HEC opens avenues for faculty, students, says Dr Atta

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is striving for leading Pakistan to its bright future by providing every opportunity to its students and faculty to excel in the fields of teaching and research. This was stated by Professor Dr Atta ur Rahman, Chairman HEC while addressing the prize distribution ceremony of 11th 'All Pakistan Inter-University Debate Contest,' here on Thursday.
The HEC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, launched inter-university debate contest in order to promote communication skills and critical thinking among the students.
The contest was first organised among regional universities where students contested for the next round. The final round was organised at the HEC, Islamabad. Dr Atta said that Pakistan was the first country of the world where students and faculty members of universities had access to 40,000 e-books and 23,000 journals.
He added that 18 universities had been provided with the facility of having lectures through video conferencing from international universities, adding he said students was being facilitated by granting scholarships and so far 1,000 students had availed scholarships in 2007. He said that top two position holders of English debate will participate in the upcoming Saarc debate competition. Iqra University of Karachi in English debate and University of Peshawar in Urdu won the Allama Iqbal Shield.