Chief Operating Officer of Quest International University (QIU) in Malaysia, Nicholas Goh, has highlighted the importance of environmental technology education in rescuing the world from the climate change it is battling with in recent times.
During an interaction with the media on Thursday, Mr Goh indicated the pressing environmental issues facing the planet and urged students to consider studying environmental technology at QIU to mitigate the irreversible damage caused by human activities.
He shared a poignant anecdote from his trip to Mali, which vividly illustrated the extent of environmental degradation.
“I went to Mali once, and before my plane landed, I saw a lot of white coverings I thought to myself, there must be massive agriculture going on. Upon landing, I realised that they were plastic bags which have been caught up in trees, and it really killed me to see this,” he recounted.
Mr Goh’s Mali experience served as a stark reminder of the dire consequences of human actions on the environment.
Ghana faces several significant environmental challenges, encompassing issues such as air and water pollution, the deterioration of green spaces, poor sanitation, and instances of flooding.
Currently, the issue of illegal small-scale mining, popularly known as ‘galamsey’ in Ghana, and deforestation have become an albatross around the country’s neck and need urgent attention.
Considering this and many other environmental issues in Africa, Mr Goh believes that they can be mitigated when individuals are equipped with the needed knowledge to find sustainable solutions to these issues.
He stressed the urgency of addressing these environmental challenges and emphasised the role of environmental technology students in driving positive change in their respective countries.
“There is huge desertification of the continent by human activities, so these are the things that I hope that environmental students can come here to study and go back to their countries and make some changes in their various countries,” he noted on Thursday, September 7.
He made these assertions to journalists from across West Africa touring the campus in Malaysia.
Leave No One Behind
Speaking about the university’s dedication to a holistic educational experience, Mr Goh said QIU prioritises the success and understanding of each student.
Mr Goh’s message “to leave no one behind” underscored a fundamental distinction in an educational phenomenon where the burden of comprehension falls solely on the student.
In tackling this, he introduced the concept of “ensure learning,” where the responsibility for the educational outcome rests on educators themselves.
Scam alert
As an affiliate of QI Group of Companies, Mr Goh addressed concerns about activities perpetrated by some unscrupulous individuals falsely claiming affiliation with the institution and using QUI’s name to offer non-existent scholarships and subsequently defrauding unsuspecting individuals of their money.
He emphasised that these fraudulent actors are tarnishing the reputation of QIU and causing harm to innocent individuals seeking educational opportunities.
“There are a lot of fake people out there using our name. They go around giving scholarships to people, and we don’t even know about it. They’re using our name to defraud people of their hard-earned cash, claiming they are using it to facilitate the process, making innocent people victims.”
The university’s CEO assured the public that QIU takes these matters seriously and, thus, called on everyone to be vigilant and verify the authenticity of scholarship offers and educational opportunities associated with QUI to avoid falling victim to scams.