First and foremost, it is predominantly acknowledged that education is the single most important constituent for a successful society. For centuries throughout the history, education has long afforded people the opportunity to reach their potential as learners who thereby contributed to their societies and civilizations’ development. In light of this, Handong Global University has, since its establishment, stressed on the central role of education, particularly for producing diligent and assiduous students from developing countries who will one day become global leaders helping to construct both global stability and vibrant economies around the world. This core objective of Handong University to generate future leaders with a profound educational and intellectual impact on policy making and capacity building for global development has resulted in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to recognize Handong as a dynamic educational model not only for excellence in education but also for providing access and educational opportunities for students from developing countries such as Afghanistan that has recently recovered from war and strife to achieve not only national recovery but also international presence. Taking this into account, such a promising opportunity for developing countries will allow more students to benefit from advanced educational standards as well as cultural interchange at Handong. Providing such an international academic standard will also enable students from those countries to learn constructive lessons and thereby play vital leadership roles in cultivating a common cause to make the world a peaceful and better place for all. More to the point, Handong ambitiously accentuates rigorous academic preparation with experiential based learning through intensive engagement of students in practical application of projects and researches. This effort at Handong is principally designed to expose students to vigilant and rigorously assimilated academic programs that prepare them to play dynamic roles in their communities, whether local, national or global, particularly in a time of change. Since its foundation, Handong has also attempted to promote the linkage of theory to practice in an attempt to expose students to the rigors and challenges of a diverse and rapidly changing world in which they can become inspired as active international leaders thereby indubitably make stunning differences indispensable for changing the world. Most commendably, the principle goal of Handong University does not merely bind itself to academic excellence. It even extends toward the development of the whole-person character including moral and ethics because those with high morality and ethically-induced characters can best serve as global leaders. Accordingly, the academic and moral education these students receive at Handong will help them grow up as lifelong learners so they are better informed and well-equipped human beings who will escalate their intellectual skills endowing their societies and nations with their knowledge and wisdom. I believe we should all acknowledge that the dawning of a global information age is not a time to retreat into an isolated zone, but to genuinely open our minds to new vistas and opportunities and engage in further learning. Learning itself, from my point of view, should not be an optional proposition. Rather, it should be a mandatory obligation for every human being to strive for a better change in the world. Last of all, since stimulation of international mobility is one of the priorities of the Handong Global University, therefore, it should further invest to produce men and women willing to utilize their intellectual capabilities for the international development as equal players in the emerging globalized world.
Ahmad F. Daudzai (UIL & GM)