to celebrate 60 years of higher education in Angola and Mozambique, under the motto "Consolidating a quality higher education".
The three-day conference, chaired by the President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, will present general thematic areas of teaching and learning in higher education, governance, administration and management of higher education, as well as strategic and across issues in education.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Angolan minister of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, made it known that by celebrating 60 years of higher education, one is also celebrating the conquest of knowledge, which has been transforming both countries since independence.
The minister said that she is aware of the multiple challenges facing Angola, especially in higher education, aiming at increasing access to learning, creating conditions for academic success, but ensuring quality and equity, so that higher education fulfil its social role, which is the construction of a peaceful, just and sustainable society.
To the Angolan government, facing these challenges requires the conception and implementation of a sustained and sustainable development strategy. Therefore, since January this year, the Angolan government has been relying on the World Bank's Technical Assistance for the elaboration of a higher education development strategy for the next 10 years, the Higher Education White Paper within the framework of Agenda 2030 and the vision for Africa 2063, for its implementation in the successive five-year national development plan.
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On his turn, the President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, said that the conference represents an important milestone on the journey of both countries in relation to the challenge and prospects of higher education.
The Mozambican leader highlighted the achievements made by his country since 1975 in the higher education domain, stressing that currently there are 56 institutions in all provinces, 22 of which are public, with 140 students, and 34 private, with 106,716 students.
However, the 60 years celebrations of higher education in Angola and Mozambique are a fundamental occasion for the governments to mobilize several sections of society, national and foreign, to take part in debates regarding reforms of public policies of higher education and the consequent actions, in the search for feasible proposals to respond to the main challenges, through national, regional, international conferences, online events and other modalities to gather the best of the collective intelligence on public field that at a later stage, can be transformed into concrete plans of action.
The conference takes place in hybrid format (face-to-face and online), and the presentations of scientific papers will be organized in main conferences, parallel sessions and round tables panels.
