Vice Chancellor Honoured to Participate at the American Council on Education Annual Meeting
Vice Chancellor Honoured to Participate at the American Council on Education(ACE) Annual Meeting
On March 6-9, 2010, the Vice Chancellor of HKMU Prof. Keto Mshigeni, was honoured and invited to be a participant at the 92nd Annual Meeting of the American Council on Education(ACE), which was held in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The theme of the Meeting was, Meeting the Challenges Together: Keeping Higher Education at the Top of our 
Nation’s Agenda.ACE Meetings bring together Presidents and other CEO’s of American Universities and Colleges, and offer unique opportunities for exchanging information and sharing experience on issues pertaining to higher education and research across the USA. There were several inspiring plenary lectures that were delivered, and also exciting parallel working sessions that were led by eminent University Presidents, President Emeriti, and other prominent leaders. Very important new publications that give new insights on University leadership, and on strategies towards meeting some of the current challenges facing Universities, were displayed during the conference. The VC purchased several of them (especially those giving clues on how to meet some of the challenges facing HKMU).
Prof. Mshigeni was surprised to note that there is no Federal Ministry of Education in the USA. Each State controls its education standards and funding levels. Due to the global financial crunch affecting all states, State financing to public Universities was reported to be progressively declining, and many Universities and colleges have had to slash down their annual student enrolment numbers. The unfavourable financial climate was also reported to make it harder for students to complete their four-year degree programmes on time, and to cause many drop-out rates, especially in historically black universities, where, in many cases, only 25% of the students were completing their college degrees in the expected four years. This tour was of a great success because the VC managed to establish many new contacts, which we believe will open doors for possible new funding sources for HKMU.