‘Capacity building for doctoral provision’ programme launched

Islamabad
To embed international standard doctoral programmes in public sector universities in Pakistan, the Research and Development Division of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the British Council launched a three-day programme on ‘Capacity Building for Doctoral Provision in Pakistan’ at HEC on Tuesday.
The programme is launched in partnership with University College London Institute of Education, UK and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. The purpose of the programme is to introduce excellent doctoral programmes in several new public sector universities in Pakistan. Dr. Anne Gold and Dr Denise Hawkes from University College London Institute of Education, UK, are the resource persons for the workshop.
The project will offer an unusual ‘cross-fertilization’ of ideas, knowledge and experience and ultimately each government university will be poised to take the work further into their own regions.
Through this project, doors will be opened for more students to access high-quality doctoral programmes, thus strengthening universities, producing important in-country research and ensuring a larger group of home-based researchers and academics. The intended goals of the project include the longer-term expansion of the programme to other universities in Pakistan, and ultimately to other countries in South Asia, where improved doctoral capacity could be supported through a partnership model such as for this project.
The workshop started with the brief introduction of HEC by Adviser Research and Development HEC Professor Dr. Tariq Mahmood. He also highlighted HEC’s initiatives to strengthen the indigenous capacity and raise the overall standard of teaching and research.
The Quaid-i-Azam University and University of Karachi gave their presentations followed by the other universities’ presentations on their doctoral provision.