ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (APP):Minister of Federal Education and Professional Training, Rana Tanveer Hussain Friday urged the policymakers and practitioners to review and revamp the curricula, invest in building capacities of teaching and research faculty and bring about a paradigm shift from subject-focused rote learning to an interdisciplinary approach to research and education.
He was addressing the closing session of “the International Summit on Higher Education and Workforce Development in 21st Century” organized by USAID and HEC.
United States Senator of Utah State, Keith Grover also attended the event held at a local hotel.
The federal minister said that the USAID’s Higher Education System Strengthening Activity (HESSA) between the Governments of the USA and Pakistan which is worth $19 Million, is yet another initiative that will support our 16 universities in improving their institutional and technical capacities in delivering market-relevant education and research.
Rana Tanveer emphasized to pay focus on improving institutional governance, curriculum, access and quality, teaching and research practices, industry-academia linkages, and climate change adaptation.
He said that it is a reality-whether we like it or not-most stakeholders complain that our education system does not equip the students with the knowledge, experience, skills, or values needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
“It is clear to everyone that business as usual is not an option to reverse this trend. We need to be bold, innovative and committed to achieving the three-fold objective of improving access, quality, and relevance of our higher education.”
He also called for prioritizing advancing social justice by mainstreaming marginalized communities into the higher education system.
The federal minister said that the key challenges that are faced by our higher education sector that need to be addressed are low and inequitable access; traditional teaching and research techniques; weak industry and academia linkages; weak management and governance amongst a myriad of others.
The minister continued, “If we invest in our higher education system in terms of strengthening leadership and policies; enhancing faculty’s teaching and research capacities; strengthening industry-academia linkages; improving student support services-this will result in a system that churns out well-rounded graduates with potential to have secured livelihoods.
The innovations, experiences and lessons learned from HESSA will be instrumental in scaling up the best practices throughout the sector, he said.
Rana Tanveer extended his gratitude to the HESSA project team for bringing together a highly accomplished group of thought leaders, policymakers, academicians, and students to deliberate on issues that are urgent and critical for improving our graduates’ employability and workforce development in Pakistan.
In his concluding remarks, Rana Tanveer Hussain thanked the US Government and USAID for their continuous support to Pakistan’s higher education system in the form of both infrastructure development and institutional capacity building.
