Kardan University’s Quality Assurance Coordinator, Mr. Waheedullah Afghan was invited by MoHE to participate in the APQN Annual Academic Conference on “Quality Assurance in the Asia-Pacific Region: Insights into the Future.” The event was held from 28-31 of March 2019, at Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The purpose of the visit was not only to represent Kardan University at the event but also to learn about the nature of operations and Internal Quality Assurance units at Quality Assurance Agencies in other Asian Countries, as well as receiving Kardan University’s membership certificate from the President of the Asia Pacific Quality Network.

The conference which was hosted by APQN’s President, Ms. Zianxin Zhan, was attended by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe and Speaker of the Parliament Mr. Karu Jayasuriya, who talked about the importance of quality assurance in higher education and achievements of the Sir Lankan government in this regard.

There were following two keynote speeches delivered at the conference.

1. The first keynote speech was by Prof. Jamil Salmi, Global Tertiary Education Expert, and former World Bank Tertiary Education Coordinator, Morocco on “Cultural Diversity and its Implications for the Quality of Cross Border Higher Education.”

2. The second keynote speaker was Dr. Peter J. Wells, Chief of Higher Education, UNESCO. Mr. Wells’ topic was “Institutional Quality Begins at Home: Building Inclusive Internal Culture(s) of Enhancement.”