American Islamic College (AIC) Board of Trustees Member, Dr. Farid Muhammad, and founding member of the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities (iHRAAM), organized the historic inaugural summit event on “Africa and the Global African Diaspora: International Summit of Colleges, Universities, and Ministers of Education,” with the theme “Advancing quality education for all persons of African descent.” The event concluded with the signing of the MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME AND CORE PLANNING GROUP–OFFICE OF HBCU DEVELOPMENT & INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION.
The Summit took place during the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the 23rd of September 2019. Collaborating organizers include, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Regional Bureau for Africa, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), and Office of HBCU Development & International Cooperation (OHBCUD).
The overall objective of this program is to strengthen international partnerships among HBCU, higher educational institutions in Africa and the African Diaspora to advance the quality of education for all persons of African descent.
Keynote speakers
Dr. Ayodele Odusola
Resident Representative, UNDP South Africa
Dr. Reginal Hopkins
Associate Professor, Virginia State University
Keynote address
Ms. Dominique Day
UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent
Dr. Farid Muhammad
Chairman and CEO, CPG-OHBCUD/IHRAAM
Speakers panels
- International partnerships to achieve quality education and training for all persons of African decent
- Institutionalizing financial sustainability of educational organizations serving peolpe of African descent.
Read more from the UN site below:
SDG4: Advancing quality education for all persons of African descent.
“23 Sep 2019 – The technologically interconnected nature of today’s world creates new opportunities for institutions of higher education to work together, across the world, to achieve shared academic and educational goals. Through distance learning, colleges and universities can co-teach classes on any subject, with students based in any country, with instruction in any language. The same technologies can help education institutions share institutional knowledge and best practices that together strengthen their internal operations and build capacities to provide instruction of the highest quality. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as mandated by the UN Secretary General and the General Assembly, is the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) integrator in the United Nations System. Contributing to this mandate with the scale and breadth of colleges and university systems provides new opportunities for accelerating progress on the SDGs. The African continent – and countries with a large African diaspora – host thousands of institutions of higher education, with over 200 Historically Black Colleges and Universities / Primarily Black Institutions in the United States, alone. The variety of academic subjects, number of courses, and number of students of African descent (which likely numbers in the millions) all provide opportunities, through academic partnerships, to strengthen educational institutions and outcomes. The overall objective of the event is to strengthening international partnership among HBCU, higher educational institutions in Africa and the African Diaspora to advance quality of education for all persons of African descent.”