State responsible to focus on quality research and scholarship exchange; governance in higher education institutions is imperative, says Romanian scholar Dr. Ancuta Prisacariu
From Our Correspondent
Khairpur
Three-Day International Conference on Governance & Quality Assurance in Higher Education Institutes opened here Wednesday at Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur.
The conference has been jointly organized by the Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC), Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur in collaboration with Higher Education Commission, Pakistan Network of Quality Assurance in Higher Education (PNQAHE), Khyber Medical University, Peshawar and The Shaikh Ayaz University, Shikarpur.
Prof. Dr. Khalil Ahmed Ibupoto, Vice Chancellor, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur presided over the inaugural session while Prof. Dr. Azam Ali Khuwaja, former Managing Director, Higher Education Commission, Islamabad was the chief guest. Prof. Dr. Fateh Muhammad Marri, Ex-Executive Director, Higher Education Commission, Pakistan and incumbent Vice Chancellor, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, Prof. Dr. Amanat Ali Jalbani, Vice Chancellor, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazirabad and Prof. Dr. Zia-ul-Haque, President, PNQAHE and Vice Chancellor Khyber Medical University Peshawar were the guests of honor.
Keynote Speaker Dr. Ancuta Prisacariu from Romania delivered her keynote speech on the topic “The Changing Role of the State within National Quality Assurance System”. She said it is the duty of the state to focus on quality research, exchange of scholarships. Governance in higher education institutions is imperative. We have to align our efforts for academic integrity. She said technology’s boom has developed integration with the nations. We have to adopt international practices for quality assurance.
Speaking at the conference, Prof. Dr. Khalil Ahmed Ibupoto said that we have to adopt best practices in the field of research and innovation in order to adopt the new modules and models in the research. He stressed the need to embark the quality research with the help of collaborative efforts.
Prof. Dr. Azam Ali Khuwaja said there are more than 100 definitions in literature for quality but the quality lies in the public eyes. He said we have to define parameters for quality assurance and added that the crux of the quality assurance is to share best practices along with international best practices. Dr. Khuwaja said that the first University was established in the year 1297 in the name of Bologna in Italy as pioneer University.
Prof. Dr. Fateh Muhammad Mari said that the quality is a fundamental in higher education. He said several issues pertain to the quality assurance as challenges but it is need of the time to address and focus on teachers’ qualification and ability, student’s capacity building and research and development. It is also imperative to concentrate on the commitment and delivery of teachers in the primary, secondary and tertiary education.
Prof. Dr. Amanat Ali Jalbani said quality management is a vast subject. He quoted the example of early education of Sindh and Pakistan where the teachers possess the qualification of 7th class but he possesses the knowledge of more than Master’s degree. He said there are different factors which affected the quality of education and research i.e. qualification of teachers, governance, curriculum, market-related subjects. When we are concentrating to improve the above areas, definitely the quality of product will be value-added for community and society. He said we have to improve our primary education because it is baseline of our nation.
Prof. Dr. Zia-ul-Haque said that we have witnessed the mushroom growth of establishment of Universities.
Dr. Ayesha Bukhari, General Secretary, PNQAHE said that Higher Education Commission, Islamabad have taken initiatives for the establishment of Quality Enhancement Cells in Universities to share best practices. She said earlier, we started to establish the PNQAHE for quality research. She revealed that they have launched research journal in order to promote quality research culture on the platform of PNQAHE.
Prof. Dr. Iram Rani, Director QEC and Secretary of the Conferencesaid there is need of transformation of international quality criteria and competitive research, share scholarly work and collaborative efforts in order to attain the quality assurance and governance in the HEIs.
Prof. Dr. Mir Muhammad Shah, Vice Chancellor Sukkur IBA University, Sukkur, Prof. Dr. Madad Ali Shah, Syed Nasir Shah, Director General, Quality Assurance Agency, Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Keerio, Principal Khairpur Agriculture Engineering College, Khairpur, Prof. Dr. Taj Muhammad Lashari, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Junejo, Dean Faculty of Management Sciences, Prof. Dr. Minhoon Khan Laghari and large number of teachers, research scholars, civil society activists, students and media persons attended the inaugural session.
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