Author: Academia Magazine

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Wednesday said that it required utmost efforts for Pakistan to join the global race of technology which would also guarantee the future national economic development.

The president, addressing the launching ceremony of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) pilot project, said the children’s motivation towards science education would create actual wealth for the country which would later support the industry and IT sector too.
Under the umbrella of Ministry of Science and Technology, the Pakistan Science Foundation is executing the STEM’s first phase project under PSDP program. The project is initially being launched in 50 schools across Pakistan, selected based on their excellent academic results during last three years.

Calling STEM education “very dear” to him, the president referred to a survey by Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) which showed that the interest of Pakistani children towards STEM was comparatively low in the region.

Quoting a study by University of Sargodha, the president said parents, visiting museum and science festivals as well as encouragement by the teachers played key role to motivate children towards STEM education. He said China produced around 4.7 million STEM graduates annually, India 2.6 million and Iran 0.35 million while Pakistan would be far behind in the list.

Calling the launching of STEM as a timely step, the president called for adopting the required factors for promotion of STEM education which provided the basis for development in organized societies. He also hinted at visiting the STEM schools sometime and added that it was inevitable to uplift the people to compete the world.

Minister for Science and Technology Senator Shibli Faraz said the program would be spread throughout the country. The selected schools will become hubs of STEM education and will serve as model schools for all schools of adjoining areas.

He said the program also feature training of teachers and preparation of master trainers. Moreover, a monitoring mechanism will also be in place to examine the productivity of the program.

Moreover, he said the STEM FABLABS will be established in all STEM designated schools which would have state of the art research facilities and will also provide latest resources for digital fabrication.

Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said the education ministry had launched a pilot program in 35 educational institutes of Islamabad which would also benefit the Pakistan Science Foundation in STEM initiative.

He said STEM was also part of uniform education curriculum and added that teacher training was of high importance to achieve the desired results. Chairman of Pakistan Science Foundation Dr Shahid Baig also addressed the event, attended by provincial ministers, diplomats and principals of the STEM designated schools

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhary Fawad Hussain on Wednesday said that Pakistan Science Foundation was going to launch an educational program which in his view will be a game-changer.

In a tweet, the minister said the project was designed to convert 450 government schools into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) schools because the country could not change unless government schools were modernized.

پاکستان سائنس فاونڈیشن آج ایک ایسے پروگرام کا آغاز کرنے جا رہی ہے جو میری نظر میں گیم چینجر ہو گا، 450 گورنمنٹ اسکولز کو STEM (سائنس، ٹیکنالوجی، انجنئرنگ اور میتھس) اسکولز میں تبدیل کرنے کا منصوبہ میں نے اس لئے ڈیزائین کیا کہ جب تک سرکاری اسکول ماڈرن نہیں ہوں گے ملک نہیں بدل سکتا

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) October 6, 2021

He said that he was glad that despite delay, the project was becoming a reality today. He said that after the initial 450 schools, more schools would follow this model.

Fawad Hussain said that universities had been asked to adopt schools and improve the quality of science education at the school level.

Lahore: President University of Management and Technology (UMT) Ibrahim Hassan Murad met with the Chief Minister of Baluchistan Jam Kamal Khan. In the meeting various viewpoints were exchanged including the promotion of technology in the province, higher education, artificial intelligence as well as provision of scholarships to students. Ibrahim Murad gave a brief overview of UMT’s educational and extra-curricular activities.

President UMT Ibrahim Murad further said that learners from different cities across Pakistan, especially from every city of Balochistan, are getting quality education on the best scholarships and hundreds of Baloch students have completed their degrees in various programs as well. “Our aim is the promotion of an innovation hub and knowledge economy in the country” said Ibrahim Murad.

Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan appreciated the role of UMT in the education sector and said that we welcome the establishment of an institution like UMT to improve the educational situation in Balochistan. Balochistan government will extend its full support in this regard; he added.

CM Jam Kamal said that universities play a vital role in human resource development therefore we are establishing universities in various cities of Balochistan. In this regard we are also giving an annual grant of Rs. 2.5 billion for the promotion of higher education; he added.

President UMT Ibrahim Hasan Murad presented a souvenir to Chief Minister Balochistan, Jam Kamal Khan at the conclusion of the meeting. Chief Secretary Balochistan, Mather Niaz Rana and Secretary Higher Education, Mohammad Hashim Ghilzai also attended the meeting.

Different departments, centers and institutes of the University of Sindh Jamshoro have issued schedules of interviews for admissions to PhD programs for the academic year 2021.

In this regard, the chairman Department of Physiology and Medical Laboratory Technology (DPMLT) Prof. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Leghari informed that the interviews of candidates for admissions to PhD in physiology will be conducted on August 2, 2021 from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at his office.

Apart from Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Leghari, the interview committee includes associate professor department of Physiology Dr. Jamshed Warsi and assistant professor working on tenure track system Dr. Ayaz Ali Samo.

On the other hand, the director Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Prof. Dr. Habib Ahmed Naqvi informed that the interviews for admissions to PhD in Biotechnology / Genetics will be held on July 27 at 9:30 am at his office.

The interviews of the candidates who passed the pre-entrance test with minimum 40% marks for admissions to M.Phil in Biotechnology/ Genetics will be conducted on July 28 at 9.30 am at the director’s office. In contrast, the interviews for admissions to PhD in Business Administration will be held on July 29, 2021 at 10 am in the IBA director’s Office. The candidates have been directed to appear in the interviews on time.

The controller of annual examinations University of Sindh Jamshoro Prof. Dr. Siraj-ul-Haq Kandhro has extended the date for submission of the exam forms for the annual examinations of M.Com, M.Sc, MA (Previous and Final), Post Graduate (Regular Side) in the affiliated colleges till August 5, 2021 with a late fee of Rs 5,000.

In his statement, the controller informed that the students of the affiliated colleges can now deposit their exams fee with a late fee of Rs. 5000 till August 5 and submit their examination forms for the annual examinations of 2019. The date will not be extended after August 5.

LAHORE:Punjab University Library has organized an online program of introductory talks on two books for the promotion of book reading culture among academia through its Book Club platform. The books presented were “Khoobsurat Maasajid by Faqir Ullah Khan” and “Pakistan: the politics of the misgoverned by Azhar Hassan Nadeem”.

The introductory talk on “Khoobsurat Maasajid” was presented by Chief Librarian PU Library, Dr Muhammad Haroon Usmani. He informed that the book holds wonderful information regarding new and old beautiful mosques of the world and can be treated as a great reference source and travel guide on the subject. The talk on “Pakistan: the politics of the misgoverned” was presented by the Assistant Professor of Centre for South Asian Studies, Dr Marium Kamal.

She discussed the salient political thoughts presented in the book and possible solutions to change the situation of misgoverned. The talks and conduct of the program were highly cherished by the participants.

The College Education Department would provide facemask and hand sanitizer to each candidate appearing in the Higher Secondary School Certificate Annual Examination 2021 to be held on July 26.

According to the notification issued by the department on Saturday, in the pursuance of the decision taken by the Sindh Task Force and the School Education and Literacy Department’s Steering Committee all the candidates and examiners would strictly follow the Covid-19 SOPs during the intermediate exams.

“In this regard Government of Sindh has decided to provide facemask and hand sanitizers to each candidate in the examination center. The principals are directed to contact the Directorate General of Colleges on July 23-24 for receiving the facemask and hand sanitizer according to the list of candidates appearing in the exams”.

This year as many as 55443 students of Science group, Pre-Medical, Pre-Engineering, General Science, Home Economics, and Commerce group would attempt the HSSC Annual Exams in the morning shift. And around 57157 aspirants of the private group, regular students of Arts group, special candidates, and the students of Physical Education will be appearing in the HSSC annual exams in the evening shift. A total of 112600 aspirants of all groups would attempt the HSSC Annual Exams 2021 conducted by the BIEK.

A total of 210 examination centers have been set up in the morning and evening shifts for the HSSC exams, of which 114 examination centers have been established for the morning shift while 96 examination centers have been set up for the evening shift. The board has declared 66 examination centers including 32 centers of the morning shift and 34 of the evening shift highly sensitive.

The Academic Council of Government College University Lahore has approved major reforms in the university’s admission process and structure of academic programmes.

The Council approved a policy of entrance test and aptitude interview for admissions in undergraduate programmes of all disciplines except Physical Education and Fine Arts, where practical are necessary.

Apart from the entrance test carrying a weight of 30%, and aptitude interview 20%, intermediate result will receive the weight of 40% and another 10% will be given to matriculation.

Sample papers for the entrance tests and guidelines for interviews has been made available on the University’s website.

Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi, VC GCU said: “Unfortunately, our admissions system has miserably failed to test the skillset required for pursuing good quality higher education. We find a great difference in the marking standards of various secondary boards. Applicants often have high scores but do not possess basic conceptual clarity, and communication and analytical skills. On the basis of marks, they are admitted to disciplines for which they lack aptitude. Our teachers have to focus on improving students’ basic skills; a university is not supposed to impart school/ college level education. Our new undergraduate admission policy will attract the best of best minds and ensure learnings based on leading-edge knowledge”.

The Academic Council also recommended a policy proposal for bringing evening undergrad programmes at par with the morning. Evening programmes will now be called self-supporting. Self-supporting students are now eligible for scholarships, hostels and transport facilities.

Prof Zaidi said: “Self-supporting students are admitted on merit and pay fifty percent higher fee. They deserve facilities like regular students. Through centralized timetabling, self-supporting students will now be able tontake classes with regular students. This will help them better to integrate in the University culture and acquire socializing skills in a formal academic setting. Centralized timetable will also increase options of subjects for them which was not available previously. We have also approved merit-based scholarships for self- supporting students to support them financially and to ensure academic rigour in our programmes”.

The Academic Council also approved the standardization of nomenclature of undergrad degrees. All degree programmes will be called Bachelor of Studies (BS). The step was taken in line with the HEC’s policy and to avoid confusion in the job market where different nomenclatures are used for similar degree programmes.