Zubair Qureshi
Four top-notch European Universities are set to collaborate with four Pakistani universities under the ‘B-International’ programme which is a European Union’s collaborative capacity building project in higher education with Pakistan.
These universities are among the highest and the oldest seats of learning of the UK, France, Italy and Spain. The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
Ambassador of France Nicolas Galey while speaking at a reception in honour of the EU snd the Pakistani varsities’ representatives at his residence Wednesday welcomed the collaboration and calked it quite timely and useful.
A representative of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Ambassadors of France, Italy, Spain, diplomats and academicians also attended the reception.
The four European universities are Cardiff Metropolitan University (UK), Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France), University of Bologna (Italy) and University of Salamanca (Spain) – all working together in the spirit of internationalization. They will be collaborating with COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), National University of Science & Technology (NUST) and Pakistan Institute of Fashion & Design (PIFD).
Ambassador Nicolas Galey had invited the representatives of these 8 universities, along with the ambassadors of the UK (though he couldn’t make it), Italy and Spain, and representatives from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the European Delegation in Pakistan at his residence.
Coordinator of the project Anna Dukes who is from Cardiff Metropolitan University briefed the audience about the salient features of the project and gave quite a comprehensive feedback of the last four-day activities.
Speaking on the occasion, the French ambassador Galey said France strongly supported cooperation between the Pakistani universities and their counterparts in France and Europe.
Such a project deserves to be celebrated: the B-International project will reinforce Pakistan’s HEC Vision 2025 on internationalization through building capacity within the Higher Education sector, enhancing international collaboration, and supporting the development of global mind-sets of the youth.
Nevertheless, colleagues from the 8 universities across Europe and Pakistan worked passionately and tirelessly for the last two and a half years adapting work plans and delivering to achieve endless success in the name of internationalization and B-International.
This international visit to Islamabad marks the very first time that the B-International consortium members from both Europe and Pakistan have met in person.
Connecting in person, peer to peer, faculty to faculty, institution to institution, will bolster the collaborative and capacity building efforts and ensure sustainable impact of the B-International project and the connections regarding higher education between Pakistan, UK, France, Italy and Spain.
