ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal emphasised the need to expand the partnership between Oxford University and Pakistan in the education sector to facilitate Pakistani students.

The minister made these remarks while speaking to a high-level delegation of Oxford University on Monday. The delegation was headed by Professor Stephen Blyth, Principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and former president and CEO of Harvard University’s Endowment Fund, Dr Nick Brown, Principal of Linacre College, Oxford, Richard Hunt (Development Director of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford), Professor Adeel Malik (Professor at Oxford, Rhodes Scholar 1999, and Co-founder Oxford Pakistan Programme) and others.

Addressing the participants, the minister said that Oxford is the oldest university, which has a long history with Pakistan and several officials hold key positions in the public sector of Pakistan who graduated from Oxford. “Pakistan has a youth bulge country and several initiatives have been taken particularly in the education sector by the government to facilitate them,” said the minister, while stressing the delegation to further expand the cooperation between Oxford University and Pakistan so that more students could be benefited.

Identifying challenges facing the higher education sector, the minister said the country needs to exert efforts on improving the quality and ensuring relevance of higher education and research. There is a need to focus on research while creating links with Oxford and Pakistan’s research centers.

During the meeting, the minister also highlighted the importance of the UK’s prestigious Chevening scholarships which must be increased to facilitate Pakistani students by 50 percent funding by both countries.

Speaking on the occasion, Professor Malik said that Oxford Pakistan Programme (OPP) is 1.5 years old and the idea is to pick underprivileged students and work out a collaboration between Oxford and Pakistan. He said that it was the first time such a high-level delegation, with senior members of the university, visited Pakistan by partnering with other programmes. The OPP is the brainchild of Professor Malik of the University of Oxford.

Professor Blyth, who is heading the delegation, assured the minister to extend scholarships programs for Pakistani students in future as Pakistan had a long history of Pakistani students in Oxford University like late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Malala Yousafazi, who is currently enrolled at Oxford.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022