Page 174 - VC Message

Leading with Purpose
Messages of the Vice Chancellor KEYNOTED ADDRESSES

Fujita University Summit 2025,

Japan

KEYNOTE ADDRESS 24 November 2025
Noor Azuan Abu Osman Theme: Talent Development Ecosystem:
Vice Chancellor
Universiti Malaya Educational Innovation through Global Collaboration

Title:
“The Human Renaissance: Education as the New Security

in an Uncertain World”

1. It is an honour to address you on the vital mission of reimagining higher education
in today’s complex world.
2. We meet in an era defined not by peace or prosperity, but by peril and paradox.
Humanity has never been more technologically advanced — yet rarely more
divided. We can communicate across oceans in seconds, yet struggle to
collaborate across disciplines or borders.
3. The challenge before us is profound: to redefine progress not as power, but as
purpose — and to realign global innovation with the shared mission of humanity.
166 4. Today, in this summit hosted by our distinguished friends in Japan, we do not
merely discuss talent — we discuss the very survival of human wisdom in a world
increasingly consumed by fear, fragmentation, and force.
5. I want to firstly express my profound thanks and gratitude to the team in Fujita
University, for the honour of inviting for this keynote address. Please accept my
sincere apologies and regret for not being able to be there in Fujita physically, as
my presence is needed in the country for an unavoidable circumstance. I hope I
can make it up by full supporting the enhancement of ties between us and I am
looking forward to finally be there in your university next year.

Distinguished guests, colleagues, and friends

6. The world is entering an age defined not by abundance, but by limits — limits of
resources, of trust, of time. Yet within these limits lies the test of human creativity
and resilience. The question before us is simple: can knowledge still lead the
world, when the world itself is being reshaped faster than knowledge can adapt?
7. We are living in a world of converging crises — climate disruption, technological
acceleration, the breakdown of social cohesion, and the rise of misinformation
that erodes truth itself. In this age, the role of universities is not merely to observe
change, but to orchestrate it — to convert research into readiness, and learning
into leadership.
8. As UNESCO’s education initiative reminds us, education holds the “most
transformational potential to shape a just and sustainable futures”. It must be
grounded in fundamental principles of human rights, social justice, human dignity,
and cultural diversity.
9. In other words, higher education can no longer be business as usual – it must
evolve into a beacon of hope and a driver of solutions for humanity’s greatest
challenges.