Promotion of Higher Education, Science &

Technology and International Cooperation in Pakistan

Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS

Key Challenges in Higher Education

Pakistan---An Exciting Beginning !!

My appointment as Federal Minister of My appointment as Federal Minister of Science & Technology(incl.IT/Telecom) Science & Technology(incl.IT/Telecom) ( March 2000) and Federal Minister-Chairman ( March 2000) and Federal Minister-Chairman Higher Education Commission (2002-2008)Higher Education Commission (2002-2008)

6000% increase in budget of S&T6000% increase in budget of S&T 3500% increase in budget of higher education3500% increase in budget of higher education Chancellors Committee (cutting through Chancellors Committee (cutting through

bureaucratic red tapes)bureaucratic red tapes)

Challenge: How do we attract our brightest to

Education/Research ?Pakistan has 100 million below age 20

(54% of population) !

Both a Challenge and an OpportunityBoth a Challenge and an Opportunity

It is the brightest among them who must It is the brightest among them who must provide the leadership in all fields---education, provide the leadership in all fields---education, S&T, GovernmentS&T, Government

HOW ??

1)1) Excite young minds about the wonders of science !about the wonders of science ! 2) 2) Select and train the Brightest in top universities

abroad 3) 3) Attract them back--- by creating an enabling -- by creating an enabling

environment :environment : Salaries Research Funding Access to Literature Access to Instrumentation Critical Mass—create clusters !

Attracting the Brightest Attracting the Brightest !! Change in Salary Structures/Benefits Under new “Tenure Track” system salaries of

Professors raised to over US $ 5,000 per month (equal to US$ 6,500 per month after tax concessions)---several times more than Federal Ministers in Government !

Performance based systemPerformance based system

75% Tax waiver for University Teachers

(maximum 5%)

Faculty DevelopmentFaculty Development

Foreign PhD ScholarshipsForeign PhD ScholarshipsLocal PhD ScholarshipsLocal PhD ScholarshipsOther ProgramsOther Programs

Foreign Faculty Hiring ProgramForeign Faculty Hiring ProgramPost-Doc ScholarshipsPost-Doc Scholarships Industrial Masters ScholarshipsIndustrial Masters ScholarshipsLearning InnovationLearning Innovation

Reversing the Brain Drain !

Under Under Foreign Faculty Hiring Program over 600 eminent scientists and over 600 eminent scientists and educationists have been attracted back---educationists have been attracted back---after living most of their lives in the Westafter living most of their lives in the West

Clustering---45 mathematicians, mostly ---45 mathematicians, mostly from Europe, all clustered in one from Europe, all clustered in one institution---Govt. College/Univ., Lahoreinstitution---Govt. College/Univ., Lahore

Training the Brightest!Massive Foreign scholarship programs

Nearly 11,000 awarded to date (PhD, post-doctoral, Nearly 11,000 awarded to date (PhD, post-doctoral, split PhD etc, mostly for Europe)split PhD etc, mostly for Europe)

World’s largest Fulbright Scholarship program for World’s largest Fulbright Scholarship program for the USthe US

Special scholarships for world’s top 50 universitiesSpecial scholarships for world’s top 50 universities

About US$ 1 Billion being spent on Foreign Scholarships (1500 in IT)

Indigenous PhD programs Over 15,000 awarded Strict quality criteria for PhD Over 15,000 awarded Strict quality criteria for PhD

Studies introduced; plagiarism checkedStudies introduced; plagiarism checked

Training the Brightest!

Massive Massive postdoctoral training program program launched launched for all local PhD.s for all local PhD.s

ALL local PhD students given opportunities to ALL local PhD students given opportunities to study abroad on study abroad on sandwich PhD programs

Linkages established with top Western established with top Western Institutions --- 50 with British Universities, Institutions --- 50 with British Universities, many othersmany others

Local (Need Based) Scholarships

Son of Hari

Daughter of Shopkeeper

Financial Analyst

12

Distribution of Approved Project CostDistribution of Approved Project Cost

A Focus on Quality Assurance

Four year undergraduate programFour year undergraduate program

Standardisation of Degree ProgrammesStandardisation of Degree Programmes

Quality Assurance StructureQuality Assurance Structure

Min. Eligibility Criteria for Appointments of Min. Eligibility Criteria for Appointments of Faculty and M.Phil/PhD DegreesFaculty and M.Phil/PhD Degrees

1313

Monitoring of Private Universities / DAIs Monitoring of Private Universities / DAIs

Category Position after first inspection

(2004)

Position after 2nd inspection

(2008)

Present Position Improvement from First inspection

Category ‘W’ 11 12 47 36

Category ‘X’ 18 32 08 -10

Category ‘Y’ 11 09 01 -10

Category ‘Z’ 13 04 03 -10

Total 53 57 59

14

Grants & Scholarships for Private Sector Universities

Matching Grants Matching Grants for Not-for-Profit Private for Not-for-Profit Private Sector UniversitiesSector Universities

Govt. Govt. ScholarshipsScholarships to Meritorious Students to Meritorious Students for Study in Private Sector Universities for Study in Private Sector Universities

ClosureClosure of sub-standard private sector of sub-standard private sector institutionsinstitutions

Relevance to National Economy & Regional Needs

Date Palm Research Centre at Date Palm Research Centre at Shah Abdul Latif University, Shah Abdul Latif University, KhairpurKhairpur

Fruit and Vegetable Fruit and Vegetable Processing, Sindh Agricultural Processing, Sindh Agricultural University, TandojamUniversity, Tandojam

Food Technology, University of Food Technology, University of Agriculture, FaisalabadAgriculture, Faisalabad

Advance Manufacturing Advance Manufacturing Engineering at UET LahoreEngineering at UET Lahore

Earthquake Engineering Earthquake Engineering Centre, UET Peshawar & Centre, UET Peshawar & NED, KarachiNED, Karachi

Gemstone Training Centre at Gemstone Training Centre at UET PeshawarUET Peshawar

Institute for Sustainable Institute for Sustainable Halophyte Utilization, Halophyte Utilization, University of KarachiUniversity of Karachi

Lab for Nuclear Physics, QAU, Lab for Nuclear Physics, QAU, IslamabadIslamabad

National Institute of Vacuum National Institute of Vacuum Sci, QAU, IslamabadSci, QAU, Islamabad

Product Development Centre Product Development Centre at NEDat NED

Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam

Juice Treatment Plant

Beverage Unit

Drying and Dehydration Laboratory

Food Analysis Laboratory

Food Microbiology Laboratory

Cereal Technology Laboratory

Institute of Food Sciences & Technology

Date Palm Research Institute

Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur

Institute Established in 2004

Using Technology to Leap-Frog!

Pakistan Educational Research Network

Digital Library Program

PAKSAT 1 (Pakistan’s Educational

Satellite)

Pakistan’s International Video-conferencing Network

2020

August 14, 2000

29 Cities

Spread of Internet Services in Cities & Towns of Pakistan

Information Technology

1050

2000

580

29

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Year

822 cities on the Internet

2002

Iran

Afghanistan

India

China

From 40 to 1,000 Cities on Optical Fibre (2000-2005)

SDH/PDH (525/622 Mb/s) backbone being

upgraded to DWDM

10 Gb/s

Internet user growth

Internet users

-

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

Internet users

Start point

Today

June 2000: 130,000 Oct 2006: >12 million

Actual users more than 12

Million!

Dial up

Plummeting costs….

Cost /E1

-

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

US

$

Cost /E1

Start point

Today

June 2000: US$ 87,000/E1 August 2001: US$ 6,000

October 2004 : US$ 3,800

Now US$ 950 per month/2 Mb/s !

Communications Network---the Effect of one Good Decision!

1992-2000, little Growth(300,000 phones)2001, CPP regime brought in

Network expansion of 3 million phone-lines ordered in 2002 ! Mobilink, U-fone

Explosive growth continues till today (over 130 million phones today—hottest sector of the economy)

Pakistan Education & Research Pakistan Education & Research NetworkNetwork

PERN – I Status (2003 – 08)

Universities/ Institutes 80

Core Bandwidth 155 Mbps

Last Mile Bandwidth 4-24 Mbps

International Leased Circuit

155 Mbps

PERN – II Plans (2009 - 2013)

Universities/ Institutes/R&E Org.

250+

Core Bandwidth 10 Gbps

Last Mile Bandwidth 1 Gbps

International Leased Circuit 1.3 Gbps

Video Conferencing FacilityVideo Conferencing Facility

2727

Launched in Dec 2006

2006 2007 2008 2009 Total

Universities Equipped

4 14 16 36 70

Events organized

14 532 490 894 1921

Events

Lectures /

Presentations

Conferences

Technical

Discussion

Meetings

Interviews

Total Events

2006 3 3 8 - - 14

2007 154 10 276 63 20 523

2008 63 7 316 82 22 490

2009 63 10 630 167 24 894

Total 283 30 1230 312 66 1921

International Video-lecturing Program / Distance Learning

High quality video-conferencing equipment installed

Series of international lectures (nation-wide) by top professors from leading world universities

MIT Mirror Website for access to Open Source materials established (http://mitocw.pern.edu.pk))

Digital Library

25,000 full text journals—nation-wide,free-of-charge!!!

One Window Search Engine developed with Lund University

Web of Science, Scifinder Scholar, EMBASE, IEEE, Chem/Biol.Abstracts etc.

65,000 text books from 220 international publishers

Paksat 1

Ku Band

C-Band

Virtual University

4 Digital Satellite (PAKSAT-1) TV Channels for content delivery (License for 2 granted)

Satellite Earth Station 2 Recording StudiosPotential for providing high quality

training in remote areas of Pakistan

Increasing Access

1947-2003 : 135,000 university students1947-2003 : 135,000 university students

2013 : 1,300,000 university students2013 : 1,300,000 university students

No. of Public Sector Universities / Degree No. of Public Sector Universities / Degree Awarding Institutes : from 59 in 2000 to Awarding Institutes : from 59 in 2000 to 157 in 2013157 in 2013

Increasing Access

No. of students in Distance Edn. : No. of students in Distance Edn. : 89,000 in 2001---- 1,200,000 now89,000 in 2001---- 1,200,000 now

Women Participation In Higher Edn : Women Participation In Higher Edn : 36.8% in 2002 to 46.2% in 200836.8% in 2002 to 46.2% in 2008

World University RankingsHigher Education Times, UK Rankings, Higher Education Times, UK Rankings,

November 2009:November 2009:

5 Pakistani universities ranked among the 5 Pakistani universities ranked among the top 600 universities of the World top 600 universities of the World In Natural Sciences: In Natural Sciences:

Karachi University at 223, NUST at Karachi University at 223, NUST at 269 and QAU at 270 in world!269 and QAU at 270 in world!

Overall Overall NUST at 350 in 2009NUST at 350 in 2009

PAKISTAN: Rising StarPAKISTAN: Rising Star

Thomsons-ReutersThomsons-Reuters: Research Growth from : Research Growth from Pakistan is ranked 1Pakistan is ranked 1stst in 5 Areas in 5 AreasComputer ScienceComputer ScienceEngineeringEngineeringMaterial ScienceMaterial ScienceMathematicsMathematicsPlant & Animal SciencesPlant & Animal Sciences

Countries with the highest Countries with the highest percent increasepercent increase in total in total citations in the World’s Best Science Research citations in the World’s Best Science Research JournalsJournals http://sciencewatch.com/dr/rs/08sep-rs/

Ph.D. Output Growing by 30% annually !!

37

Gender-wise Enrollment in Higher Gender-wise Enrollment in Higher Education InstitutionsEducation Institutions

Year-wise PhDs Produced

International Research PublicationsImpact Factor Journals

HEJ

Glowing International Reviews---A Silent Revolution

World BankWorld Bank USAIDUSAID British CouncilBritish Council ““NatureNature””--27--27thth November 2007---- “The November 2007---- “The

Paradox of Pakistan”Paradox of Pakistan” ““NatureNature”” --28 --28thth August 2008--- “After August 2008--- “After

Musharraf”Musharraf” ““NatureNature”--- 3”--- 3rdrd September 2009 September 2009 ““NatureNature”----”----2222ndnd September 2010 September 2010

Nature, 22nd September 2010

4242

“Rahman's strong scientific background, enthusiasm for reform and impressive ability to secure cash made him a hit at home and abroad----

It really was an anomaly that we had a person of that stature with that kind of backing

Atta-ur-Rahman was a force of nature."

Highest Civil Award of Austria

International Prize for Pakistan

TWAS (Italy) Prize for Institution BuildingTWAS (Italy) Prize for Institution Building

Prize was conferred and Prize Lecture Prize was conferred and Prize Lecture delivered by me in Durban, South Africa delivered by me in Durban, South Africa last monthlast month

Prof. Michael Rode, Chairman of the United Nations Commission on Science, Technology

and Development (2008): "Around the world when we discuss the status

of higher education in different countries, there is unanimity of opinion that the developing country that has made the most rapid progress internationally in recent years is Pakistan. In no other country has the higher education sector seen such spectacular positive developments as that in Pakistan during the last six years.” Unquote.

International International CooperationCooperation

International CooperationInternational Cooperation

Virtual Education Project of Pakistan Virtual Education Project of Pakistan (VEPP)(VEPP)

3000 lectures over last few years3000 lectures over last few years Scientists from China, India, Sri Lanka and Scientists from China, India, Sri Lanka and

other countries can join in by delivering other countries can join in by delivering interactive courses through “video-interactive courses through “video-conferencing”conferencing”

Video-conferencing equipment not needed Video-conferencing equipment not needed (Microsoft Communicator Lync)(Microsoft Communicator Lync)

Integrated Distance Education (IDEa):Integrated Distance Education (IDEa):MOOCs

FREEFREEOPEN TO ALLOPEN TO ALLMASSIVE---Hundreds of thousands MASSIVE---Hundreds of thousands

of lecturesof lecturesONLINE (Internet, Cable TV, Mobile ONLINE (Internet, Cable TV, Mobile

appliances)appliances)Formal Qualifications possibleFormal Qualifications possible

MIT Open Courseware: 110 million users worldwide have accessed--- over 20 million web site visits annually from 215 countries

edX: Harvard University with MIT. 700K students

Udacity: Stanford University More than a million students have registered (1.2 million in Feb 2013)

Coursera: Stanford University, Enrolment in Coursera has exceeded 3.1 million and more than 200 courses are offered.

Khan Academy: California, About 8,000 courses at school and college level, Future Learn

i-MOOCsi-MOOCs

Integrated Approach to MOOCsIntegrated Approach to MOOCs Pakistan a leader!Pakistan a leader! All courses integrated and arranged according All courses integrated and arranged according

to levels (school, college, university) and to levels (school, college, university) and disciplinesdisciplines

Technical and vocational courses, language Technical and vocational courses, language courses and Virtual University courses courses and Virtual University courses includedincluded

Lej4learning.com.pkLej4learning.com.pk

International CooperationInternational Cooperation

Joint research projectsJoint research projects Joint publicationsJoint publications Exchange of faculty and studentsExchange of faculty and students Open Access InstrumentationOpen Access Instrumentation Network of Virtual UniversitiesNetwork of Virtual Universities Joint Regional Networks and activities in Joint Regional Networks and activities in

various fields (Biotechnology, Engineering, various fields (Biotechnology, Engineering, Information Technology etc) supported by Information Technology etc) supported by Academies of Science and other bodiesAcademies of Science and other bodies

Historic Meeting: Presidents of Pakistan and Indian Science Academies –

Science building bridges

Investment in HRD Pays Back a Investment in HRD Pays Back a Millon fold !Millon fold !

12 Students trained under our scholarship program 12 Students trained under our scholarship program formed an IT company in Islamabadformed an IT company in Islamabad

------won a contract of US $ 250 million (Rs 20 won a contract of US $ 250 million (Rs 20 billion)billion) in competition to major international in competition to major international companiescompanies

Innovation determines Progress----but you must Innovation determines Progress----but you must create and nurture the Innovation Workers ! create and nurture the Innovation Workers !

Sow the seeds today---the fruits will come 10 -15 Sow the seeds today---the fruits will come 10 -15 years later !!years later !!

The Four Pillars for Progress

EducationEducation

Science & TechnologyScience & Technology

Innovation & EntrepreneurshipInnovation & Entrepreneurship

Visionary, Honest & Technologically Visionary, Honest & Technologically Competent LeadershipCompetent Leadership

PAKISTAN’s PotentialPAKISTAN’s Potential

Winners of International Science Olympiads

THANK YOUTHANK YOU