Education as the Bridge Between Nations: Kenya and Malaysia Shape the Global South Agenda

Kenya and Malaysia stand at a pivotal moment in education cooperation. On November 24, 2025, Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba welcomed delegates to the Malaysia-Africa Higher Education Forum 2025, calling it a "trademark event" that signals a fundamental shift in how developing nations approach higher education partnerships. The partnership between Kenya and Malaysia is built on warm and long-standing bilateral relations founded on shared values of mutual respect, cooperation, and a common vision for development. Both nations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding focused on four core areas: academic mobility, joint research, scholarships, and capacity building. This cooperation comes at a pivotal moment for countries of the Global South that share a vision of inclusive growth, innovation, and human cultural development as key drivers of progress.

Why This Partnership Matters Now

Kenya and Malaysia enjoy enduring friendships and growing partnerships with each other and across the wider African region. In the field of higher education, collaboration has grown steadily, marked by student exchanges and dynamic partnerships and policy dialogue between institutions. Yet this new Memorandum of Understanding signals movement beyond informal cooperation into formal, structured partnership.

The Cabinet Secretary emphasized that as countries of the Global South, both nations share a vision of inclusive growth, innovation, and human cultural development as the key drivers of progress. Education stands as the cornerstone of sustainable development and mutual prosperity, requiring new approaches that reflect the realities and strengths of developing economies. The forum provides a unique platform to reflect on learning at the forefront of transformation by fostering academic collaboration, joint research, innovation ecosystems, student mobility, and cultural exchanges.

The Four Pillars of Cooperation

The Memorandum of Understanding establishes four specific areas that form the foundation of Kenya-Malaysia education cooperation.

Academic Mobility

Student exchanges and faculty movement between institutions create direct pathways for learning and institutional development. Academic mobility moves beyond individual opportunity to become a mechanism for knowledge systems to learn from each other. When students from Kenya study in Malaysia and vice versa, they carry insights back that reshape curriculum, pedagogy, and institutional practice.

Joint Research

Both nations commit to collaborative research projects. The partnership emphasizes innovation ecosystems where researchers from Kenya and Malaysia work on problems affecting both countries. Research conducted jointly builds intellectual capacity within both nations rather than extracting knowledge to external centers. The focus is on solutions designed for and tested within developing country contexts.

Scholarships

Scholarships make higher education accessible to students who would otherwise face financial barriers. They serve not only as individual support but as a mechanism for ensuring that partnership benefits reach students from all economic backgrounds, including the most disadvantaged. Scholarships enable talent to rise regardless of family wealth.

Capacity Building

Both nations invest in strengthening institutional and human capacity. Capacity building ensures that expertise and systems developed through the partnership remain embedded within local institutions. The goal is to create permanent improvements to education systems rather than temporary improvements that depend on external support.

The Strategic Vision: South-to-South Cooperation

The forum operates under the theme "Intensifying Internationalization in the Context of the Global South Agenda." This framework fundamentally reimagines education cooperation. Rather than following models designed by wealthy nations, the Global South Agenda prioritizes solutions built by countries facing similar constraints.

This forum speaks to a collective ambition to strengthen South-to-South cooperation in education and research, leveraging the comparative strength of both nations to address shared challenges. Those shared challenges include climate change, digital transformation, and youth employability. Kenya and Malaysia are not waiting for external partners to solve these problems. Instead, they are pooling their own resources, expertise, and institutional capacity.

Kenya positions itself as a regional education hub and host of many international institutions, standing ready to work closely with Malaysia and other African partners to advance shared objectives. This positioning reflects a deliberate strategy to build institutional capacity within Africa rather than exporting talent and resources to centers located outside the continent.

The Central Philosophy: Education Without Borders

The Cabinet Secretary articulated a vision that extends beyond bilateral cooperation. Outcomes of the forum are expected to chart new pathways for intercontinental academic cooperation, deepen the bonds between peoples, and contribute to realization of the Global South Agenda driven by knowledge, innovation, and inclusivity.

The closing statement captures the underlying philosophy: "Together, we will shape a future where education truly knows no borders." This statement distinguishes this partnership from colonial or extractive education models. Rather than certain nations serving as knowledge centers with others as recipients, this framework envisions education as a shared resource that flows in multiple directions based on need and comparative strength.

Education without borders means that a researcher in Kenya can collaborate with a researcher in Malaysia on equal terms. A student from Kenya can study in Malaysia and return to apply knowledge within Kenya's context. An innovation developed in Malaysia can be adapted for use in Kenya. Knowledge flows bidirectionally, shaped by what each nation needs and what each nation can contribute.

What This Framework Teaches Practitioners

Education leaders working in developing countries should recognize that South-to-South cooperation operates on principles of mutual respect and shared problem-solving rather than donor-recipient relationships. This creates space for solutions designed by practitioners who understand local contexts rather than solutions imposed from outside.

Academic mobility should be understood as institutional learning as much as individual student development. When you send a student abroad, that student carries insights back that reshape how your institution operates. When you host a student from a partner country, that student exposes your faculty to different perspectives and challenges existing assumptions.

Joint research should focus on challenges affecting both partner nations. Research that solves problems facing your nation while also solving problems facing your partner creates incentive for both institutions to remain engaged.

Scholarships should be structured to ensure that partnership benefits reach students from disadvantaged communities, not only students from wealthy backgrounds. This requires deliberate attention to outreach, application processes, and selection criteria.

Capacity building must be the foundation for sustainable partnerships. If partnership activities require ongoing external support to function, the partnership is not sustainable. Capacity building means creating systems that generate new capacity rather than depending on external expertise.

Key Takeaways

• Recognize that South-to-South cooperation in education operates on principles of mutual respect and shared problem-solving rather than donor-recipient relationships.

• Understand that academic mobility creates institutional learning when insights from abroad reshape how your institution operates and trains future leaders.

• Commit to joint research on challenges affecting both partner nations, ensuring that research builds intellectual capacity within developing country contexts.

• Structure scholarships to reach students from all economic backgrounds, ensuring that partnership benefits extend to the most disadvantaged students.

• Invest in capacity building as the foundation for sustainable partnerships, creating systems and expertise that remain embedded within your institutions.

• Advance the Global South Agenda by positioning education cooperation as a tool for addressing shared challenges including climate change, digital transformation, and youth employment.

• Adopt the principle that education knows no borders, viewing knowledge and expertise as resources that flow bidirectionally based on need and comparative strength rather than hierarchical relationships.

About the Malaysia-Africa Higher Education Forum 2025

The Malaysia-Africa Higher Education Forum 2025 took place on November 24 to 25, 2025, bringing together government officials, university leaders, scholars, and development partners from Africa and Asia. On behalf of the governments of the Republic of Kenya and the Ministry of Education, Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba extended warmest greetings and welcome to all delegates from Malaysia and across the African region.

The Cabinet Secretary expressed deep appreciation to Education Malaysia Global Services and the Ministry of Education of Malaysia for partnering with Kenya's Ministry of Education in convening this important forum. The event was organized around the theme "Intensifying Internationalization in the Context of the Global South Agenda," reflecting a commitment to education cooperation that prioritizes the needs and strengths of developing nations.

The partnership celebrates enduring friendships and growing partnerships between Kenya, Malaysia, and the wider African region. It is built on warm and long-standing bilateral relations founded on shared values of mutual respect, cooperation, and a common vision for development. As delegates deliberated over the two day forum, the collective commitment focused on education as the cornerstone of sustainable development and mutual prosperity.