Islamabad, Sep 26: In order to improve Pakistan’s higher education system, Chairman of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), Luo Zhaohui, has decided to fortify cooperation with the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan.
According to a press release on Thursday, the Chairman CIDCA welcomed Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, who visited the CPEC Headquarters in Beijing at his invitation on the sidelines of the HUAWEI Connect 2024 event. He also reaffirmed his support for all higher education projects carried out under the auspices of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The discussion was an extension of Zhaohui’s April 2024 visit to Islamabad, during which he toured the Air University and spoke with academics and students from other universities that were connected by Smart Classrooms.
Zhaohui expressed pleasure with the way Smart Classrooms were implemented, noting that HEC has built up 100 Smart Classrooms with Learning Management System (LMS) connections to dedicated, high-speed internet.
It gave me tremendous joy to witness how these classrooms enabled seamless high-speed internet connections between professors and students in faraway locations. He emphasized that this is a crucial area for additional cooperation and that CPEC can be helpful in this regard.
He expressed his continued support for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said he was particularly interested in training youth from Balochistan and the former Federal Area of Troublesome Areas (FATA).
He talked about the money that is available for these kinds of projects, including interest-free loans from China. Additionally, he made hints about scholarships that Pakistani students may be able to get to pursue their higher studies in China.
Three significant initiatives, including Smart Classrooms (Phase II), solarization of universities, and human resource capacity building through intense training programs for youth in developing professions, were highlighted by HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad for consideration under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
He emphasized that formalizing collaboration in these areas through outcome-based programs requires a long-term strategy.The two parties also discussed a number of other possible areas of cooperation, such as the establishment of Chinese language centers in Pakistan, partnerships for online education between Chinese and Pakistani colleges.
Implementing programs for medical and health education, designing training programs for provincial and village management, training master trainers in critical areas, exposing university administrators to China through leadership development, and training programs tailored to Pakistan’s indigenous needs.
Project Manager Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) M. Azeem Khan and Member Information Technology Division HEC Dr. Jamil Ahmad accompanied the Chairman HEC on the tour.The delegations were accompanied by the Education Attache from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s Embassy in Beijing throughout the meeting.
