1. Higher Education, Science,
Technology and Innovation –
Imperatives for Socio-Economic
Development
Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS
Federal Minister/Chairman Higher
Education Commission
Islamabad, Pakistan
PhD (Cambridge), ScD (Cambridge)
2. Living in a Changing World
Science and Technology are the
great dividers ---the rich are getting
richer and the poor, poorer
World is inflicted with poverty, hunger,
disease, conflicts, violence, &
economic uncertainty
5. Innovation Determines Progress
Socio-economic development is no longer
dependent on natural resources (eg.Japan,
European countries)
KNOWLEDGE is now the main driving
force of world economies
INDUSTRIALIZATION is the key to high
GDP growth (through innovation /
production of high value-added goods
(engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, IT,
Biotechnology, Agro-food industry etc.)
6. Governance
New Law approved----Federal Minister
responsible for Higher Education will NOT
be an elected politician but an educationist
of international eminence appointed by the
Prime Minister
An 18 member board of eminent experts --
-members of “Higher Education
Commission” will oversee the programs
Law allows flexibility to avoid bureaucratic
hurdles
8. Pakistan---A Promising Program
85 million below age 19 !! ( 54%
population)
A demographic opportunity---and
challenge !!
Higher Education Commission set up
October 2002 ---- a focused program to
strengthen higher education sector
10. HEC Strategy
Faculty Development
Infrastructure (Free Access to Literature
Free Access to Sophisticated Instruments,
Technology Assisted Learning)
Focused Support in Key Areas
Linkages to the Economy
Quality Assurance
11. STRATEGY
1) BASIC SCIENCES
Physics,Chemistry,Mathematics,Biology)
2) APPLIED SCIENCES
(Engineering, Agricultural sciences,
Biotecnology, Information Technology,
Pharmaceuticals, New Materials,
Communications, Renewable Energy)
3) SOCIAL SCIENCES
4) ECONOMICS, FINANCE, MANAGEMENT
5) LINKAGES WITH INDUSTRY
6) EMPHASIS ON “K-ECONOMY”---HIGH
TECH INDUSTRY!!
12. Challenge: How do we attract our
brightest to Education/Research ?
Pakistan has 85 million below age 19
(54% of population) !
Both a Challenge and an Opportunity
It is the brightest among them who must
provide the leadership in all fields---
education, S&T, Government
HOW ??
13. Huge Budgetary Increases
6000 % Increase in S&T Development Budget
2300 % Increase in Higher Education
Development Budget
Salaries of University Professors raised to 5
Times the Salaries of Federal Ministers (over
US $ 5,000 per month, with tax of only 5%---
equivalent to US$ 7,000 per month!!)
14. Attracting the Brightest!
Change in Salary Structures---under “Tenure
Track” system salaries of Professors raised but
hard selection process
Research Productivity Allowance----based on
Cumulative Impact Factors during the preceding
year
Reversing the Brain Drain----under “Foreign
Faculty Hiring Program” about 500 eminent
expatriate/other scientists attracted to return to
Pakistan
15. Attracting the Brightest!
Research Funding (upto US$ 600,000
per international linkage program)
Guaranteed Jobs to fresh Ph.D.s with
higher salary structures under tenure track
system
75% Reduction of Income Tax for all
academics
16. Training the Brightest!
Massive Foreign scholarship programs
initiated---over 1000 students being sent
abroad annually to top universities in
Europe, USA, China with guaranteed high
salary jobs and research grants of US $
100,000
Indigenous Ph.D. programs---expansion of
the existing Ph.D. output to 1500 per year
Huge Local Scholarship Programs for
Undergraduate level studies initiated---US $
20 million
17. Training the Brightest!
Local Ph.D.s being offered opportunities
for postdoctoral training in top foreign
institutions (hundreds being sent)
Linkages being established with top
Western Institutions---50 with British
Universities alone, many others
US$ 150 million Fulbright program for
MS/Ph.D. level training in top universities
with USA---largest in world!
18. Using Technology to Leap-Frog!
Pakistan Educational Research Network
Digital Library Program
PAKSAT 1 (Pakistan’s Educational
Satellite)
Pakistan’s International Video-
conferencing Network
19. The IT Strategy…
Service to the
Citizens
High capacity, reliable and
s and Eabling enviroment
accessible communications
Laws and enabling
environment
IT Education
And an environment that
stimulates creativity and
welcomes advances in the use of
Information Technology
20. China
From 40 to 1,000
2002
Cities on Optical
Afghanistan
Fibre (2000-2005)
SDH/PDH
(525/622 Mb/s)
backbone being
upgraded to
Iran DWDM
India
10 Gb/s
822 cities on the Internet
21. Information Technology
Spread of Internet Services in Cities &
Towns of Pakistan
2500
2000
2000
1500 1050
1000
580
500
29
0
93
96
99
02
91
92
94
95
97
98
00
01
03
19
19
19
20
19
19
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
Year
22. Internet user growth
June 2000: 130,000 Oct 2006: >12 million
Internet users Actual users
more than 12
1,000,000 Million!
800,000
Dial up
600,000
Internet users
400,000
200,000 Start point
-
Today
Ja 5
Ja 6
Ja 7
Ja 8
99
00
01
02
-9
9
9
9
n-
n-
n-
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n-
n-
n
Ja
Ja
Ja
Ja
23. Plummeting costs….
June 2000: US$ 87,000/E1 August 2001: US$ 6,000
October 2004 : US$ 3,800
Now US$ 950 per month/2 Mb/s !
Cost /E1
Start point
100,000
80,000 Today
60,000
US $
Cost /E1
40,000
20,000
-
1
00
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0
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p-
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Ju
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24. Bandwidth Available
August 2000: 32 Mb/s Mar 2002: 265 Mb/s
2006: 10 Gb/s Loops
Operative Data bandwidth
300
250
200
M b /s
150 Operative Data bandwidth
100
today
50
-
Start point
Ja 6
Ja 7
Ja 8
Ja 9
Ja 0
Ja 1
Ju 6
Ju 7
Ju 8
Ju 9
Ju 0
01
02
l-9
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25. PERN
Pakistan Education & Research Network
Core Network Nodes 03
Total Universities 56
(16 OFS, 22 DXX, Abbottabad
17 DRS, 1 VSAT) Topi
D.I.Khan
ne
bo
ck
Ba
E3
Khuzdar Nawab Shah ne
Tandojam bo
Khairpur k
ac
Jamshoro
B
E3
26. Pakistan Education and
Research Network
Information highway exclusively for
universities---Internet 2, Canarie, Geant
Promote collaborative research and the
sharing of domain knowledge
Platform for launching aggressive distance
education programs
Platform for Digital Library service for all
universities
27. Digital Library
23,000 full text journals—nation-wide,free-of-
charge!!!
45,000 text books from 220 international
publishers (down loadable)
Over 16 million articles downloaded in 2007 !
Almost 300,000 end users trained nationwide
One Window Search Engine
Web of Science, Scifinder Scholar, EMBASE,
IEEE, Chem/Biol.Abstracts etc.
28. Virtual University
4 Digital Satellite (PAKSAT-1) TV
Channels for content delivery (License
for 2 granted)
Satellite Earth Station
2 Recording Studios
Potential for providing high quality
training in remote areas of Pakistan
31. International Video-lecturing
Program
High quality video-conferencing equipment
installed
Series of international lectures (nation-
wide) by Nobel Laureates and top
professors from leading universities in
USA, Europe, Japan etc. from November
2006
2000 Lectures arranged !!!
32. Video Conferencing Facility
Launched in
2006 2007 2008 Total
Dec 2006
Universities
4 14 10 28
Equipped
Events organized 14 532 122 668
Cost in
5.344 98.960 13.264 117.568
Rs. million
Savin
gs Time in
man- 2120 51044 7916 61080
hours
32
33. A Focus on Quality Assurance
Quality Assurance Structure
Defining QA Procedures / Standards
Statistics Compilation & Ranking of Universities
Liaison with International QA Agencies
Eligibility Criteria for Appointments of Faculty
Eligibility Criteria for award of MPhil/PhD
Degrees
Four Year Undergraduate program
36. UESTP Concept
Nine Engineering degrees from top foreign
Universities in Pakistan (Savings—Rs 25
Bln spent annually in UK alone, Rs 80 Bln
world-wide !!!)
Rectors, Deans, Heads of Departments
and 75%-25% faculty from partner country
Examination /Quality assurance controlled
by foreign universities (Foreign degrees!)
Foreign industries in Technology Parks
Classes commence in 2008/2009 !!
37. Establishment of Engineering, Science &
Technology Universities (UESTP)
• Germany
• Austria
• Italy
• China Phasing Agreed : 4 +3 +2
(Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Sialkot, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta)
• France
• Sweden
International University
• South Korea
• Japan
38. ‘Engineering Pakistan’
Anticipated Outcomes after 10 years :
Manpower Generation
10,000 graduates/annum
2,000 PhDs/annum
High-Tech Industry Creation
50 global companies operating in Pakistan
200 Joint-Venture Small & Medium Size Enterprises
100 Entrepreneurial Start-ups/annum
39. Development Funding
Allocation of Budget in Approved Projects
Others Infrastructure
1% 21%
Research
HRD Enhancement
59% 15%
Access to
Information
4%
40. Results
400% in ISI abstracted publications over
last 5 years
Young men and women have started
opting to adopt careers in S&T subjects
as first choice
Landscape of Universities has begun to
change
42. Investment in HRD Pays Back a
Million fold !
12 Students trained under our scholarship program
formed an IT company in Islamabad
---won a contract of US $ 250 million in
competition to major international companies
Innovation determines Progress----but you must
create and nurture the Innovation Workers !
Sow the seeds today---the fruits will come 10 -15
years later !!
43. Glowing International Reviews--
-A Silent Revolution
World Bank
USAID
British Council
“Nature”--27th November 2007---- “The
Paradox of Pakistan”
47. Real Wealth--
Our Children----with a population of 156
million, about a 100 million below the age of
25, Pakistan is blessed with a huge pool of
creativity
Challenge is to empower them with quality
education and skills----and provide them
opportunities to contribute to the process of
socio-economic development
