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Saturday, October 08, 2011
HEC, British Council attend AURIL conference* Lay out plans for University Knowledge Exchanges
LAHORE: A delegation of the British Council Pakistan and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) attended the annual Association for University Research and Industry Links (AURIL) conference in London.
At the conference, HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail Naqvi delivered the introduction to the proceedings of industry and academic experts in knowledge exchange between universities and the local and national ecosystems they operate in. AURIL is the biggest and oldest knowledge exchange organisation in Eurpoe.
Dr Naqvi explained the role of the HEC in Pakistan and the resulting transformation of the higher education sector. He laid out plans for universities in Pakistan to expand their remit of teaching and research into organised knowledge exchange that could benefit businesses, social organisations and local communities, creating a new engine of economic growth and sophistication in business value chains. Nasser Ali Khan of the Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences), Peshawar, gave examples of how IMSciences had already begun a process of informing the local context with expert knowledge.
Nishat Riaz of the British Council said, “We are very happy to see that the HEC is going forward into new areas that help encapsulate the growth of research in Pakistan into applications that will create local benefits.” Imtiaz Rastgar, a businessman and member of the Industry Advisory Group of the HEC, said, “Knowledge Exchange between universities and business are crucial, we remain in low margin and undifferentiated business sectors because the crucial university business links have not been exploited significantly as of yet.” The HEC plans to continue with its knowledge exchange framework to expand the use of academics in locally relevant business incubation, ideation and consulting, resulting in greater depth of experience for both academics and students. pr
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk