Minister attends contract signing to establish TUM Kuwait branch

KUWAIT: Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Mohammad Al-Fares reaffirmed Kuwait’s keenness on supporting scientists and adoption of modern and innovative techniques to promote scientific research. Science is key to building a knowledgebased society, finding solutions to the problems facing the improvement of infrastructure and realization of development targets, he said Tuesday evening.

The minister made the comments during the signing ceremony of a contract to launch Kuwait branch of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in the presence of German Ambassador to Kuwait Karlfried Bergner and TUM President Wolfgang A Herrmann.

Dr Fares attended the ceremony on behalf of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, the sponsor of the event. He said the patronage of the event by His Highness the Prime Minister signals that Kuwait attaches great importance to science and scientists, recalling the Amiri decrees to approve the launching of private universities.

He voiced hope that the new TUM subsidiary will provide a platform for scholars to keep abreast with the latest developments in the hi-tech fields and find effective solutions to the economic, political and social challenges facing the nowadays world. “The accelerated changes in the world of technology and the requirements of the labor market prompted Kuwait’s political leadership to prioritize the strategies for provision of quality education and modernization of academic programs,” Dr Fares pointed out.

He praised the TUM as one of the world’s top universities that is committed to excellence in research and teaching, interdisciplinary education and the active promotion of promising young scientists. The university was one of the first universities in Germany to be named a University of Excellence; it is regularly ranks among the best European universities, he added.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Bergner commended as exemplary the German-Kuwaiti relationships in the political, economic, cultural and educational areas. The launching of TUM branch in Kuwait will give momentum to bilateral ties in all these fields, he said. Bergner noted that the number of Kuwaiti students studying in Germany lags behind the potentials of the close relationship between the two countries, voicing hope for increasing this number in the coming years. On his part, TUM President spoke of the history of the TUM, saying it goes back to the founding year of 1868.

The idea TUM embodies has deservedly made it famous for excellent education in the scientific and technical disciplines, energized by the allure and adventure of research, cultivating both personal character and a shared culture, Wolfgang A Herrmann said.