FCCU for expansion through joint ventures

Rector eyes New England Commission of Higher Education accreditation

LAHORE:

Adding new programmes to equip students for the evolving job market and to cater to the needs of the academic realm, the Forman Christian College University (FCCU), under the leadership of its Rector Dr Johanathon Addleton, wants to expand foreign collaboration, allowing the students and teachers to benefit from the exchange of knowledge.

Dr Addleton stated during an interview with The Express Tribune that his main goal was to strengthen international collaboration to benefit students and teachers alike. He said he not only wanted the teachers and students to learn from and draw on the experience of their foreign counterparts but also enable professors and students of foreign educational institutes to travel to Pakistan and learn from what they had to offer at the FCCU. Taking immense pride in rich history of institute that predates the creation of Pakistan by more than 80 years; Dr Addleton said he wanted its students to continue achieving academic excellence through perseverance and hard work and leave an inspiring legacy like those who had studied there in the recent and distant past.

At the heart of his efforts is to prepare the institute for the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) accreditation. The FCCU is half way through the accreditation process and hopes by another five years to have the accreditation under its belt.

Dr Addleton said it would not be a small feat for the FCCU to have NECHE accreditation; it would bring them at par with the prestigious institutes of the world. Giving credit for the initiative, he said it was former FCCU rector Peter Armacost’s vision. Prestigious institutions like the Harward Univesrity, Cambridge College and Yale University have this feather in their cap. Dr Addleton, however, said it was not the title they would cherish the most, rather it is the process of achieving it as it helped bring about improvements in every way.

Talking about his own journey from being a career diplomat to the world of academia, Dr Addleton said he had retired from the United States Foreign Service in January 2017 following a 32-year career; having served in 10 countries, including Pakistan, and later served as Executive Director of American Center for Mongolian Studies and onwards as Adjunct Professor in Department of International and Gobal Studies at Mercer University. He said that in the second leg of his professional journey, he got to grips with the undulations of the academic world. It is his experience as an adjunct professor that helps him to empathise and sympathise with teachers.

Sharing an anecdote from early days of his career, he said that during the mid-1980s he was a junior programme officer at the USAID mission in Islamabad when he got the chance to write a programme statement for LUMS. He said that amongst other things it was this programme statement that had helped secure a $20 million USAID grant.

Dr Addleton said that students these days are more motivated by the job opportunities that degrees bring, which is why many students gravitate towards business, information technology and media.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2022.