By Aitizaz Hassan

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) says it is contributing positively to the national economy by providing educated and skilled manpower. The skilled workforce, particularly in the technology sector, is needed by the world, and the HEC creates a favourable scenario for Pakistan by providing such opportunities to the youth.

HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad said in an interview with WealthPK that only those countries that transform themselves digitally will thrive in future. He said that from the day first, the HEC has been focusing on digital transformation in Pakistan.

Dr Mukhtar said that recently, the HEC invited over 60 information technology (IT) experts from Tokyo and launched a dashboard with Pakistani industrialists.

“Japan needs 800,000 IT engineers by 2030 to meet its market needs. Recently, Japan launched Foreign IT Engineers (FiTE) collaboration with the HEC to bridge the ICT engineer gap between Pakistan and Japan,” the HEC chairman said.

Dr Mukhtar said that during his visit to China, he was impressed by Huawei’s research centre and high-tech smart classrooms in Chinese universities.

“Initially, the HEC duplicated China’s smart class model in Pakistan by creating at least one smart classroom in every university that aims to start the blended system of teaching,” he said.

Dr Mukhtar said the HEC plans to take maximum advantage from China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). He said the HEC has good relationship with many Chinese companies. He shared that the HEC has a special centre and space inside its building for CPEC cooperation, which is looked after by ex-rectors of the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST). He said several Pakistani universities collaborating with Chinese universities. He said that during the Covid time, the HEC continued its collaboration with Chinese academia through online correspondence.

Dr Mukhtar Ahmad said that HEC has introduced a technology and skill development initiative to make linkage between industry and academia. So far, he said, the Government of Pakistan has built five technology and skill universities across the country and also directed the engineering universities to launch special technology courses.

The HEC chairman said there is a massive breach between industry and fresh graduates.

“We are trying to engage the academia with industry and inviting industry stakeholders to join universities’ advisory committees. Students must have the skills at the time of graduation that our industry requires,” he said.

Dr Mukhtar said the HEC has also created a venture fund for the students who are interested in business career.

“We are encouraging universities to work on incubation centres. Around 30% of universities are practically working on incubation centres where the students are making their own companies. They are not looking for job, and rather they are creating employment opportunities,” he said.

Dr Mukhtar said the entrepreneur subject along with internship is compulsory in the universities’ relevant departments. He said only those students who adopt the innovative skills will be successful in future.

The HEC chairman mentioned that they have launched Pakistan Research Education and Network (PREN) initiative to empower the universities digitally. He said PERN is working on high data connectivity as it is now providing high data at a speed of 40 Gbps by dark fibre. PERN backbone is planning to provide 100 Gbps for all its universities.

Dr Mukhtar said that PERN has created 380 sites in universities, campuses and sub-institutions. These sites are providing digital libraries, online education, video conferences and e-books. He said the HEC aims to boost the cloud data centre and distribute 5,000 servers in public universities. Recently, the HEC made an agreement with Huawei on launching two data centres in Karachi and Lahore, which should be completed in five to six months.

“Ideally, we have to launch two more data centres in the country with the help of the World Bank program,” he said.

The HEC chairman said work is already started on data centres. He said these data centres are state-of-the-art with additionality function to add more statistics with time. He said the HEC has declared 100 public universities as smart and safe campuses, while 50 more smart universities will also be added soon. Students are not bound to work in a computer lab in these institutions, but they will be connected with academic activities and academia online through Wi-Fi facility.

Dr Mukhtar said the HEC has initiated a laptop scheme to enable online education resources for students. This year, 100,000 laptops have been approved for higher education.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk