A delegation of Syrian Government officials, led by Deputy Minister of Education and Educational Affairs Dr. Rami Waheed Al-Dhulli, held a meeting with the senior management of Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan at the HEC Secretariat on Friday. The two sides discussed in detail the issues of mutual interest, aiming to explore the potential areas for bilateral collaboration.
In his welcome remarks, Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed informed the delegates that HEC was established in 2002 with the target of improving access, relevance, and quality. He said the government made focused investments in the higher education sector in the past 22 years, paving the way for a number of universities to secure international recognition. He said HEC invests almost 40 percent of its funds on human resource development, adding that HEC has so far awarded around 300,000 local and foreign scholarships to Pakistani students.
“HEC is open to extend all possible support to the Syrian higher education institutions, be it policy formulation, capacity building of faculty, skill development initiatives, Information Technology, and other areas,” the Chairman said.
The delegation head, Dr. Rami Waheed Al-Dhulli, expressed his gratitude to HEC management for offering support to Syrian higher education sector open-heartedly. He said Syria would like to develop bilateral academic and research relations between the higher education institutions on the two sides. He observed that the two sides may collaborate in multiple areas, including professional education, IT, entrepreneurship, technology, and modern teaching methods.
Ambassador of Syria to Pakistan Dr. Ramez Alraee said Pakistan and Syria share a long history of relations which goes beyond political interests, adding that Syria endears Pakistan as a brotherly Islamic country. The history, he noted, testifies that the two countries have been standing by each other in odd times and extended assistance in trials like earthquakes. He emphasised that Pakistan and Syria must jointly work on building economic, educational, and cultural bonds for the benefit of people on both sides.
The Syrian delegation will visit different universities in the country. The objective of their visit is to get introduced to the education sector in Pakistan and seek opportunities of collaboration related to virtual learning, teaching mechanisms, scientific skills and skills proficiency of students and teachers in the filed of Information and Technology, technology based educational projects, and exploring avenues for bilateral scientific and cultural cooperation.
The Syrian dignitaries included Director IT, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Syria, Dr. Manal Sulaiman Saqr; Director Scientific Research, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Syria, Mr. Yaseer Saeed Khadra; Director International Cooperation, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Syria, Dr. Aqil Saeed Mahfoud; Director IT, Ministry of Education, Syria, Mr. Najeeb Suhail Salaq; Education Director, Ministry of Education, Syria, Mr. Ragib Ali Al-Jidi; and Consular/DHM Embassy of Pakistan, Damascus Mr. Umer Hayat Khan. Aside from HEC senior officers, the meeting was attended by representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Federal Education and Professional Training.