The 4th International U6 Conference has been held at the University of Cape Coast with a call on Higher Education Institutions in Africa to play active and meaningful roles in the development of their respective countries while contributing towards the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).

U6 Conference

The U6 started as collaboration between the Universities of Cape Coast and Illorin but has been expanded to include other universities. It is a forum that brings together, academics, administrative and professionals to brainstorm on varied topics that affect society. The theme for 2016 conference is “Addressing The Sustainable Development Goals Through Collaborative and Transnational Research”.

Opening Remarks

Opening the conference, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. D. D. Kuupole, said such conferences afforded opportunity for participants to examine common issues confronting society and determine how participants could collectively help to find the needed solutions. He urged participants to come out with a position paper on the theme for submission to the relevant authorities.

Familiarity with SDGs

The keynote speaker, Prof. E. E. Ehile, averred that currently, the SDGs were better known to higher education sector more than the Millennium Development Goals were in the 2000s. He noted that during the first five years of the introduction of the MDGs, most higher education institutions did not know much about them: there were those that felt that eradicating extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality were the responsibility of government.

However, Prof. Ehile asserted that higher education institutions were better poised now to contribute to the SDGs. “A quick look at the SDGs shows that they cover a very wide range of specific areas such as agriculture, health, gender equality, water and sanitation, energy and industry. In fact, many of them [higher education institutions] are already contributing to these areas”, he said.

SDGs and MDGs

Prof. Ehile reminded participants that there were some key differences between the MDGs and the SDGs. Explaining that unlike the MDGs, which had only 8 and 21 targets, the SDGs comprise ambitious set of 17 goals and 169 targets.

“Also, while MDGs targeted mainly low-income countries, the SDGs are directed to all countries of the world”, he said.

Explaining further, Prof. Ehile said the process of arriving at the SDGs differed from that of the MDGs. While the latter was drafted by a relatively small group with limited consultations with relevant stakeholders, the SDGs were crafted by a group of not less than 70 countries including developing ones, which took into consideration the recommendations of not just governments but also eminent persons in academia, the private sector and civil society.

The keynote speaker, who is also the Secretary General of the Association of African Universities, said the most important thing was the strategy higher education institutions should adopt to contribute to the SGDs. To this end, Prof. Ehile said there was the need for the SDGs to be supported at the national levels and urged ministries responsible for higher education institutions to promote the SDGs by introducing them into their education policies. He said the SDGs provided an opportunity for collaboration and partnerships such as South-South and North-South cooperation and asked participants to ensure that “we do not miss such great opportunities”, he concluded.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, who chaired the opening ceremony, noted that the SDGs could not succeed without university education.