KU signs MoU for academic partnership

KARACHI: The Department of Teacher Education, University of Karachi and Durbeen, local non-profit organization, signed Memorandum of Understanding for revamping B Ed Honors (Elementary) curriculum and subsequent piloting at the Government Elementary college of Education (Hussainabad).

The signing ceremony was held at the KU Vice Chancellor Secretariat on Wednesday.

The Dean, Faculty of Education, KU, Professor Dr Nasir Sulman and the Chief Executive Officer, Durbeen, Salma Ahmad Alam inked the documents.

The MoU is drawn up and agreed upon to establish the academic partnership between the parties considering the common interest of both in promoting quality of education through provision of quality teaching workforce.

As per the MoU, Durbeen will apply for the affiliation of GECE, Hussainabad with Karachi University fulfilling codal requirements specifying that the academic cycle at GECE, Hussainabad for pilot project which will run from August to May instead of January to December.

Durbeen will coordinate the B Ed Honours (Elementary) curriculum review exercise (including course assessments) between the faculty of the GECE, Karachi University and the University of Helsinki, Finland. The outcome of the review exercise will be submitted to KU Department of Teacher Education for assessment.

Durbeen will implement the enriched Scheme of Studies and B.Ed Honours (Elementary) course syllabi at the GECE, Hussainabad campus starting from August 2019. For uniform teaching learning and assessment practices, Durbeen will host joint training sessions of the faculty at KU Department of Teacher Education and GECE Hussainabad at mutually convenient times.

Durbeen will establish Subject Support Forum (SSF) for each course in order to share best practices between the faculty at KU Department of Teacher Education, GECE, Hussainabad and the University of Helsinki.

Semester-wise comprehensive progress reports on GECE, Hussainabad will be submitted to KU Department of Teacher Education. Durbeen will commission an Impact Study between August 2019 to May 2023 to monitor the impact of the enriched B.Ed curriculum on the capability of prospective teachers. The findings of the impact study will be shared with KU Department of Teacher Education.

The University of Karachi will grant affiliation to GECE, Hussainabad as well as the status of a pilot project. Karachi University will award degree to the graduating class at GECE Hussainabad, upon successful completion of the B.Ed (Hons) Elementary degree program, subject to all codal formalities through Affiliation Committee.

KU Department of Teacher Education will review the submitted courses/ syllabi in order to get it approved from statutory bodies for piloting. KU Department of Teacher Education will supervise implementation process as per modalities of pilot project.

KU Department of Teacher Education will nominate Focal Person for coordination of Department of Teacher Education faculty training and participation in SSF. KU Department of Teacher Education will evaluate the submitted semester progress reports and deliberations will be made and shared with Durbeen for quality assurance.

KU Department of Teacher Education will facilitate the above-mentioned impact study by sharing with Durbeen the assessment results of its prospective teachers during January 2020 to May 2023, which may serve as a control group for the Study.

KU Department of Teacher Education will assess the scalability of piloted project.