A force for knowledge
July 7, 2021
The Knowledge Economy Task Force chaired by the prime minister had its first meeting in January 2019 when the roadmap presented by me in my capacity as vice chairman was approved.
This envisaged investments in education, science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship with particular focus on the new and emerging technologies. Within a short period of 2.5 years, a huge amount of work has been done which has begun to transform the landscape of science and technology in Pakistan.
One shining example of the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the achievement of the present government is the ‘Pak Austrian Fachhochschule’ about 45 miles from Islamabad. This university of Applied Science and Engineering was a part of my vision back in 2003-2008 when I was chairman of the HEC but the projects were abandoned in 2008, a few months before classes were to start. However, persistence pays, and the scheme was restarted with the support of
Higher education ravaged
April 7, 2021
The HEC policies during the last three years led to a mushroom growth of 50 new universities, while simultaneously the programmes to develop highly qualified faculty were curtailed.
Some 8,000 scholarships available for PhD level training, worth about 50 billion rupees, were held back by the HEC. This resulted in a sharp drop in the PhD level faculty-to-student ratio and a corresponding decline in the quality of education, since the quality of undergraduate and postgraduate education is directly dependent on the number and quality of qualified faculty available. Thousands of our young men and women were thus needlessly deprived of being trained at the world’s best universities, and then contribute to the development of this nation.
A future of knowledge
December 16, 2020
Pakistan’s future lies in developing a strong knowledge economy based on excellence in education, science, technology and innovation/entrepreneurship so that we can migrate from the traps of a low value agricultural economy to a strong ‘Knowledge Economy’.
A knowledge economy requires the production of goods and services to be based on knowledge-intensive activities, utilising the remarkable advancements in technical and scientific innovations. We need to develop a highly skilled workforce and introduce policies to utilise this work force towards setting up major industries for the manufacture and export of high technology products. That is the secret of the rapid developments of countries such as Singapore, Korea and China.