A delegation of senior officials from Cito BV, a Netherlands based international reputed organisation working in the areas of testing and assessment, visited the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The main objective of the visit was to comprehend the state of higher education in Pakistan and to explore the possibilities of cooperation in the fields of testing, assessment and higher education. Cito International CEO Mr Marten Roorda and Director Dr Henk Moelands met with senior HEC officials and representatives of accreditation councils.
The HEC Executive Director Prof Dr Mukhtar Ahmed welcomed the delegation and apprised them about the scope, functions and role of HEC for strengthening higher education sector in Pakistan. He informed that the establishment of the HEC in 2002 had brought revolutionary changes in higher education sector of Pakistan.
“The HEC has accomplished more in the last ten years than it did since its establishment 55 years ago,” Ahmed said. He also informed that due to revolutionary reforms in the sector, Pakistani universities were being counted amongst the top world and Asian universities.
“During the last decade, international collaborations with leading organisations and higher education institutions of academically advanced countries have been established throughout the globe. National Testing Service (NTS) Pakistan has been working as a reputed testing service and the HEC would encourage their collaborations with international organisations like Cito to bring the quality of testing and assessment in Pakistan at par with international standards,” he said.
HEC Quality Assurance Agency Managing Director Prof Dr Azam Ali Khwaja informed the delegation that since its inception, HEC had undertaken a number of practical steps towards improving the quality of higher education and bringing Pakistani higher education sector at par with international standards. Internal and external effective quality assurance mechanism had been developed through introducing university ranking, establishing 84 quality enhancement cells at all the public sector universities of Pakistan, developing standardised criteria for appointment and promotions of faculty members, standardising M.Phil and PhD programs and subject classification list, continuous assessment and evaluation of PhD program through visits of PhD review committees, establishing four new accreditation councils, notifying criteria for recognition of journals and PhD supervisors and byt the establishment of Quality Assurance Agency.
Quality Assurance Director General Zia Batool said Pakistani higher education model, especially quality assurance reforms, were being followed by Islamic counties and other developing countries as one of the best practices in quality assurance.
During recent meeting of the conference of All Commonwealth Universities (ACU), the vice chancellors of universities from commonwealth countries not only appreciated the Quality Assurance reforms but also declared it as best model to be adopted by the universities of commonwealth countries.
The delegation appreciated the role of HEC in bringing vibrant and effective changes in the higher education sector of Pakistan and showing a keen interest to collaborate for capacity building in testing and assessment.
