NHEF News

New Online Database Skills Inventory Management System (SIMS) Links Nigerian Universities with International Experts

New York, NY, October 31, 2008 – The Nigeria Higher Education Foundation (NHEF), a nonprofit organization which promotes excellence in Nigerian higher education, announced that it will host its first annual international symposium at Columbia University in New York City on November 13, 2008.

The Symposium, entitled “Ivory Towers and Beyond – The Role of Partnerships in African Sustainable Development – Case Study: Nigeria”, will highlight the contributions made by prominent experts and researchers to help Nigeria attain Millennium Development Goals, featuring a keynote address by Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs, PhD, who is the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending extreme global poverty.

Leaders of the five NHEF Universities as well as renowned scientists, policymakers and business professionals in the diaspora will discuss the challenges and opportunities in education and socio-economic development in emerging economies with a special focus on the case of Nigeria. 

“Nigeria, finally emerging from decades of poor leadership and poor governance is currently enjoying a stable political environment and economic growth that is improving the standard of living of Nigerians. It is time to join the effort toward a sustainable economic development by highlighting the important role of improving and diversifying the education system while exploring opportunities for global collaboration,” says NHEF President C. Sola Olopade, MD, FCCP and Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Education as an economic driver is anticipated to be a focal point of the Symposium, featuring a luncheon address on the subject by the Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological research university in the United States.  Her address sets the stage for the launch of NHEF’s innovative web-based platform, Skills Inventory Management System (SIMS), which is designed to link Nigerian universities with faculty and experts in various disciplines who are based in the USA.  In partnership with the Scientists Without Borders project of the New York Academy of Sciences, SIMS will offer access to a global pool of experts who are willing to contribute to the educational needs of the NHEF universities.

The Symposium and the SIMS project will build and expand on academic and other linkages between Nigerian and foreign universities by convening Nigerian professionals in the diaspora and friends of Nigeria in the USA.

To learn more about the NHEF Symposium on November 13, 2008 at Low Library, Columbia University, please visit: http://www.thenhef.org/events.html?id=8

About the Nigeria Higher Education Foundation

The Nigeria Higher Education Foundation (NHEF) was established in 2004 with seed funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in order to promote excellence in Nigerian higher education.  Since 2004 NHEF has demonstrated its leadership and commitment to develop skills and build capacity for Nigeria’s educational institutions.  NHEF seeks to assist Nigerian universities to become self sustaining and to supplement governmental funding by creating a culture of philanthropy not just within university alumni community living in Nigeria but by mobilizing friends and alumni of the universities in the Diaspora.

NHEF Universities:
- Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
- Bayero University, Kano
- University of Ibadan, Ibadan
- University of Nigeria, Nsukka
- University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt

download pdf version
For more information please visit www.thenhef.org