Atta stresses linkages with foreign universities

08 Nov, 2006

Professor Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, FRS, Federal Minister, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman and Advisor to the Prime Minister for Science and Technology (S&T), stressed the need for the establishment of linkages between Pakistani and foreign universities and invited the foreign speakers to go ahead with such measures.
He was chairing the inaugural ceremony of International symposium on Nano Science and Technology, which ended here at HEC Headquarter, Islamabad. The two-day symposium was sponsored by the HEC, and jointly organised by Comsats Institute of Information Technology and Comstech.
He apprised the attendees about HEC's various initiatives towards the promotion of higher education by the HEC. He threw light on how the government was materialising its commitment for the promotion of higher education by sending more than 500 students each for doctoral and post-doctoral studies in the best universities abroad.
Fulbright Programme, the largest in the world, under which 640 will study in Ivy League universities in the US, he added. It was not confined to the higher education and research opportunities alone, the initiation of TTS (Tenure Track System) has ensured a lucrative career for the faculty members in Pakistani public sector universities.
Launch of digital libraries and video conferencing are one of those remarkable initiatives by the HEC which will serve as catalyst for the promotion of education in S&T and social sciences as well.
Professor Atta stressed the need for the establishment of linkages between Pakistani and foreign universities and invited the foreign speakers to go ahead with such measures. Dr Ismat Shah, Professor University of Delaware, an expert in nano-science and its applications, remarked that though the topic might sound a bit exotic yet its relevance from the point of view of interdisciplinary context could not be marginalised.
Professor J.H. Weaver (US), Professor, Celso Aldao (Argentina), Professor Dr Peter Varga, Professor Talat Rehman (US), Professor M. Zafar Iqbal (Pakistan), Professor. M. Aslam Baig (Pakistan) and Professor Arshad Saleem Bhatti (Pakistan) were amongst the invited speakers beside others on the occasion.
Besides HEC and CIIT, other sponsor included Natural Science Foundation (US), NCNST (Pakistan), Comstech Pakistan, and ICTP (Italy). The symposium culminated with a note of commitment for mutual collaboration for research and development. The guests were given away souvenirs to mark the occasion.

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