A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed among Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta), Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) and National Vocational and Technical Education Commission (Navtec) for setting up a centre of excellence here at the Government College of Technology (GCT), Railway Road.
Acting chairman Tevta M Arshad Bhatti, resident representative Jica Takao Kaibara, Executive Director Navtec Muhammad Athar Tahir and Principal Government College of Technology, Railway Road Muhammad Ali Abbasi signed the MoU document.
The basic purpose for establishing the centre of excellence in the field of Architecture and Mechanical Technology is to provide trained manpower according to the needs of private sector. In order to achieve the targets of the project, focus would be made on curriculum development, teachers training, provision of equipment, improvement of managerial capacity and provisions of placement support mechanism. Tevta will provide space to establish centre of excellence at Government College of Technology Railway Road Lahore along with other facilities including office furniture, consumables and other routine utilities.
Tevta will also meet the cost of implementation of the project to be required for needs assessment on industry. In accordance with the academic requirement, teaching staff of Government College of Technology Railway Road will be trained in Japan; Sectoral Japanese experts will also provide their services at college for implementation of the project.
The MoU has been finalised after a series of meetings among the officials of Tevta, Jica and Navtec. The MoU reflects priority given to technical education by the federal and provincial governments which are fully committed to provide budgetary support, technical assistance and human resource to promote technical education and vocational training, a spokesman of Tevta said here on Thursday.
He said the MoU also replicates Pakistan Vision-2030, which aims at facilitating industrialisation and economic growth by the year 2030. Under the vision, Pakistan has the strategic plan to increase GDP and manufacturing share of the market, he said, adding that in the Medium-Term Development Framework (MTDF) 2005-2010, Government of Pakistan puts high priority to skill development. To achieve these goals, human resources development in Tevta is required.