The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Microsoft, Pakistan announced the national winners of Imagine Cup 2018, a technology competition on Tuesday. National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS) team, 'Fe Amaan', clinched first position, while City University of Science and Information Technology team, 'Data Warriors', and Bahria University Karachi team, 'IoT Solutions', respectively obtained second and third positions.
Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training Dr Amirullah Marwat was the chief guest of ceremony, while HEC Executive Director Dr Arshad Ali and Microsoft Country General Manager Abid Zaidi were also present along with Dr G Raza Bhatti, Member Operations and Planning, HEC.
HEC Director (Media) Aayesha Ikram told Business Recorder that before the national final, HEC and Microsoft held regional competitions. The regional finals were won by IBA Sukkur, NUST SEECS, National Textile University, Faisalabad and Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Quetta.
Imagine Cup is one of Microsoft's many efforts to transform skill development, nurture budding technologists and foster collaborative and innovative spirit. This global technology competition boasts of several success stories emerging from the competition. It's a great platform to innovate, get recognized and eventually get enabled to bring about a positive change.
Imagine Cup continues to foster innovation among students and enables them to transform their ambitions into reality. The winner team will now represent Pakistan at the upcoming worldwide finals in Seattle, US to compete among global teams for a $100,000 prize.
Microsoft Imagine Cup continues to witness strong participation from Pakistan, as well as world over. This year, as an initiative of the Strategic Partnership with HEC, Microsoft reached out to more than 56 campuses this year through onsite sessions in a bid to create awareness around the competition and effectively market it to the audience, which resulted in record breaking project entries ie 110 in this competition.
Aayesha said Under Education Transformation Agreement, HEC and Microsoft work in partnership to enable student-centric learning, enhance education with powerful software tools and improve the efficiency of education systems. The agreement is aimed at supporting all communities, enabling them to enjoy social benefits of a well-educated population.
It encompasses training for educators and educational leaders, conducting research for innovations, and building professional communities to ensure that every student has the benefit of a global network of empowered educators. The key strategic aims of this partnership include transformation of learning and innovation and develop 21st century's skills and employability.