KARACHI, Oct 18: Academics at a seminar on Tuesday underscored the need for taking measures aimed at ensuring quality education at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Speaking at the programme titled ‘Quality assurance in higher education’ held under the aegis of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), they highlighted the importance of safeguarding public interest by adopting good practices in education.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) managing director and adviser on quality assurance & learning innovation, Prof Azam Ali Khwaja, was the chief guest on the occasion. The speakers included DUHS vice chancellor Prof Masood Hameed Khan, Dow Medical College’s principal Prof Junaid Ashraf, DUHS pro vice chancellor and Sindh Medical College principal Prof M. Umar Farooq, DUHS professional development centre (medicine and allied) director Dr M. Saleem Ilyas, Prof Nazeer Khan and Dr A. Wahid Usmani.
Highlighting the importance of quality assurance in higher education, HEC adviser Prof Azam Ali Khwaja spoke at length about the measures taken by the commission for effectively establishing quality enhance cells (QEC) in every public and private sector universities of the country for the enhancement and maintenance of quality education.
In this regard, he said the mission of a quality assurance agency working within the HEC was to safeguard public interests by enforcing good practices in education.
He said that to strengthen quality assurance programmes at universities, the HEC had established QECs in 84 universities of the country and 15 of them belonged to the private sector.
Referring to measures taken by the HEC to check plagiarism, Prof Khwaja said the commission also dealt with plagiarism cases if an educational institution failed to take action and in this regard, he said so far 70 such cases had been dealt with at the universities level and 12 at the HEC level.
Lauding the measures taken by the DUHS for ensuring quality education at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels for capacity building in various health-related fields, the HEC adviser said he was highly impressed with the rapid progress made by the university in just seven years under the leadership of Prof Masood Hameed, who achieved this feat with the dedication of the faculty members.
“In fact, the tremendous achievements made by the DUHS in such a short time is a matter of pride not only for the Karachiites but for the people of the entire country also,” he said.
Prof Khwaja said he hoped the DUHS, ranked 13 by the HEC in research activities among the 134 universities of the country, would further rise on a new ranking chart to be issued by the commission by the end of this year.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Masood Hameed said that major steps taken by the DUHS for quality enhancement at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels included setting up of separate institutes for capacity building in various health-related spheres such as institutes of nursing, medical technology, physical medicine, oral health sciences, health management and Pharm-D course.
In addition to these institutes, various new departments set up by the DUHS include medical education, examination, research, professional development, information technology and computer software, he said, adding that more than 30 new establishments were providing more than 40 degrees and diploma course at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels while all teaching programmes were closely monitored by the DUHS’s quality assurance department.
The number of students registered with the university in 2007 was only 2002 but it had now swelled to 7,000 and most of its graduates had achieved excellence in international examinations and a number of them were serving in North America.
DMC principal Prof Junaid Ashraf said that before getting the status of university the institution had just three units – DMC, SMC and Ojha TB Sanitarium. But after becoming university in 2004, the DUHS had established 50 new departments and institutes.
He said Dow was the first university to introduce the semester system in the country, adding that the university was now running six undergraduate and two postgraduate programmes.
Prof Ashraf stressed the need for overcoming the shortage of teachers in the wake of a mushroom growth of medical colleges in the country.
DUHS pro vice chancellor and SMC principal Prof M. Umar Farooq lauded the HEC’s efforts in providing research culture in the country.
He said the DUHS had been ranked 13th in research activities among 134 universities of the country by the HEC and second in medical activities after the Aga Khan University, and now it was striving to achieve an international ranking.
The DUHS professional development center’s director, Dr M. Saleem Ilyas, said the students of the university were being trained in basic surgical, communication, research and study skills with the help of stimulators with an emphasis on intensive care unit skills.
DUHS Prof Nazeer Khan and Dr A. Wahid Usmani also spoke.
Later, the participants of the seminar gave a standing ovation to Prof Masood Hameed, whose tenure as vice chancellor is due to expire in January, 2012.