Islamabad, December 9, 2024: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday to enhance collaboration in various areas including joint R&D activities, curriculum development for ICT subjects, academia-industry linkages, capacity building and curbing the misuse of media and increasing awareness regarding its effective use in the higher education sector.
The ceremony was attended by Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman PTA Maj. Gen. (R) Hafeez Ur Rehman, Executive Director HEC Dr. Zia Ul-Qayyum and other officials from both sides. The MoU was signed by Director Admin HEC Mr. Tariq Iqbal and Director Strategy & Development PTA Mr. Ikram Ul Haq.
In the rapidly evolving digital era, where technology drives transformation, this collaboration symbolizes our shared vision to harness technology for advancing education, research, and innovation across the nation.
Under the MoU, both sides will make progressive efforts to curb the misuse of social media by the young generation due to lack of awareness, leading to spread of disinformation, hate, and violence in society. In addition to that, efforts will be made to equip youth with the tools and opportunities to thrive and to train them in the constructive use of social media and modern internet technologies. Both sides agreed to create synergies that will bridge gaps in connectivity, enable access to knowledge, and enhance the quality of higher education.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed said that HEC will put all its efforts to spread awareness regarding the effective use of media by students and other stakeholders in the higher education sector. He said that the cooperation of PTA will help both sides to reach out to the youth, even in the far-flung areas like Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir etc.
Chairman PTA Maj General (R) Hafeez Ur Rehman said that this occasion is result of long-term collaborations between the institutions that are very close to youth in many aspects. He mentioned that many initiatives will be pursued in the future to strengthen collaboration with HEC and accomplish various significant milestones.
“This collaboration symbolizes our shared vision to harness technology for advancing education, research, and innovation,” he concluded.
The PTA team was also briefed about HEC’s developmental initiatives in recent years in the higher education sector. The briefing shed light on initiatives like Data Centers, Digital Classrooms, Learning Management System, BlockChain System, Data Warehouses, High-Performance Computing System etc.
It is pertinent to mention that for the last one year, HEC and PTA have been working together to raise awareness to prevent blasphemous activities on social media and disseminate the message to the higher education sector.
Follow the PNI Facebook page for the latest news and updates.
