Chinese envoy urges intellectual support for Chinese projects

LAHORE: Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan Mr Yao Jing has said that there is a need of intellectual support for the success of Chinese projects in Pakistan and called upon Punjab University administration and faculty members to play their role in this regard.

He expressed these views during a meeting with PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmed at his office here on Wednesday. Chinese Consul General Mr Long Dingbing along with his Chinese colleagues, PU Registrar Dr Muhammad Khalid Khan, Director External Linkages Prof Dr Kanwal Ameen, deans of faculties and principals were also present.

Mr Yao Jing expressed a desire to enhance bilateral relations among the academic institutions of Pakistan and China. He also stressed the need to promote cultural and people-to-people relations between the two countries. He said the Chinese government was offering scholarships to Pakistani students for higher education in China. More scholarship would be provided to top students to pursue their studies in top Chinese universities, he said.

He said that China was encouraging investment and promotion of technology in Pakistan. He said that China also wanted to give Pakistani products more access to China. He said the CPEC would play a leading role in socio-economic development of Pakistan and the region.

He said that Lahorites were the friendliest people and Chinese Consul General Mr Long Dingbing was a lucky person who got posting in the City.

The PU VC said that PU was playing an active role in promoting Pak-China relations. He said that recently, PU had granted admission to 15 Chinese students in the PhD programme while 3,500 students had completed Chinese language course from PU Confucius Centre. He said that PU had also signed memoranda of understanding with 30 Chinese institutions to enhance collaboration in different sectors and many PU faculty members and students were visiting China. He said that PU organised two international conferences and several seminars on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor last year. Later, the PU VC presented souvenir to the Chinese ambassador.

GCU: Dr Farouq Ahmed, medical practitioner from the United States, has donated rupees one million to the Government College University’s Endowment Fund Trust for the scholarships of financially-challenged students. Prof Dr Khalid Manzoor Butt, trust’s executive committee secretary said, “Dr Farouq and Mrs Shahnaz Golden Scholarship” would be initiated from the donation and it would be given to a deserving student every year on merit. He said costs of education were rising every year and collective efforts were required to help the bright students of the society who could not afford their academic expenses.

LUMS: The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has won Facebook Integrity Foundational Research Award worth $50,000 for their proposal, “Understanding the Impact of Digital Literacy on Misinformation in Pakistan” through two profound instructors Dr Ayesha Ali, Assistant Professor of Economics and Dr Ihsan Ayyub Qazi, Associate Professor of Computer Science.

The awards are structured as unrestricted monetary awards that provide funding for innovative and compelling research proposals that have the potential to significantly advance knowledge in areas of mutual interest. As part of their research, they will study the growing phenomenon of misinformation (or fake news) on social media platforms, such as facebook and whatsapp, in Pakistan.

In particular, their work will focus on the relationship between digital literacy and the spread of misinformation on social media platforms and evaluate potential solutions for countering misinformation through a randomised control trial.