'Higher education is of extreme importance for progress of any country'

Higher education is of extreme importance for the progress and prosperity of any country, said Adam Thomson, British High Commissioner to Pakistan. Adam Thomson was addressing the launching ceremony of the International Strategic Partnership in Research and Education's Regional Policy Dialogue (INSPIRE-RPD) here on Thursday.
Besides others, Dr Javaid Laghari, Chairman Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and David Martin, Country Director British Council Pakistan were also present. The dialogue was jointly organised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the British Council under the INSPIRE program of the British Council. The dialogue will focus on chalking out strategies, incorporating learning from the events in Pakistan.
"I am really glad that this regional dialogue is taking place in Islamabad and thankful to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and the British Council for organising the event," Thomson added. Other speakers said that linkages between industry and universities are imperative to speed up social and economic development. Representatives of education ministries and vice chancellors from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and UK participated in the regional dialogue.
The opening day explored the role and responsibilities of government in economic, social and cultural development of the country both nationally and internationally. Pakistani perspective was outlined by Dr S. Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director, HEC and Dr Mukhtar, Member Operations and Planning HEC.
Educational experts said that INSPIRE-RPD explored many critical questions pertaining to knowledge transfer in higher education and how best practices from within the region could be implemented in Pakistan. They said that the British Council has been working closely with the HEC since 2004 and has connected 50 universities in Pakistan with universities in the UK to help in capacity building of higher education institutions in Pakistan.
Foreign perspective was given by Dr Mohsin Elmahdy, Executive Director, Projects Management Unit, Ministry of Higher Education, Egypt and Professor Geoff Layer UK. In the last session, the perspective of universities particularly highlighting the challenges in establishing external linkages with industry, business and non-commercial sectors was discussed. David Coates, Head of Knowledge Sharing, Technology Strategy Board, UK; Dr AtiqSedi, General Director, Afghan Geological Survey, Afghanistan; Professor ZainulZainuddin, Director of Innovations Office, USM, Malaysia gave their presentations in this regard.