Premium
President Klaus Iohannis sent a message on Monday on the occasion of the 7th ASEF Rectors' Conference and Student's Forum, held in Bucharest, advocating for the strengthening of the collaboration of higher education institutions in Romania with international partners, according to Agerpres.
"I would like to extend an invitation to our international partners to strengthen their cooperation with higher education institutions in Romania and to assure that the international academic partnerships have an ally in the person of the President of Romania. I will do my best to promote the internationalization of education as a bridge between our societies," President Iohannis said in the message presented by presidential advisor Ligia Deca.
According to him, the relationship between Europe and Asia is a "driver of global progress and must be multi-sectoral".
"Universities are often considered to be trailblazers, with a role to play in building a sustainable economy as the initiator of social and economic change. The limited resources of our planet have not prevented us - so far - from advancing in various areas, for example by reducing extreme poverty, but we still have many problems to face, with fewer resources available than in the past. Keeping old consumer habits is no longer an option if we want to protect the planet for future generations,'' said Iohannis.
He has shown that changing individual behaviors is not enough to combat climate change and that technology plays a critical role.
"200 years ago, the Malthusian catastrophe regarding overpopulation proved to be unfounded: technological developments have allowed modern agriculture to reduce the share of people at risk of starvation to a historically low level. At present, similar revolutions are needed on how we produce in reducing the use of resources used in accessing services, but also in our everyday lives. Technological transformations that will generate these revolutions will probably appear in the laboratories of our universities. Higher education has the unique ability to identify the needs of the moment, to find opportunities for research and exploit its results to promote sustainable development. The synergy resulting from inter-university cooperation and collaborative projects can only accelerate our progress toward achieving sustainable development goals," Iohannis said.
He mentioned that in Romania students and their representatives are increasingly involved in the development of public policies, and the exchange of good practices with regard to their inclusion in the decision-making process is valuable.
