A conference was held at Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad for the universities which are part of the Pakistan-United States University Partnerships Programme.
Through this programme, launched under the auspices of US Embassy in 2012, 16 Pakistani universities have been linked to 16 US universities.
The aim of the conference was to discuss how these partner universities from both the countries may benefit from different schemes of HEC for further strengthening their collaboration and making it a sustainable effort.
Beside others, US Embassy Minister Counselor for Public Affairs Peter M Brennan, HEC Adviser (R&D) Dr Tariq Mahmood and HEC Director General (HRM) Farmanullah Anjum attended the conference.
Pakistan-United States University Partnerships Programme is aimed to establish long-term, ongoing relationships between Pakistani academic institutions of higher learning with those in the United States. Under this programme, a grant of $1 million is provided by the US government to American universities to establish a three-year partnership with a Pakistani university in Social Sciences and Humanities in order to assist universities with professional development of faculty, curriculum reform, joint research, and increase mutual understanding between Pakistan and the United States through sustainable, peer-to-peer relationships.
Speaking at the conference, Brennan appreciated HEC for its effort to promote Pakistan-United States University Partnerships and for visioning to take this programme beyond 2015. He also stressed on the need to widen the scope of these partnerships.
Earlier, Dr Tariq Mahmood welcomed the guests and the participants. He thanked the US government, especially US Embassy, for taking initiatives for the development of Pakistan’s higher education sector. Farmanullah Anjum said that a holistic approach will be adopted to achieve the objectives of this programme.
It may be mentioned here in October 2013 a workshop was organised by the US Embassy in Madison Wisconsin on “University Partnership in Pakistan: Sharing Best Practices”. Farmanullah Anjum represented HEC in the workshop.