The Commonwealth Tertiary Education Facility (CTEF), has appointed Kaduna State University (KASU) as its focal point and gateway to Commonwealth Africa.
The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Muhammad Tanko, said in a statement in Kaduna on Monday that with this development, KASU was to facilitate, support, and expand CTEF’s activities among universities in Africa.
In the statement, Tanko said that as CTEF’s network partner, KASU would equally bid for research grants and funding for projects and programmes, as well as conduct trainings in the context of Commonwealth Africa.
He said that the letter of the appointment was signed by the CTEF Director, Prof. Morshidi Sirat.
He said that the letter referred to the CTEF’s term of reference, which allows for the appointment of focal persons or focal points among researchers or entities within the universities in the Commonwealth.
“This appointment followed the pilot training on Higher Education Leadership and Management, conducted by CTEF at KASU, between Feb. 25 and 26, which was a huge success.
“By this, CTEF is confident that KASU has the capacity to roll out such trainings to other institutions of higher education in Commonwealth Africa, on behalf of CTEF.
“Under the CTEF’s Strategic Plan 2019 to 2021, and Action Plan 2019-2021, CTEF will be working towards strengthening its governance structure and operation arrangement with partners and collaborators in the Commonwealth.
“This is to ensure meaningful impacts and outcomes of CTEF’s programmes and activities, especially in the developing countries of the Commonwealth”, said Tanko, quoting the letter from CTEF.
The Vice Chancellor explained that CTEF was a collaboration between the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, and the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
He said that the collaboration was to strengthen the link among Commonwealth countries in the development of tertiary education.
Tanko added the CTEF network of partners were expected to generate knowledge and share good practices on tertiary education among Commonwealth countries.