ASEAN: BRUNEI DARUSSALAM- Strengthening ASEAN higher education
Minister of Education Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hamzah bin Haji Sulaiman attends the virtual meeting. PHOTO: MOE /
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Minister of Education Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hamzah bin Haji Sulaiman attended the virtual G20 Research Ministers’ Meeting yesterday.
The G20 is an international forum that brings together the world’s major economies and has met annually since 1999. Brunei Darussalam, as Chair of the Association of Souteast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for 2021, was invited as special guest of the Republic of Italy as the G20 President for 2021.
Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Hamzah shared some initiatives taken by both ASEAN and the Ministry of Education (MoE) in the field of research and higher education. This includes the focus of ASEAN in strengthening the role of ASEAN higher education institutions through the provision of flexible, innovative, multi-disciplinary, cross-border education and research collaboration. In tandem with this, ASEAN also emphasises on the promotion of 21st Century skills as ASEAN works towards its digital transformation.
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The minister also informed the meeting of the MoE’s initiatives in equipping graduates for the digital future in alignment with the country’s Digital Economy Masterplan 2025. In addition, programmes are designed to focus on new and emerging technologies, particularly in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, data science and data analytics in higher education institutions in the country.
This year’s G20 Research Ministers’ Meeting was attended by ministers, deputy ministers and representatives in research and higher education of the G20 members which included Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Russian Federation, Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Also present were Singapore, Spain and the Netherlands as special guests to the G20 meetings. In addition, regional and international organisations such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the African Union (AU), also attended the meetings.
The meeting concluded with the adoption of the Declaration of the G20 Research Ministers’ Meeting.
Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the MoE Dr Haji Azman bin Ahmad, Head of Department of Higher Education Hajah Anis Faudzulani binti Haji Dzulkiflee and MoE officials were also present.
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