Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed, on his ongoing visit to Italy, has addressed the Third Forum on Academic System at Villa Vigoni, on Lake Como.
The third forum on the European academic space is organized by Villa Vigoni, in collaboration with the Guardini Foundation and the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers.
This forum is the final meeting of the series that began in June 2010 under the title under the title "The European academic space: vision, fiction or reality? A provisional balance."
In his address, the Vice President highlighted the importance of higher education in democracy and liberal arts to the efforts to consolidate democracy.
During the forum, which was attended by leading European universities and higher education institutions, the Vice President sought higher education opportunities for Maldivians from European universities as well as discussed initiatives to collaborate with the Maldivian National University.
The Vice President is making the visit to Italy to address the third symposium on the European academic space being held at Villa Vigoni from 3 to 6 April.
Villa Vigoni is used and promoted as a meeting place for personalities from the political, diplomatic, scientific, literary and artistic fields jointly by Germany and Italy under an intergovernmental agreement between both governments.