Economic growth: Experts for improving research quality in universities

Conference discusses partnerships with govt, industry, foreign universities.

ISLAMABAD:

“Higher education is the only sustainable engine for the economic growth of a country,” said University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Peshawar Vice Chancellor Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani.

He was speaking at the opening ceremony of a two-day conference on “Economic Development through Higher Education”, organised by the UET Peshawar in collaboration with the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) and Campus United Kingdom. Starting Thursday, the workshop will be held at the Higher Education Commission Secretariat.

“In the last few years, the HEC has directed its energies to achieve this goal. However, there is a need for academics at higher education institutions and universities to get engaged with the industry in Pakistan and find out indigenous solutions to the problems specific to our context,” said Gilani.

He added that several higher education institutions in Pakistan have already partnered with leading universities in the UK, but the need to forge more joint partnerships for promotion of research is pressing upon us.

The conference is being conducted with the intent to evolve a sustainable higher education model, which addresses issues and deformities in the incumbent system and policies, in turn helping to improve the Human Development Index for a skilled and highly qualified workforce.

Intellectuals and academics have a prominent role in promoting education and fostering a culture of research and development, said Phil Thomas, a renowned educationist. A developing nation needs to invest on its scholars more aggressively, he said, for which universities’ managements and vice chancellors should work together to produce quality research which is development-oriented within the scope of organic issues. The research and leadership capabilities of a university’s vice chancellor can take the varsity’s research output towards excellence, stated Thomas. Emphasising over the internationalisation of education, he recommended that Pakistani universities bring their research skills and outputs to-par, to bring about constructive partnerships with UK universities.

Participants at the workshop including University of Peshawar Vice Chancellor Dr Rasool Jan, Dr Shabbir Dastgir from the University of Huddersfield and Dr Shah Bano from the Hazara University urged academics, investors and the government to collate their goals for a better Pakistan by coming together on a common forum.

Palestinian envoy meets HEC chief

Prospects of cooperation between Pakistan and Palestine in the field of higher education were discussed in a meeting between the Palestinian Ambassador Walid Abu Ali and HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed at the HEC Secretariat on Thursday, said a press release.

The high officials agreed to encourage joint research in areas of mutual interest in the two countries’ higher learning institutions. Ahmed briefed the ambassador about the existing institutional collaborations between Pakistan and various foreign universities. Over 158 public and private universities are functioning in Pakistan as of now, and a majority of them are already engaged in international partnerships, informed Ahmed.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2014.