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RAWALPINDI, Nov 16: Federal Minister for Education and Science and Technology Prof Dr Attaur Rehman has said the assistance of Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) is required for improving the quality of higher education in the country.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of the Regional Workshop on Women in Higher Education Management organized by Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) here on Saturday.
He said Pakistan required the assistance of the ACU for faculty development, institutional linkages, developing accreditation system, economic linkages and governance of education institutions.
THE MINISTER SAID: “As we request for assistance, we do not want money, but are looking forward to opportunities to train PhDs and post-doctorate scholars. He said at present the faculty of the Pakistani universities were in a very poor state and almost 75 per cent of the faculty members did not have PhD degrees.
He said the ACU might help Pakistani varsities by identifying prospective overseas institutions for linkages and establishing rating system for higher education institutions to improve the standard of education.
The ACU could help us in developing technology parks where the academicians and technologists can get together and interact, he said.
Dr Rehman said the ACU’s assistance in developing linkage of education with industry and economy would boost the country’s economic development. Moreover, the association’s help for improving the governance of higher education institutions was vital, he added.
Criticizing the past governments, he said they failed to recognize the significance of education. However, he said the present regime during its past two and half years took important steps for restructuring the education sector, particularly higher education.
Dr Rehman said such a dismal situation of the education sector dominated almost the entire Muslim world. It is because of this reason, he said, the total GDP of the Muslim countries was less than that of Germany alone. The Muslim country having the highest GDP does not even match that of the smallest of the European countries, he added.
He said the basic difference between countries marching forward and bringing about major changes in the world and the under-developed bloc was that the former focussed on education and knowledge, while the latter was left behind in this field.
