Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim
Our Chancellor, His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan,
Our Chief Guest, Princess Zahra Aga Khan,
Chair Zakir Mahmood and members of the AKU Board of Trustees,
Chair Moyez Alibhai and members of AKU’s Kenya University Council,
Leaders, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of the University,
Family members of the graduands,
And most importantly our stars of today,
The members of the Class of 2024:
As-salaam-o-alaikum, good morning, hamjambo, and welcome to Convocation. I am so grateful to have all of you with us, and to be celebrating our newest graduates with you.
Today, we have come together at a unique moment in the life of our University. On February 4th, we lost our Founder and Chancellor of more than four decades, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV. With his passing, AKU lost its visionary guide, its greatest advocate, and a powerful source of inspiration. And the world lost one of its foremost humanitarians. A man of peace, our founding Chancellor worked tirelessly to alleviate suffering, build people’s capacities, and advance the development of Africa and Asia.
While we reflect on this tremendous loss, we warmly appreciate the tributes to His Highness received from leaders, partners, and friends far and wide. This includes, with our sincere gratitude, the words of sympathy and appreciation shared by His Excellency President William Ruto and the warm tributes delivered in the National Assembly of Kenya.
Ladies and gentlemen, we also welcome, with the greatest optimism, tremendous enthusiasm, and the highest hopes, His Highness Prince Rahim Aga Khan as the 50th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, and AKU’s Chancellor. We pledge to His Highness our full support as he takes forward the leadership of the Aga Khan Development Network, and we warmly wish him all success.
Princess Zahra, thank you so very much for joining us as our Chief Guest. Your presence here today and at all our Convocation ceremonies is so deeply appreciated. Ladies and gentlemen, a few weeks ago, when I requested that Princess Zahra consider attending all four of our Convocations – an eight-day affair –across four countries, her response was an instant yes! Thank you, Princess Zahra. And today we are so delighted to also welcome your children, Sara and Iliyan to this Convocation. Thank you for making the time. AKU has benefitted tremendously from Princess Zahra’s wisdom, leadership, and guidance in navigating challenges while pushing forward our very ambitious agenda.
Our founding Chancellor once said that the cornerstone of his vision was opportunity – the opportunity to build a better life for oneself and one’s family. In Kenya and its neighbours, His Highness created opportunities for millions of people through the Aga Khan Development Network. He did so, for example, through the financial services of Diamond Trust Bank and Jubilee Insurance. The tourism encouraged by the Serena Hotels. The support for farmers by Frigoken. The schools of the Aga Khan Education Services. And the hospitals and health facilities of the AKDN health agencies.
Here at AKU, he gave our graduates an opportunity they have seized upon – to acquire new knowledge, new skills, and a new perspective on their capacity to lead change.
At our Convocation ceremonies in East Africa in 2015, His Highness asked a memorable question: “In the search for Africa’s development, how can any of us forget that throughout human history there has never been greatness without expanded knowledge?” And he further asked, “Is this not the precise purpose of a great university?” AKU will always remain true to this purpose and to its mission of educating leaders for Kenya and for all the countries we serve.
As we reflect on the transformational vision and lessons of our founder, we are united by what he called the most potent force for progress the world has ever known – and that, ladies and gentlemen, is hope. When hope takes root, he said, optimism can replace uncertainty, cooperation can replace conflict, and stagnation can give way to an unstoppable forward momentum.
Looking out at the members of our Class of 2024, I see hope taking root – right here, right now!
This week and the next week, at our Convocation ceremonies in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Pakistan, 850 shining stars, women and men, will step forward into a new phase of their lives. They are educators, nurses, midwives, doctors, journalists, media leaders, and researchers. They are women and men of science and scholarship.
They will deliver health care of outstanding quality and compassion to those in need. Provide leadership in clinics, hospitals, schools, media organizations, and civil society. Expand the boundaries of global knowledge, and develop innovative, contextually relevant solutions to widespread problems. Study, work, teach, and research at some of the finest institutions in their home countries and around the world.
At a previous Convocation, our founding Chancellor described AKU’s graduates as “symbolizing the hopes and aspirations” that millions hold for themselves and their families. He called them “a powerful light.”
What was then true is equally true today. I could not feel more hopeful today, seeing the Class of 2024 bear the lamp of knowledge into the world. This is especially the case given that we have reached a milestone in the history of the Aga Khan University. This year, we are awarding our 5,000th degree or diploma in East Africa.
Our graduates are not the only reason for optimism that I see today.
AKU’s capacity for excellence has never been greater, as demonstrated by the honours its faculty are winning, and the international recognition earned by its health facilities and academic programmes. Our research output is at an all-time high – triple what it was a decade ago! – and it is aimed squarely at crucial challenges: health in the age of climate change, cancer, maternal and child health, and the quality of learning in our schools. Here in Kenya, AKU is leading studies on the use of artificial intelligence to identify people at risk of future health problems, and to find new ways to limit the toll of dementia. Our partners on these projects include the University of Michigan, the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., and the Wellcome Trust – some of the biggest names in global research.
The University is also expanding its scope, with nine new degrees launched in the last three years. In Kenya, those new programmes include our Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery; our four-year Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing; and our Master’s in Strategic Communications. AKU continues to work with the Aga Khan Health Services to build a truly integrated health system that spans in East Africa. In Kenya, the AKDN health system encompasses four hospitals and consists nearly 80 outreach health centres that care, ladies and gentlemen, for more than one and a half million patients each year. This gives us an increasingly powerful platform for health care delivery, education, research, and partnership.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to report that our University has been ranked among the top 150 universities in the world in several fields. And this has been made possible with the strong support of our faculty and staff, our donors, volunteers, partners, and alumni – to whom we are deeply grateful, and we say thank you.
All this, and more, bodes well. The future of our graduates is bright, and so is that of AKU.
Graduates, in thinking of your bright futures, I am reminded of the words our founder addressed to the Class of 2022, at the conclusion of what would be his final Convocation message. I will echo them today.
My wish for all of you is that you will experience the joy of planting hope in people’s lives. The rewards of building bridges of understanding between people of different backgrounds. And the thrill of venturing into uncharted waters where new knowledge is discovered.
Graduates, the seeds of hope you plant, the bridges you build, and the knowledge you create will be a rich addition to the remarkable legacy of our founding Chancellor who has left here in Kenya.
Congratulations once again, and welcome to the ranks of the alumni of the Aga Khan University.
Thank you.
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