PESHAWAR: Provincial Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani said that the biggest challenge for us is to bring knowledge and research in universities to international standards.
If we succeed in this goal, no power in the world will be able to stop Pakistan from becoming a developed country, he added.
He expressed these views at the inauguration of the Pakistan Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (PNQAHE) Secretariat at the Directorate of Quality Enhancement Cell, Khyber Medical University (KMU) Peshawar.
Prof Dr Zia Ul Haq Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Saleem Gandapur, Registrar KMU, Syeda Asiya Bukhari, General Secretary PNQAHE and Director QEC were also present at the occasion.
Speaker hoped that the establishment of PNQAHE Secretariat in KMU would not only increase the quality assurance activities in the university but also create a competitive environment in the promotion of quality research in the universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani said that quality is of paramount importance in higher education and the present government is paying special attention to it.
Syeda Asiya Bukhari Director QEC informed the Speaker that the Higher Education Commission has set up quality assurance in all higher education institutions of Pakistan, while PNQAHE was established in 2017 as a network amongst all higher education institutions in terms of promoting quality education.
PNQAHE wants to strengthen the quality assurance system and promote liaison between national and international quality assurance practitioners and stakeholders to bring Pakistan to the top of the list of developed countries.
She said that PNQAHE has crossed an important milestone in a short span of time and has become a regional partner of the International Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.
Four issues of the Quality Assurance Research Journal have been published.
An international conference has been organized at Education University, Lahore, while the third international conference is planned to be held in Sindh province.
At present, more than fifty universities from all over the country are members of PNQAHE.
It’s worth mentioning that Prof. Dr. Zia ul Haq Vice Chancellor KMU elected as PNQAHE President and Director QEC Syeda Asiya Bukhari has been elected as General Secretary for a term of three years.
Later, Speaker Provincial Assembly Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani and Prof. Dr. Zia ul Haq along with Registrar Prof. Dr. Saleem Gundapur inaugurated the PNQAHE Secretariat.