Punjab University Registrar Professor Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan represented Pakistan in the three-day fourth international Barcelona conference on higher education titled "higher education - new challenges and emerging roles of human and social development".
The conference was held in Barcelona, Spain, running between March 31 and April 2, organised by the University of Catalonia. Professor Naeem stressed the international social scientists and researchers that they should help the Pakistani varsities for capacity building, networking with other international universities in this regard.
He said that the educated youth of Pakistan should be encouraged and involved in the process of taking up the emerging challenges for human and social development in our part of the world. The aim was to explore the higher education as key element for human and social development and to rethink and propose new roots for interchange of values between university and society.
The participants shared and debated on ideas on the relevant social role, role of knowledge in our society, interchange of values and they presented pro active and assertive analysis offering many ideas and vision for orienting the future.
The Global University Network for Innovation (Guni) invited the academic community worldwide to participate in the conference. According to Guni the role of higher education in today's world is complex and vital. A wide range of challenges and possibilities are emerging, with political, economic and social implications.
Perhaps most significant are the challenges associated with shifting perspectives on knowledge itself, which are influencing strongly the role and the responsibility of the university in society.
The role of higher education institutions has been seen to change over time from preservers of culturally revered forms of knowledge, through producers of highly skilled labour and research to meet perceived economic needs, to a more recent perception as agent of social transformation and development.