The dinner dance was held under the theme, Africa: the Importance of Skills for Future Growth and Ongoing Economic Resilience. Ramos called for a review of policy and a re-think of graduate education systems in the SADC region. "Education systems exist in most countries in the world and have become part of the fabric of our lives," she said. "But education policies and outcomes certainly do not always indicate that we truly take to heart the importance of education."
Ramos said the intrinsic benefit of education was often under-emphasised in policy debates when trying to commodify education and provide society-level analysis of the role of education. But it was crucial that the region sorted through the complex policy dialogue of how to achieve economic convergence and come to a conclusion that education was actually a prerequisite for achieving economic convergence in developed economies. "Unless and until the growing population of sub-Saharan Africa becomes an educated and skilled population, we will not succeed in closing the gap between developed and developing economies," she noted.
