Pakistan, China discuss ICT in higher educational institutions

Minister says Islamabad and Beijing enjoy
brotherly relations, which should be strengthened through technological collaboration

Islamabad: Pakistan and China enjoy brotherly relations, which should be further strengthened through technological collaboration.

This was stated by Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training Engineer Muhammad Balighur Rehman during a meeting with a Chinese delegation led by Li Ming of the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under Unesco here on Tuesday.

The minister talked about the current educational needs of Pakistan in general and issues of low literacy rate and role of non-formal schools in particular with the visitors and admired the use of ICT (information communication technology) in Chinese educational institutions, especially those located in Shenzhen.

He admired the proposal of Unesco Category 2 centres and said his ministry would like the ICHEI to help it implement ICT in 18,000 countrywide non-formal schools. The basic agenda of the meeting was to introduce ICT in higher education and in non-formal schools of Pakistan with the collaboration of China.

The representatives from SUSTECH, Weidong Cloud Education, partner of Unesco, and Huawei talked about their respective contribution in the field of education in China and worldwide, with the use of ICT. Similarly representative from BECS, NCHD, and AEPAM gave presentations about their respective departments.

Mr. Li Ming said the ICHEI exploited the potentials of ICTs to support the expansion, improve quality, and promote equity in higher education in developing countries by drawing upon the strength of China’s vast higher education system and the lessons learned from the advancement of higher education innovation in the more developed nations of the Asia-Pacific region.

The mission of ICHEI includes capacity building of policy makers, institutional leaders, and administrators to improve performance of public higher education institutions through the application of ICTs for innovation in management and improved gender equality.

Moreover, professional and technical advice for developing countries increases in opportunities for research collaboration and student and faculty exchange programs are also in its mandate.

He added that they are already collaborating with NUST and would like to work on Unesco category-2 centers for higher education with Pakistan. He also said they would be providing full scholarships for Pakistani students in China and would like to have more students and teachers exchange programs between the two countries.

The delegation from China included Mr. Wang Duanrui, CEO Weidong Cloud Education, China, Mr. Guo Lang, Department of Mid East enterprise Training, Huawei,  and other officials from Unesco and SUSTECH, Shenzhen, China.

The meeting was attended by education secretary Haseeb Athar, NCHD chairperson Razina Alam, joint education adviser Rafiq Tahir and other officials of the ministry and NCHD, AEPAM and BECS.