Accra, Nov. 12, GNA - The Association of African Universities (AAU) on Thursday commemorated the African University (AU) Day with a lecture on the theme: "The Contribution of African Universities to the Achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals" in Accra. The celebration brought together public universities in Ghana, which are all members of the AAU, as well as other private universities, tertiary education institutions, non-high education institutions, the productive sector, the corporate world, and the general public. Dr Ramil Kamaluddeen, General Secretary of the Association said the Day would create awareness on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) and identify the role higher education institutions could play to contribute to the attainment of the goals.

He said the Day provided institutions that were already contributing their quota to the achievement of the MDGs to evaluate what had been done and strategise on the way forward in terms of recommitting to achieving the goals.

Dr Kamaluddeen said in order to attain the MDGs it was important for higher institutions to focus on advocacy, work on the ground and contribute to the monitoring and evaluation of educational systems. He said changing the contents of universities curricula, building innovative ways of funding, establishing partnership and doing better by marketing universities were keen to attaining the MDGs. Dr Kamaluddeen called on authorities to assist higher educational institutions in Africa to develop capacity in respect to research to achieve the United Nations MDGs.

The AAU is an international non-governmental organistion set up by universities in Africa to promote cooperation among themselves and between the international academic community. It also raises the quality of higher education in Africa and strengthens its contribution to African development by fostering cooperation and collaboration among its member institutions. 12 Nov. 10