February 1, 2006	Wednesday	Muharram 2, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has decided to expand the links of the public sector universities with reputed British universities.

Under the project, “Higher Education Links with British Universities”, British Council will work in collaboration with the HEC to launch 35 additional higher education link projects between Pakistani university departments and UK universities.

Each link would be supported for three years. The management arrangements, selection process and other administration will be handled by the British Council, but the funding will be provided by the HEC.

The main objectives of the project in quantitative term include not only development of the research and training capacity of higher education institutions in Pakistan, but also improvement of the teaching methodology.

Improvement in management system within departments of the educational institutions, development and improvement in curriculum, faculty development and higher education sector reforms are also included in the project objectives.

On implementation of the project, it is expected that Pakistani institutions will not only gain exposure to high quality facilities in the UK, but also benefit from curriculum development and improvement.

The linkage programme will bring Pakistani universities into a wider network of international partnership, and help them develop their research capability so that they can contribute to national development, by providing a testing ground for their own ideas and by seeking solutions to long terms national, regional or global problems.

In addition to this, training of administrative staff and improving management systems, which is essential for effective long-term departmental and institutional development, would be carried out through the programme.

The core purpose of the linkage programmes is to train educators in the higher education institutions and strengthen the research potential of the researchers so they can impart quality education to their students and provide guidance in research activities.

The focus will be on delivering the best training in order to create a pool of talented experts and the benefiting institutions will become a model for developing qualified faculty.