The Higher Education Commission (HEC) organized on Thursday a ceremony to confer the Best University Teacher Award (BUTA) for the year 2021 upon the outstanding faculty members of Pakistani universities in three broad categories, viz. Life Sciences & Medicine; Physical Sciences & Engineering; and Social Sciences & Humanities.
Dr Syed Asghar Naqi, Professor, King Edward Medical University (KEMU), Lahore, Dr Farah Naz Baig Assistant Professor Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi and Dr Momin Ayub Uppal Associate Professor Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) have won the Best University Teacher Award in the category of Life Sciences & Medicine, Social Sciences & Humanities and Physical Sciences & Engineering respectively.
Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Mr. Rana Tanveer Hussain graced the occasion as chief guest. Chairperson HEC Dr Shaista Sohail, Advisor (Academics, Accreditation and National Academy of Higher Education – NAHE) Engr Muhammad Raza Chohan and a large number of Vice-Chancellors, faculty members, and students attended the ceremony.
Addressing the audience, Rana Tanveer Hussain highlighted the importance of encouraging and incentivizing teachers to promote quality education and research. He stated that teachers are the role models for future generations, as they play a key role in nation-building and character-building of youth. Appreciating NAHE for its efforts to build capacity of university leadership, faculty and staff, he stressed the need for more effective measures to provide teachers with training opportunities. He emphasized the policies to promote skill-based education in the universities in order to equip Pakistani youth with the skill set required to address current and future challenges. He also stressed the need for paying special attention to producing quality PhDs and creating job opportunities for them.
Dr Shaista Sohail highlighted the significance of teachers’ role for development of the higher education institutions, and how the higher education sector plays a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of any country. She informed the gathering about efforts that HEC has been continuously making for overall growth of the higher learning institutions, be it human resource development, quality assurance, physical and technological development, research and innovation, industrial liaison, entrepreneurship and other areas.
Announcing the winners of Best University Teacher Award 2021, Advisor Engr. Muhammad Raza Chohan said that knowledge is the key driver for socio-economic development of a country. He said that HEC is cognizant of the teachers’ role in transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy. He underlined that HEC received 57 nominations for the Best University Teacher Award 2021 from 243 public and private universities. And, he added, a rigorous process was adopted to select the Best University Teachers 2021.
