On October 13, 2025, amidst the grandeur of Addis Ababa’s Skylight Hotel, Aksum University President Professor Gebreyesus Brhane sealed landmark Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Hungary’s Wekerle International University (WIU) and Malaysia’s INTI International University. The ceremony, attended by WIU Acting Rector Dr. Imre Balogh and INTI Vice Chancellor Professor Joseph Lee, PhD, alongside Director of International Affairs Nemo Hou, launches a bold transcontinental alliance to spur student exchanges, joint research, and global pedagogical innovation across Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Founded in 2007 in Ethiopia’s historic Tigray Region, Aksum University—a pillar of education, research, and community advancement—elevates its global stature through these pacts. The WIU MoU, a non-binding framework of shared intent, outlines student exchanges for bachelor’s programs, short-term summer courses, faculty visits for lectures and conferences, credit transfers, joint research publications, and other academic ventures, respecting institutional autonomy and local laws without financial commitments until specific agreements follow.
The INTI MoU, spanning five years with six-month termination notices and provisions for ongoing activities, covers student and scholar mobility, program collaborations, shared publications and research, material exchanges, and joint events like seminars and conferences—subject to funding and regulations. It rejects exclusivity, safeguards intellectual property (joint ownership for collaborative works, sole for individual efforts), mandates logo approvals and mutual acknowledgments, and enforces confidentiality with exceptions for legal requirements. Communications require written English via verified channels.
Professor Gebreyesus Brhane hailed the agreements as “transcendental milestones” in Aksum University’s internationalization drive, enabling global problem-solving through pooled expertise. Dr. Balogh and Professor Lee echoed this, praising the partnerships as catalysts for transcending borders and fostering cross-cultural knowledge exchange.
These MoUs position Aksum University as a global academic fulcrum, promising innovation surges and cultural bridges. With detailed follow-up agreements anticipated, the tri-continental network strengthens Africa’s role in worldwide scholarship, dissolving geographic divides into unified intellectual progress.
