ABOUT THE FORUM | PROGRAMME | PARTICIPANTS | COMMITTEES | ABOUT HARARE

VENUE: THE RAINBOW TOWERS, HARARE, ZIMBABWE

DATES: 15 TO 16 AUGUST 2012

Introduction

The Sub Forum for the 6^th World Women University Presidents Forum (WWUPF) will be hosted in Zimbabwe by the Women’s University In Africa on the 15^th and 16^th of August 2012 at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe. This is the first time that an activity supporting the Forum has been held in AfricaWomen Vice Chancellors from all over the world will converge to discuss and share ideas regarding the empowerment of women to increase their participation and taking up leadership roles in all sectors of the economy. Guests of Honour; Honourable Joice Teurayi Ropa Mujuru the Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, and Professor Hu Zhifeng, National Professor of China will officially open the Sub-Forum. Keynote speakers who will present papers on the Sub-Forum Theme, “Sustainable Development through University Partnerships to Empower Women for Leadership Roles” will be: Professor Liu Jinan, President of the World Women University Presidents Forum and Honorary President, Communication University of China; Professor Hope Cynthia Sadza, Vice-Chancellor & Co-Founder of the Women’s University in Africa, Zimbabwe; and Professor Gulsun Saglamer, Former Rector, Istanbul Technical University in Turkey.

Historical Background of the Forum

The World Women University Presidents Forum (WWUPF) was launched by the Communication University of China (CUC) in 2001, with the aim of pooling together strengths of women university presidents from all over the world as well as creating an international platform for these women to communicate, collaborate and share new ideas. Since year 2001, five successful Forums have been held, attracting more than 600 women university presidents from nearly 60 countries the world over.

The Forum has developed into a worldwide influential brand drawing women university Presidents/Vice Chancellors as major participants. It is held at intervals of every two or three years and has covered diverse topics that all relate to the empowerment of women through the provision of higher education. This sub forum of the 6^th World Women University Presidents Forum to be held in 2013 will run under the theme “Sustainable Development through University Partnerships to Empower Women for Leadership Roles.” At this gathering, women University presidents, Vice Chancellors, Pro Vice-Chancellors, Academics, Diplomats and Politicians will discuss and critique this year’s theme and sub themes as a precursor to the main forum in 2013. The WWPUF and its related activities have also achieved recognition as an important player in the empowerment of women through enabling them to attain higher academic qualifications and enhancing their research capacity. This has resulted in more women becoming eligible and therefore taking up leadership roles in both the private and public sectors of the economy.

Theme and Sub-themes of the Sub-Forum

The Theme of the Sub-Forum is “Sustainable Development through University Partnerships to Empower Women for Leadership Roles.”

The Theme has been broken down into the following three sub-themes:

1. Strategies to strengthen university partnerships for the empowerment of women worldwide;
2. Setting the Agenda to address women empowerment through higher education-challenges, opportunities and achievements; and
3. Preparing women for leadership roles to promote equity and openness .

An array of renowned university leaders and other prominent academics will present on these sub-themes in plenary sessions which are then followed by breakaway group discussions to interrogate the presentations. By the end of the Sub-Forum, the following objectives will have been achieved:

Objectives of the Sub-Forum

· To create networking opportunities for women university leaders across the Globe.

· To highlight the perceptions and unique challenges regarding women empowerment in both developed and developing countries.

· To set the framework for the establishment of an African Chapter of the WWUPF.

· To define the conceptual issues to be covered during the 6^th World Women University Presidents Forum in 2013.

Conclusion

The timing of this Sub-Forum is particularly appropriate as it enables the women university leaders to assess the contributions of their institutions towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly MDG 3 which advocates the promotion of gender equity and empowerment of women by 2015. The current Global economic challenges have posed impediments that may distract the programmes that had been put in place to improve the participation and status of women in socio-economic development. Deliberate efforts are therefore required to keep women empowerment as one of the critical issues in development agendas of all countries. Economic development can only be optimized if the capacities of both women and men are tapped into. The role of universities in capacitating women to take up more active roles and make their full contributions in all sectors of the economy is therefore paramount.