A Day Every Year
to Celebrate Universities

Celebrating 30,000+ Universities
and 250 Million Stakeholders

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PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: 07 November 2021

A Global Initiative to Designate the 7th of November as “International Day of Universities”
Celebrating 30,000+ Universities and 250 Million Stakeholder

San Diego, California, USA – 07 November 2021— Smart University Foundation, S-U-F, as a leading global university organization, announced today a repeated worldwide call to designate the 7th of November of every year as the “International Day of Universities”, IDU.

Universities are an important organ of any modern society. This initiative calls upon the world to allocate one day every year to celebrate and focus on the roles and achievements of universities.  Universities have a significant positive influence on communities and countries.  They provide humanity with the engineers, doctors, teachers, scientists, and many other drivers of local and global economies.  Universities preserve knowledge, expand the horizons of research, attract talent, empower innovation, support industry, and improve people’s lives.  An “International Day of Universities” would provide a focal point to appreciate & celebrate universities and their past, current, and future impact on humanity.

The University, as a concept, started as early as the beginning of human civilizations. 5000 years ago, Egyptians started O’N university, with teachers, students, research, and even a Rector.  Around a thousand years ago, the modern university was born in Italy, Morocco, China, and India, in addition to other attempts in different regions of the world at that time.

The world of higher education grew from 1 university 5000 years ago, to more than 30,000 as we are entering the second decade of the 21st century.  Stakeholders of the ecosystem of today’s “Global Academic Community” include undergraduate and postgraduate students, academicians, university staff and administrators, academic leaders and executives, higher education NGOs and official organizations, education and technology corporations, advisers and consultants, and many others from all walks of life.

“The global academic community of 30,000+ universities, serving more than 220 million students, employing 20+ million staff, 10+ million academicians, and more than one million executives and leaders is still scattered, not well represented, and not appreciated enough, even by its own stakeholders.” said Prof. Bassem K. Khafagy, Secretary General of Smart University Foundation, S-U-F, and the founder of the “International Day of Universities” initiative. “The 7th of November of every year will become an opportunity for this community of 250 million world citizens and many related sectors to join universities in raising awareness of challenges & opportunities facing higher education worldwide,” Prof. Khafagy added.

IDU would be first celebrated on Monday, 07 November 2022, and would feature coordinated activities, events, celebrations, awards, and presentations on universities’ impact on the world. It would follow the values promoted by the United Nations in providing a yearly occasion “to educate the general public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems, and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity… and offer many actors the opportunity to organize activities related to the theme of the day … and to make an international day a springboard for awareness-raising actions”.

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Notes to Editors:

  1. International Day of Universities, IDU: is the world’s first initiative to designate the 07th of November yearly to celebrate the roles and achievements of universities. It was first envisioned by Prof. Bassem K. Khafagy, the Secretary General of Smart University Foundation, S-U-F. More about IDU can be found at https://S-U-F.org/IDU or by following the hashtag #IDU22
  1. Smart University Foundation, S-U-F: is a nonprofit membership-based foundation, based in California, USA and aims to “Lead, Empower, and Serve Universities Stakeholders for a “Smarter” Future of Global Higher Education”. it aspires to be the voice of 30,000+ universities and focuses on “Smart University” as an innovative holistic concept for expanding the understanding and implementation of new technologies, sustainability transformations, best academic practices, current trends in management, and increasing quality and ranking for a better future of universities. visit the foundation’s web site at: https://www.s-u-f.org
  1. Further information: Media & Communication: +1 (858) 203-1747 (US). email: IDU@s-u-f.org

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