HEC organises conference to identify key areas for human resource development

Islamabad
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) organised a one-day conference titled ‘National Human Resource Development Plan (2015-2025) -- Visualising Socio-Economic Growth of Pakistan’ here on Tuesday.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Professor Ahsan Iqbal was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony.
The objective of the conference was to identify key areas where human resource development is necessary in order to cater to future needs of Pakistan. The conference, aimed to assess current socio-economic needs of society in terms of HRD, was attended by experts from academia, industry, R&D organisations, ministries and allied departments, chambers of commerce and industry civil society and corporate sector.
The experts were divided into 12 working groups on different disciplines including Agriculture, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Economics, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Veterinary Sciences, Medical Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Business Educations, Arts and Humanities and New Higher Education Trends. These groups comprised around 150 experts from across Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Ahsan Iqbal said that knowledge is the main driving force that sets dimensions of nations and the development or decay of countries depend upon their standard of knowledge creation and its linkage with the production platform of that country. He said that youth are the most valuable asset of the country and they should be provided with higher education and training with a focused approach.
The minister said that under the Vision 2025, the government will focus on developing human resource in priority disciplines so they could play effective role in country’s socio-economic development. He underlined that Pakistan needs 70 per cent of experts in S&T to fulfill future requirements. He emphasized that our academia needs to conduct research on socio-economic solution of problems facing the country.
Ahsan Iqbal also underscored the need for expansion of facilities for youth in higher education sector, saying that Pakistan needs 10000 PhDs in different fields in the coming years. He said the Government has launched a programme entitled Technology Innovation Fund in order to provide grants to researchers and youth who have novel ideas and want to bring something new in the market.
Earlier in his address, HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed presented an overview of the objectives of the conference and informed the audience that HEC is spending over 40 per cent of PSDP funds on human resource development. He said the purpose of holding this conference was to identify the subject areas for human resource development as well as threats and challenges in the process of enhancing our human capital. He said it also aimed at aligning research and innovation to national needs, which would contribute to the socio-economic uplift of the country for the next 10 years, in line with the Vision 2025 of the Government.
The chairman said that higher education is key to success in the era of knowledge economy and it has a direct relation with country’s GDP growth, exports and overall development, adding it is necessary to ensure development of human resource equipped with education, knowledge and training. He also stressed the need for capitalising the opportunity of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, adding it has a great importance for country’s progress.