National Agriculture Education Accreditation Council (NAEAC) Chairman M E Tusneem has said that modernisation of agriculture production systems and supply chain into high value agriculture products are prerequisite to boost up agriculture growth, sustainable food security, and to alleviate poverty.
He along with 10-member team of NAEAC, HEC visited the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) and its departments including Plant Beading and Genetics; Agronomy; Institute of Soil Sciences; Institute of Horticultural Sciences and Quality Enhancement Cell of the varsity.
He said they were making all-out efforts to evolve mechanism of quality assurance of agriculture education to come up to current and emerging challenges of knowledge economy.
He said NAEAC was mandated to implement agriculture education degree programmes accreditation based on HEC policies to assure high quality and standards of education.
He appreciated the steps being taken on the part of the varsity for the agricultural education and to cope with the challenges of the food security.
Dean Faculty of Agriculture Professor Dr Muhammad Amjad Aulak said "agriculture is the backbone of our economy." He said they were taking all possible measures to produce the skilled manpower having the knowledge of modern agriculture. He said UAF was only institution in the country which was ranked among the top 100 universities world-wide in any category.
QEC Director Dr Abdul Khaliq said the concept of Quality Assurance in institutions of higher learning enhanced levels of international compatibility through capacity building. He said QEC was determined to improve the quality of higher education at the varsity, bringing it at the par with international universities. "We are making all out efforts to implement the guidelines and policies of Quality Assurance Agency Higher Commission Education (HEC) in its true spirit."
The other members of the NAEAC, HEC delegation included Dr Muhammad Bismillahm Dr Fayyaz ul Hassan, Dr Dil Nawaz Gardezi, Dr Shahid Masood, Dr Tahir Saleem, Dr Safdar, Dr Jamil, Dr Noor-ul-Amin, Dr Naseer Alam Khan, and Dr Raja Mehtab.
UAF's Dr Ahrar Ahmad Khan, Dr Hafiz Sadaqat, Dr Riaz Ahmad, Dr Javed Akhtar, Dr Amanullah, Dr Ahmad Sattar, Dr Muhammad Farooq, Dr Fatima Usman, and other notables spoke on the occasion.