Pakistan's Engineering Qualification recognized in Asia & Pacific - Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) Accredited as Member of FEIAP: President ECOSF Congratulates PEC and appreciates its efforts, 17 Dec 2015

Go Back

President ECOSF Prof. Dr. Manzoor Hussain Soomro has congratulated the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) and appreciated its efforts for being accredited as member of the Federation of Engineering Institutions in Asia & Pacific (FEIAP).

FEIAP is a regional Regulatory Body for quality assurance and standardization of Engineering in the Asia and Pacific region. He attended a meeting at PEC on "Equivalence of Pakistan's Engineering Qualifications in Asia & Pacific", proclaiming Pakistan's membership in FEIAP, held on 17 Dec 2015. The meeting was arranged by PEC in collaboration with UNESCO and ECOSF; and a large number of Engineers, the Chairman PEC Engr. Mr. J. Saleem and Engr Dr Shahbaz Khan, Director UNESCO Science Bureau for Asia and Pacific Region, Jakarta-Indonesia, the Ambassador of Tajikistan H.E. Mr. Sherali Jononov and representative of Embassy of Turkmenistan, attended the meeting. Dr. soomro in his remarks said that for quality assurance, it is necessary to implement Inquiry Based Learning at the primary level. "If we do not implement Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) at grass root level, we will not be able to produce a generation which is of entrepreneurs and innovators", he said. He added to it by saying that personality and character building starts from the primary level and teachers play a major role in the grooming of a child. Unfortunately due to our politically influenced teaching system, we do not have trained teachers who have this competence to train a student with ethical values and induce an inquiry mode in them.

Dr. Soomro shared an example of ISTIC in KL- Malaysia how they have initiated entrepreneurial learning and understanding the program at their school level, to inculcate a sense of entrepreneurship among their school going children. He suggested building an interaction between the Engineering Universities and primary schools; so that the Engineers can train school teachers and students for STEM education in a better manner. He concluded his talk by proposing that connecting Pakistan Engineers with the Engineers from West and Central Asia as well as to help HEC towards establishment of Central Asian University in Pakistan with their campuses at ECO member states with particular reference to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will result into more cooperation and collaboration among Central Asian countries and Pakistan.

Dr Shahbaz Khan, Director UNESCO declared it as a great achievement for the country whereby cross border mobility for Pakistani engineering graduates will be enhanced in the region resulting in greater job opportunities. He expressed his interest for establishment of Technology Incubation Centers, prioritizing Water, Food and Energy sectors through involvement of active research by the HEIs.

The Chairman PEC, Engr. Jawed Salim Qureshi thanked ECOSF and UNESCO for their continued support to PEC and hoped that both the organizations will continue to extend its support in the future endeavors as well. Chairman PEC assured that the quality of engineering education will not be compromised at any cost and the standard of Higher Education Institutions will be improved through further reforms and strict implementation of PEC regulations and accreditation criteria.

He as a token of acknowledgement, resented a memento to the Director UNESCO Science Bureau for Asia & Pacific Engr. Dr. Shahbaz Khan and President ECOSF Prof. Manzoor Soomro.

Finally it was tentatively agreed that, ECOSF, PEC, UNESCO, FEIAP plan to hold next joint workshop in 2016 with collaboration of Tajikistan in Dushanbe as proposed by H.E the Ambassador Sherali Jononov.