The two-day Islamic conference of ministers of higher education and scientific research from various Muslim countries was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
It was attended by over 57 higher education ministers of the Muslim world to discuss and approve the guide for the assessment and quality enhancement of universities in the Muslim world.
The country was represented by a three-member delegation, headed by Chairperson Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr Javaid R. Laghari. HEC played a significant role in preparing a quality document for the evaluation of universities. In his address, Dr Laghari said that the HEC had the experience of working on key performance indicators (KPIs) and had developed and implemented a quality assurance system through quality enhancement cells in the last two years in all its universities. It established accreditation councils and a ranking model which haD been implemented from this year, he added. He offered to play a key role to aid in building the capacity of other Muslim countries to be able to adopt these KPIs. Dr Laghari was elected as member of the executive council of the conference and appointed rapporteur. On the second day of the meeting, Dr Laghari, who was one of the three main speakers at the round table on strengthening linkages in higher education sector for quality assurance, spoke about harnessing the fruit of innovation in the Muslim world.
He described how quality and relevant research contributed to the economic development of many emerging economies. He also spoke about how the socio-economic transformation is taking place at HEC, as it moves from its traditional role of higher education and research to innovation and entrepreneurship.
Muslim world to emulate HEC’s quality model
