The Vice President for University Relations at the nation’s premier university, the University of Liberia, Atty. Norris Tweah has stressed the importance of government-university relations in improving the quality of higher education in Liberia.

Atty. Tweah challenged institutions of higher learning to align their goals and objectives to government development agenda if they must realize a key objective of producing quality men and women who will take responsibility of leadership roles in their country.

Atty. Tweah named past and present government development agendas, including the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), the Agenda for Transformation (AfT), the Pro-Poor Agenda for Development and the recently concluded 150-day deliverable of President Weah, among others, agendas that universities and colleges must adapt in their development strategy.

Atty. Tweah said universities and colleges must develop robust approaches to engage national government, stressing that “Universities and colleges must adapt effective and coordinated approach to advance their case for development if they must achieve their objective of producing competent men and women to run the affairs of the country.”

To do that, Atty. Tweah urged the Association of Liberian Universities (ALU) to recruit and train individuals with expertise who would be given the responsibility of achieving and upholding sustained government-university relations.

“Stakeholders of higher learning of institutions are the ones that determine the development prospects in their respective institutions. Therefore, they must take responsibility of providing awareness of the important role universities and colleges can play in the development agenda of the country,” Atty. Tweah reminded.

Atty. Tweah is meanwhile calling on the Government of Liberia to give more support to the Association of Liberian Universities (ALU) to provide quality higher education in Liberia.

He spoke recently on the topic “Government-universities Relations” during a one-day leadership conference organized by the Association of Liberian Universities held at the Monrovia City Hall.

Dr. Joseph Isaac, president of the Association of Liberian Universities thanked heads of institutions of higher learning and participants for the knowledge shared and at the same time identifying challenges and prospects for the Association to move forward.

The University of Liberia was represented by Dr. Ophelia Inez Weeks who spoke and received certificate of recognition for her support to higher education in Liberia. The Dean of the Louis Arthur Grimes School of Law Counselor T. Negbalee Warner also presented at the conference.