NAHE holds roundtable to identify faculty development needs

Islamabad: As part of collaboration for academic excellence initiative of the National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE), the Academy is organising roundtable discussion events nationally and in the provinces.

The first provincial workshop/roundtable was held on Monday to identify faculty development needs in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Representatives from universities including those from the Quality Enhancement Cells in universities across the province were in attendance including Buner, Karak, Malakand, Haripur, Peshawar and former FATA.

During the event, participants were able to debate and discuss urgent faculty development needs unique to their contexts, potential collaborations between public and private sector universities and the role NAHE can play to contribute to the professional development of their faculties.

Dr. Shaheen Sardar Ali, rector NAHE, identified both challenges and opportunities identified in the national higher education landscape as a result of COVID-19. Universities were able to share their varying experiences of capacity building in their respective institutions. Teaching philosophy and methodology, online capability and research mentorship were among the most common problems in capacity identified by the universities. However, there was a great spirit of collaboration and a willingness to create a community of practice to improve the quality of learning available in HEIs across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Sharing of resources, identifying strengths and all that public and private institutions can offer to each other under the guidance of NAHE were possibilities discussed.

Over the next few months, members of the NAHE team will travel to Karachi, Lahore, and Sargodha to conduct additional roundtables and hopefully include representatives from all provinces and regions of Pakistan.