RAWALPINDI:Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) has formally inaugurated the U.S.–Pakistan University Partnerships Grants Program funded by the US Government and administered by the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP).
According to FJWU spokesperson, FJWU stood as the awardee of the grant for the year 2021 and most recently for the 2022 round.
The project titled “Strengthening Teaching & Research Capacity in Pakistani Universities through Collaborative Partnership in Social Sciences” is awarded to Dr. Aneela Maqsood, Head of Department of Behavioral Sciences, in capacity of Principal Investigator.
From the department of Sociology, Dr. Adeela Rehman is the Co-Principal Investigator.
Dr. Saima Hamid, Vice Chancellor and project advisor, formally delivered welcome address to honourable Vice Chancellors, Focal Persons and key representatives from seven universities including University of Sargodha, Govt. College Women University of Faisalabad, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Kohsar University Murree, Quaid-i-Azam University, Women University Swabi, and Hazara University Mansehra.
From U.S. Embassy Islamabad, Farah Chery-Medor, Cultural Affairs Officer, thoroughly talked on the role of US Government in developing teaching and research capacity building of Pakistani Universities.
She briefed that University Partnerships Grant Program follows the success of the University Partnership initiative, through which American universities in 20 partnerships with Pakistani universities received U.S. government grants to establish three-year bilateral relationships.
The program enables departments of the universities which participated in the original partnerships to apply for grants for follow-on projects to share their knowledge with universities which were not part of the original partnership program.
US representative appreciated the contribution of Fatima Jinnah University in success of the university partnership program.
Dr. Saima Hamid acknowledged the role of US Government and officials of the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) for their role in strengthening Pakistan Universities.
During the opening ceremony, Prof. Dr. Saleem Mazhar, Vice Chancellor, University of Sargodha, Prof. Dr. Robina Farooq, VC, Govt. College Women University Faisalabad, Prof. Dr. Shahana Urooj Kazmi, VC, Women University Swabi, Prof. Dr. Habib Ali Bokhari, VC, Kohsar University Murree, Prof. Dr. Rubina Hanif, Director National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Prof. Dr. Abdul Saboor, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Prof. Dr. Farhana Kazmi, Chairperson, Dept of Psychology Hazara University, Mansehra, Prof. Dr. Mike Hirsh, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences Huston-Tillotson University, USA and Dr. Sadaf Sajjad, Austin Community College, USA deliberated and shared their thoughts on promising outcomes of the project.
Dr. Aneela Maqsood briefed the audience about project objectives which includes extending the teaching and research capacity building of University faculty to different provinces.
The universities are selected on the basis that they have a large number of students and have a greater number of faculty members along with various affiliated colleges and institutes. The current project extends to include newly developed universities with a high need of exposure to faculty development programs and have greater number of female faculty and students.
In line with the dominant identified needs and priorities, developing and implementing an efficient and sustainable mechanism of teaching and research capacity building of major universities is on the agenda list.
Dr. Saima Hamid shared that the project would prove highly impactful for the University Partnerships collaborations and would impact on the up-gradation of the universities to maximize their existing resources.