HEC, British Council hold workshop for universities’ ORIC Directors

ISLAMABAD, Feb 14 (APP): The Higher Education Commission (HEC), in collaboration with the British Council, Pakistan has launched a three-day Research Capacity Building Programme for the management of Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation (ORICs) of the higher education institutions.

Around 75 Directors/Managers of ORICs established at different universities of the country are taking part in the programme being funded under Pak-UK Education Gateway project in collaboration with British Council.

The capacity building programme has a holistic approach towards addressing the capacity issues at multiple tiers. In tier-1, training needs of ORIC offices will be addressed for making them more capable of research management and commercialization. In tier-2 of this programme, researchers and Principal Investigators of recent grants will be trained to develop quality research proposals, and lastly, reviewers will be trained so that they have the capacity to deliver a rigorous and transparent proposal evaluation and selection.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Executive Director HEC Dr. Shaista Sohail said that research and development in higher education institutes has always been the priority of HEC. She stated that HEC is continuously struggling to strengthen the HEIs not only in the academics but also in research excellence, as it is committed to promoting innovation and technology transfer.

She underlined various HEC programmes, including multiple R&D and PSDP grants, aimed at promoting quality education and research culture in the country’s HEIs. She highlighted that owing to HEC’s continuous efforts, the research output of Pakistani universities has significantly increased.

She appreciated the British Council for its long-lasting partnership with HEC for unleashing the human capital potential of Pakistan. She advised the participants of workshop to strive for solving the problems of local industry, society and government by research projects or engagements of their students or graduates to help improve Pakistan’s economy.

Country Director British Council Amir Ramzan highlighted the importance of HEC-British Council partnership, especially under the Pak-UK Education Gateway. He wished the workshop participants a success in their future research endeavors.