Jang Group-sponsored education exhibition begins
KARACHI: The two-day 14th Pakistan International Education Exhibition (PIEE), sponsored by the Jang Group, commenced on April 10, with the participation of over 100 local and international educational institutions.
Minister In-charge for Science and Technology Prof Dr Atta-ur-Rehman formally inaugurated the two-day event being held at the Karachi Expo Centre. A large number of prospective students visited the exhibition especially the stalls of the UK-based universities on the first day.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Dr Atta-ur-Rehman said that two out of four educational TV channels under the Virtual University would start functioning within the next two months, adding the other two channels would start operating in due course.
He said the present government under its drive to reverse the brain drain process in the country had started a scheme of inviting highly educated Pakistani expatriates to serve in universities of the country.
He said that currently 190 PhD qualified academicians were being produced every year in the country and the same ratio would be increased to 4,500 in a phased manner under various incentive schemes announced by the government.
He said that Turkey was the only Muslim country whose universities were included in the top 500 universities of the world.
In this context, he said, due attention and emphasis should be made for the promotion and uplift of higher education and science and technology sectors in Islamic countries.
Dr Atta said that during the tenure of Musharraf-led government developmental budget for the higher education sector had been increased from Rs800 million to Rs5 billion through the efforts of Ministry of Science & Technology.
He opined that some 90 million persons in the country were under the age of 30 and they should be regarded as a precious asset of the country for progress of the nation.
Dr Atta said that foreign investment should be encouraged and promoted in the education sector of the country, as it would greatly help the on-going poverty alleviation process.
Rashidul Haq, Director, World Learning Bureau, said that universities from eight countries were participating in the event, which was a regular feature of the bureau.
He said that after Karachi the exhibition with the same number of participants would be organised in Lahore on April 13 and 14 and in Rawalpindi on April 16 and 17.
British Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi Hamish St Clair Daniel and Director, British Council Karachi Charlie Walker also spoke.
In a ceremony later in the evening, Prof Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chudhary, Acting Director, HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry awarded honorary shields to participants of the exhibition.
Source: The News
Date:4/11/2004
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