Session held to identify faculty needs

Participants discuss challenges and opportunities amid pandemic

ISLAMABAD:

As part of the collaboration for academic excellence initiative of the National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE), the academy is organising roundtable discussion events across all provinces. The first provincial workshop was held on Monday to identify faculty development needs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), a spokesperson said.

Representatives from universities as well as those from the Quality Enhancement Cells in universities across the province were in attendance, including Buner, Karak, Malakand, Haripur, Peshawar and former Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

During the event, participants discussed urgent faculty development needs unique to their contexts, potential collaborations between public and private sector universities and the role NAHE can play to contribute to the professional development of their faculties.

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NAHE Rector Dr Shaheen Sardar Ali thanked the participants for taking the time to participate in the discussion during these challenging times. She touched upon challenges and opportunities identified in the national higher education landscape as a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

University representatives shared their varying experiences of capacity building in their respective institutions. Teaching philosophy and methodology, online capability and research mentorship were among the most common problems identified by them.

However, there was a great spirit of collaboration and a willingness to create a community of practice to improve the quality of learning available in higher education institutions (HEI) across K-P.

Sharing of resources, identifying strengths and all that public and private institutions can offer to each other under the guidance of NAHE were among the possibilities discussed, the spokesperson maintained.

Over the next few months, members of the NAHE team will travel to Karachi, Lahore, and Sargodha to conduct additional roundtables and include representatives from all provinces and regions of Pakistan, he added.

NAHE is established as a stand-alone, autonomous institution operating under the auspices of HEC to improve the quality of teaching, research, and governance in HEIs across the country. This series of workshops is one of multiple ongoing NAHE endeavors to facilitate capacity building of faculty in HEIs.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2021.