Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on June 5 approved a training programme worth Rs 17 million to raise capacity of the faculty on the Information Technology (IT) and Telecom disciplines of leading public sector universities.
The approval to the project called teachers training programme' was accorded by the minister while chairing the third meeting of the National ICT Research and Development Fund which would provide resources for the project.
The programme would be executed by the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and attended by 40 select university teachers who would undergo an extensive month-long training in two major IT courses in data structures' and object oriented programming.
Awais Leghari said the purpose of the project was to develop an understanding of the taxonomy of computer science and IT education so that participants not only develop a better grasp of the core areas of computer science and IT, but also learn how to design a computer science and IT course with emphasis on course mechanics.
This designing will be based on the HEC's core curriculum of computer science.
He said the course would also help participants learn and recognise the importance of modern pedagogical techniques, develop an appreciation of the needs of software industry and realise the importance of continuous improvement and relevance in an undergraduate computer science and IT programme.
He said the complete course work would include lectures, sample homework sample quizzes and exams, sample programming assignments and sample class projects. The objective of training is to bring faculty members to the level where they can effectively deliver the provided course material.
The minister said the course content for the training was in conformity with the HEC curriculum recommendation. The faculty members who join this program would be given tests and quizzes during and at the end of the programme and they would also be given incentives for showing better performance and results during the assessment process.
Awais said the National ICT Research and Development Fund would be used to raise the profile of the IT and telecom sector by providing financial and material support to projects encouraging research and producing top-quality human resource.
He also underscored the issue of transparency and urged the placement of all key information about the ongoing projects on the fund's website to be launched soon.
IT Secretary Farrakh Qayyum, PTCL President Walid Irshad and other members representing research and teaching institutes of the country were also present.