Meru University opened its second annual International Conference on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on Tuesday, which attracts participants from all over the world. The theme of the three-day conference is leveraging interlinkages among the SDGs to realize the 2030 agenda through research and innovation in the post-COVID era. Speaking during the official opening of the conference, Higher Education Principal Secretary Dr Beatrice Inyangala said the conference theme was not only timely but also crucial for the country’s collective journey towards sustainable development. She said the problems facing Africa are not confined within the locality and country but interconnected, and therefore, looking at the SDGs across the board, it is possible to attack this problem from the onset. ‘I applaud the University for acting as a catalyst for increased efforts, research, and innovation as a way of creating new opportunities and solving societal problems. I also commend the National Research Fund for facilitating research for the advancement of science and technology,’ said Dr Inyangala. She said the role of research in institutions of higher learning is critical and indeed the real driver for pushing the country’s knowledge forward, adding that the conference was not only important to Meru University but to university education at large, both nationally and internationally. She implored researchers to invest in strategic international linkages and collaborations to benefit learners and the country at large. ‘Partnership is a vital driver for not only research and innovation but also capacity development as well as internalization. I encourage you to take strong and strategic and industrial linkages and collaborations as well,’ said Dr Inyangala. She said research should be development-oriented and tailored not only to benefit the community and country but also to continuously grow the knowledge base that forms the domains of our disciplines. She challenged all the Universities to work towards contributing to the digital transformation strategy for Africa, which aims to harness digital technologies and innovations to transform African societies and economies by 2030. This will be well aligned with the Kenyan government’s digital superhighway plan, which aims to put the country on the path of becoming the world’s digital workforce. She said skills in entrepreneurship are very critical in this era, and its education is important for empowering students to play their roles in their communities as a source of start-ups. ‘I urge you to enthusiastically tap into this field, which is a pillar in achieving the bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda. Our office is ready to hold your hand and create the right synergy that you need to move this research from the basic output towards commercialization,’ she said. She said the ministry of education was supporting this by not only promoting knowledge but also creating and diversifying financial resources for the universities. On the Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) Curriculum, the PS said that this comes as a pathway for the creation of an educational program which imparts the learner with the necessary skills and competencies that will make them active, creative, cooperative, and capable of combining theoretical knowledge, hence innovative and practical ideas. ‘The level of preparedness of institutions of higher learning in mainstreaming the CBET curriculum is to a large extent unexplored, and therefore, in the realm of the social sciences, this is another rich opportunity for research,’ she said, adding that it was paramount for universities of science and technology to embark on a move to play an enabling role in the implementation of CBET and to remain relevant in making new research, innovations, and technological challenges towards the attainment of middle-level industrial start-ups. She said the ministry of education was increasingly investing resources in research because the country needs to drive its own research agenda and welcome international partnerships since they are very important in exposing the country to new ways of doing things. ‘As a ministry, I assure you of our commitment to continue supporting research institutions and uplift our communities and those supporting the advancement of the economy in both national and global communities. Let us seize this opportunity to forge new partnerships, generate innovative ideas, and develop actionable solutions for a brighter, all-inclusive, and sustainable future,’ said Dr Inyangala. Meru University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Romanus Odhiambo, said there was a need to embrace the research agenda as a duty and give students the best guidance so that they become great researchers. He called on the government to set aside more funds for funding postgraduate researchers in order to put the country ahead in terms of economic development. ‘It’s unfortunate that as a country we do not have money put aside for postgraduate research in universities. We need to have strategic ways in which we can put money into research at the postgraduate level,’ said Professor Odhiambo. He said this year’s conference aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, civil society, and other stakeholders from different disciplines and regions to share their insights, experiences, and solutions on how to address the complex and interrelated challenges of achieving the SDGs in a post-pandemic world. The conference will feature keynote speeches, plenary and parallel sessions, poster presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities.

Source: Kenya News Agency