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,
Leaders, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of AKU,
Family members of the graduates,
And most importantly, our shining stars of today,
The Members of the Class of 2024:
As-salaam-o-alaikum, good morning, hamjambo, and welcome to today’s event. I am so grateful to be celebrating our newest graduates with all of you.
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 in particular 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 shared by Her Excellency President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan and His Excellency President of Zanzibar Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi.
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 the success.
Princess Zahra, thank you so very much for joining us as our Chief Guest today. Your presence here today and at all of our events is deeply appreciated. Ladies and gentlemen, a few weeks back, when I requested Princess Zahra to join us for our Convocations across four countries – an eight-day affair – her response was an instant yes. Thank you Princess Zahra. And today we are so delighted to welcome your children, Sara and Iliyan, who are sitting right here with us. Sara and Iliyan have taken the time to engage with us. They have taken their time to visit our AKDN programmes across East Africa, and I hope that they will continue to be engaged and they will come more and more. Thank you very much Sara and Iliyan.
Our founding Chancellor once said that the cornerstone of his vision was opportunity – the opportunity to build a better life for oneself and for one’s family and neighbours. In Tanzania, His Highness created opportunities for millions of people through the agencies and work of the Aga Khan Development Network. He did this, for example, through the financial services of Diamond Trust Bank and Jubilee Insurance. The tourism supported by the Serena Hotels. The restoration projects completed in Zanzibar’s Stone Town. The assistance to farmers provided by the Aga Khan Foundation. The schools of the Aga Khan Education Services. And the hospitals and the health facilities of the health agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network.
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 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 the Class of 2024, ladies and gentlemen, I see hope taking root – right here, right now!
This week, at our ceremonies in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Pakistan, 850 talented women and men will step forward into a new phase in their lives. They are educators, they are nurses, they are midwives; journalists, media leaders, and researchers. They are men and women of science and scholarship.
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 true then is equally true today. I could not feel more hopeful today, today seeing the Class of 2024 bear the lamp of knowledge into the world. That is especially the case since we have reached a milestone in the history of AKU. This year, we are awarding our 5,000th degree or diploma in East Africa.
Our graduates are not the only reason for the 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 recognitions earned by its health facilities and academic programmes. Our research output is at an all-time high – triple of what it was a decade ago! – and it is aimed squarely at crucial challenges that we face: climate change, cancer, maternal and child health, predictive health, the lack of learning in our schools etc. AKU continues to expand its scope, with nine new degrees launched in the last three years, including the four-year Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing here in Dar es Salaam.
AKU continues to work with the Aga Khan Health Services to build a truly integrated health system that spans East Africa. In Tanzania, the system consists of two hospitals and 22 outreach health centres that cares for almost a million patients annually – giving us an increasingly effective platform for health care delivery, education, research, and partnership. As you know, this also now includes the Cancer Centre at the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam, a 25 billion shilling project that is greatly expanding access to cancer care.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to report that AKU has been ranked amongst the top 150 universities in the world in several fields. And this has only been made possible with the strong support, dedication of our faculty and staff, our donors, our volunteers, partners, and alumni – to all of whom we are deeply grateful.
All this, and more, bodes well. The future of our graduates is bright, and so is that of our University.
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 the uncharted waters where new knowledge is discovered.
The seeds of hope you plant, the bridges you build, and the knowledge you create will be a rich addition to the remarkable legacy our founding Chancellor has left here in Tanzania.
Dear graduates, congratulation once again, and welcome to the ranks of the alumni of the Aga Khan University.
Thank you.
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