CUI welcomes Türkiye envoy to discuss educational collaboration

Islamabad: Comsats University Islamabad (CUI) hosted Mehmet Pacaci, Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye to Pakistan, for a meeting aimed at strengthening educational ties and exploring new avenues for collaboration. The event held at Comsats University Islamabad brought together senior management of CUI, Turkish alumni working at the university, and officials from the International Office.

The ambassador's visit served as an opportunity to revive the association between CUI and the Embassy of Türkiye. Both countries share a deep cultural and religious bond and have collaborated in the past through exchange programs like Mevlana and Erasmus+.

Prof. Dr. Sajid Qamar, Rector of CUI in his address said "We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with Turkish counterparts in research, faculty exchange, and student mobility programs." Dr. Junaid Zaidi, Founder Rector of CUI: "We need to transform our excellent research into tangible products, and Turkish collaboration can be instrumental in achieving this goal."

During the meeting Dr. Hammad Omer, Head of the International Office, gave a short presentation highlighting the CUI's strengths, research output, and engagement with Türkiye. He emphasised the need to developing concrete projects for collaboration in areas like research, faculty exchange, and student mobility, and come up with tangible outcomes beyond signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). He also underlined that we need to explore potential for joint ventures in fields like commercialization of research, mathematics, computer science, and mountain research. Following the presentation Mehmet Pacaci, Ambassador of Türkiye in his keynote address said "We need to move beyond signing MoUs and develop concrete projects that leverage the expertise and facilities on both sides."

Both sides agreed to identify specific academics and projects for future collaborations with renewed commitment to strengthen educational ties between CUI and Turkish institutions. They also agreed to identify potential areas for collaboration in various academic disciplines. There was also an agreement to go for joint research projects and exchange programmes in near future. The discussion ended up with formulation of establishing a working group to develop concrete action plan. This meeting signifies a significant step forward in the educational partnership between CUI and Türkiye.