Pakistan and China have agreed to enhance bilateral co-operation in the education sector. Under the agreement, International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) will hold special teaching courses for the Chinese Muslims to learn Quran, Fiqah and Hadith. Each course will be of three-month duration and all the local hospitality will be borne by the Pakistani side, said the University's Rector former Justice Khalil ur Rehman Khan.
The University will also provide scholarships to 20 Chinese Muslims annually for four-year term study at the Da'wah Academy. Besides this, 20 students will be enrolled for study on self-supporting basis.
Kha1ilur Rehman, who was on a week long visit to China, told APP he held very useful discussion with the Chinese Muslims' Association and Beijing Islamic Institute for promoting bilateral co-operation in the field of religious education.
Currently, there were about 160 students in the University who received higher education in various disciplines. Nearly 80 per cent of them were on scholarship. Pakistan always tried to provide them maximum facilities in a spirit of goodwill and background of their long historical and cultural relationship, he added. The University has also agreed to train two 'Imams' annually on its own expenses who would be enrolled on the recommendation of the Chinese Muslims' Association.
Khalil ur Rehman, accompanied by Dr Khalid Alavi Director General Da'wah Academy also visited Ningxia Autonomous Region to attend an international conference on 'Dialogue Civilisation'.
Meanwhile, a delegation of National University of Sciences and Technology (Nust), led by its Director General Rear Admiral M Mushtaq is also currently visiting China to strengthen bilateral co-operation in the educational sector at the university levels. The delegation will hold talks with its Chinese counterparts for facilitating their students in the relevant fields, including Information Technology.
It has already been agreed between the two governments that around 500 Pakistani students will be awarded scholarship annually to receive higher education in various Chinese Universities.
This scheme of Ph D level study has been launched in collaborations with the China's Scholarship Council. The government of Pakistan will pay most of the scholarships. However, some of the Chinese Universities are agreed to afford financial expenditure themselves or reduce the tuition fee to a reasonable level.