University Of Sindh Organizes Awareness Seminar On British Council Academic Activities

The Vice Chancellor University of Sindh Jamshoro Prof. Dr. Fateh Muhammad Burfat appreciated the efforts of British Council Pakistan in promotion of academic activities in higher education institutions of Pakistan and said that it has taken on a significant rise after start of Pak-UK Education Gateway in the recent years

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Nov, 2019 ) :The Vice Chancellor University of Sindh Jamshoro Prof. Dr. Fateh Muhammad Burfat appreciated the efforts of British Council Pakistan in promotion of academic activities in higher education institutions of Pakistan and said that it has taken on a significant rise after start of Pak-UK Education Gateway in the recent years.

As more and more British universities have opened their academic doors to Pakistani academics, scholars and students giving way to increased research engagement as a result of Pak-UK Education Gateway, he added.

The Vice Chancellor expressed these remarks while addressing awareness seminar on Wednesday organized by the Office of the Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC) University of Sindh, Jamshoro under the aegis of British Council Pakistan and Higher Education Commission Islamabad.

The Area British Council for Sindh and Baluchistan Michael Houlgate was the chief guest while British Council Head of Higher Education and Skills Sarah Parvez was the speaker on the occasion.

The Vice Chancellor said that University of Sindh was a premier seat of higher education in Pakistan and the founder Allama I.I. Kazi had the honor and privilege of teaching at school of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London in 1928.

The university has around 700 highly qualified Faculty and more than 300 of them have done their doctorates from leading world universities, the Vice Chancellor informed and welcome the British Council for initiating efforts of classical and oldest citadel of knowledge in Asia.

Dr. Burfat said it had become almost impossible to work solo in the technology-ridden, fast changing, and digital world. "To be productive,beneficial and meaningful, we need to connect, collaborate and converge," he emphasized.

He informed that recently the British Council in Pakistan had hosted 800 Vice Chancellors from 90 countries of the world to share, network, learn and grow and being Vice Chancellor University of Sindh he was the part of the academic feat at Albert Hall, London.

The vice Chancellor announced establishment of British-Sindh University Alumni Association at University of Sindh and sought help from the British Council Pakistan.

In his address, Michael Houlgate stated that Pakistan and the United Kingdom had over 70 year long history of rich, cordial relations with marked cultural commonalities. "We have, of late, announced the first offering of Education Gateway for the year 2020,"this offer is called Innovative and collaborative Research Grant and it aims to enhance joint research engagement activism between Pakistan and UK scholars in collaboration with Higher Education Commission Islamabad",he informed.

He called upon the academic heads of University of Sindh to encourage students to be forthcoming in competing for this grant. "The grant opportunities are available in the areas of 'innovative and collaborative research, Pak-UK joint principal investigator initiative, allied health sciences, quality assurance, leadership, distance learning, transnational studies, governance and community engagement and active citizenship", he informed.

The British Council Head of Higher Education and Skills Sarah Parvez informed that British Council preferred impact-oriented research engagement over what she termed 'under-the-shelves' research.

She said that the British Council had shifted its focus from wholesome subject approach to thematically-specific subject approach to elicit-desired outcomes.

The event was attended by the Project Manager British Council Pakistan in Karachi Fareed Athar, Deans of various teaching faculties, academic and administrative heads, faculty, researchers and advanced level students who participated in the seminar.