On the invitation of the Chinese Consortium of Universities, collaborating with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in the establishment of the Pakistan China University (PCU), at Islamabad, a two-member HEC delegation visited China, recently.
The Pak-China University is being established in partnership with leading engineering universities of China. The University will have a student body of 5,600 and annually will produce 200 PhDs, 700 masters and 900 graduates.
To give the university a jump-start, a two-year MSc programme in selected disciplines will begin in fall 2008 at a temporary campus located in Sector H-8/1, Islamabad.
The HEC delegation had fruitful discussions with representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Education. Discussions revolved around the details of two important government level agreements namely the Inter Governmental and the Bilateral agreement.
These would be finalised by the end of February 2008 and later will formally signed in Beijing. The delegation also held discussions with high level officials of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and North China University of Electric Power.
PCU Beijing office was formally launched during the visit of the delegation. The two sides finalised the list of universities in the consortium, the masters programmes for 2008, the admissions criteria, the curriculum details and text books.
The arrangements for selection of faculty and their move to Pakistan were agreed upon. The founding Rector and Director of Programmes for the PCU were also identified. These names would be formalised in February 2008. For the furtherance of the programme, the representatives of the Chinese Consortium Universities will visit Pakistan during March this year.