Africa-Press – Mauritius. The Social Science International Research Conference (SSRC) organised by the North West University in collaboration with the Open University of Mauritius, is being held in Mauritius since yesterday at the InterContinental Mauritius Resort Balaclava Fort, and will span up to 21 October 2022.
Present during the Conference this morning, the Minister of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr. Darsanand Balgobin, commended the initiative, which he said reflects the commitment to share expertise with other nations and promote research partnership in the region.
He emphasised on the need to promote such collaboration and research partnership between universities for meaningful purposes and common benefits, and that will be conducive to South-South dialogue and other development.
Mr. Darsanand Balgobin underlined that the theme of the international event is relevant to the rapidly evolving socioeconomic and technological global context. He laid emphasis on the need to engage into researches to meet growing concerns and challenges of the society.
According to Minister Balgobin, academic endeavours are responsive to research needs and dwelt on the need to look into the impacts of new technologies, and how ICT can be harnessed for local and international and global benefits.
The Minister also recalled that the Government finances researches, in particular those that will lead to innovation, and thus urged all interested parties to avail of the numerous schemes being offered.
Moreover, he expressed conviction that Mauritius is poised to be positioned as the digital hub of the region since the Government has already established the conducive ecosystem.
He also pointed out that Mauritius ranks first in Africa and 17th worldwide as per the ITU Global Cybersecurity Index. On his part, the Director-General of the Open University of Mauritius, Dr Kaviraj Sharma Sukon affirmed that his institution values this South-South collaboration.
Speaking about the COVID-19 related challenges, he said that the sudden shift to going digital provided opportunities for all open universities to provide their services to more students as they were already providing lectures on an online-mode.
He added that the Open University of Mauritius provided support to other universities in going digital for conducting lectures. As for the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the North-West University, Professor B.
Surujlal, he said that the partnership undertaken by both institutions, is one step in cementing the relationship between the two institutions and activating other aspects of the Memorandum of Understanding such as staff exchange.
The Conference responds to the monumental challenges experienced by researchers and institutions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he indicated.
Mr. Surujlal also stated that social scientists need to expand and integrate new technologies, app and methods to stay up-to-date with the global trends.
Social Science International Research Conference This Conference provides an opportunity for researchers in Social Sciences to present a paper either in-person or on the virtual platform.
The Conference topic areas focus on economics, finance, business management, corporate and public governance, political science, sociology, marketing, sport management etc. A special stream for PhD students to submit articles and present their findings is being offered.
The aim of the Conference is to bring together a wide audience of academics, PhD students, policymakers and practitioners around various topics, and to engage participants in fruitful debate and research.
The Conference will focus on the theme, ‘Navigating Social Sciences research amidst unprecedented disruption, challenge and crisis: Looking to the future’.
For More News And Analysis About Mauritius Follow Africa-Press
