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)

Living in a Changing WorldScience 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

“EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY”

Innovation Determines ProgressSocio-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.)

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 programsLaw allows flexibility to avoid bureaucratic hurdles

Overarching Approach

Simultaneous Bi-Modal ApproachRequired

Bottom-UpBasic Health, Primary Education, Water ….

Top-DownHigher EducationEmphasis on Science & TechnologyIndustrial Linkages

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

Key Challenges in Higher Key Challenges in Higher EducationEducation

Financing Reforms

HEC Strategy

Faculty DevelopmentInfrastructure (Free Access to Literature Free Access to Sophisticated Instruments, Technology Assisted Learning)Focused Support in Key AreasLinkages to the EconomyQuality Assurance

STRATEGY1) BASIC SCIENCES

Physics,Chemistry,Mathematics,Biology)2) APPLIED SCIENCES

(Engineering, Agricultural sciences, Biotecnology, Information Technology, Pharmaceuticals, New Materials, Communications, Renewable Energy)

3) SOCIAL SCIENCES4) ECONOMICS, FINANCE, MANAGEMENT5) LINKAGES WITH INDUSTRY6) EMPHASIS ON “K-ECONOMY”---HIGH

TECH INDUSTRY!!

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 OpportunityIt is the brightest among them who must provide the leadership in all fields---education, S&T, Government

HOW ??

Huge Budgetary Increases6000 % 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!!)

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

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 system75% Reduction of Income Tax for all academics

Training the Brightest!Massive Foreign scholarship programsinitiated---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

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 othersUS$ 150 million Fulbright program for MS/Ph.D. level training in top universities with USA---largest in world!

Using Technology to Leap-Frog!

Pakistan Educational Research Network

Digital Library Program

PAKSAT 1 (Pakistan’s Educational Satellite)

Pakistan’s International Video-conferencing Network

And an environment that stimulates creativity and welcomes advances in the use of Information Technology

IT Education

s and Eabling enviromentHigh capacity, reliable and accessible communications

The IT Strategy…

Laws and enabling environment

Service to the Citizens

822 cities on the Internet

2002

Afghanistan

IranIndia

ChinaFrom 40 to 1,000 Cities on Optical Fibre (2000-2005)

SDH/PDH (525/622 Mb/s) backbone being

upgraded to DWDM

10 Gb/s

Information TechnologySpread of Internet Services in Cities &

Towns of Pakistan

1050

2000

580

290

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

Year

Internet user growth

June 2000: 130,000 Oct 2006: >12 million

Internet users

-

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

Jan-9

5Ja

n-96

Jan-9

7Ja

n-98

Jan-9

9Ja

n-00

Jan-0

1Ja

n-02

Internet users

Start point

Today

Actual users more than 12

Million!

Dial up

Plummeting costs….

Cost /E1

-

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

Mar-00

May-00

Jul-00

Sep-00Nov-0

0Jan-01Mar-0

1May-0

1

US

$

Cost /E1

Start point

Today

June 2000: US$ 87,000/E1 August 2001: US$ 6,000

October 2004 : US$ 3,800

Now US$ 950 per month/2 Mb/s !

Bandwidth Available

Operative Data bandwidth

-50

100150200250300

Jan-96Ju l-96Jan-97

Ju l-97Jan-98

Ju l-98Jan-99

Ju l-99Jan-00

Ju l-00Jan-01

Ju l-01Jan-02

Mb/

s

Operative Data bandwidth

today

Start point

August 2000: 32 Mb/s Mar 2002: 265 Mb/s

2006: 10 Gb/s Loops

PERN Pakistan Education & Research Network

JamshoroTandojam

Nawab Shah

D.I.Khan

Topi

KhairpurKhuzdar

Abbottabad

E3 Bac

kbon

eE3 B

ackb

one

Core Network Nodes 03Total Universities 56(16 OFS, 22 DXX, 17 DRS, 1 VSAT)

Pakistan Education and Research Network

Information highway exclusively for universities---Internet 2, Canarie, GeantPromote collaborative research and the sharing of domain knowledgePlatform for launching aggressive distance education programsPlatform for Digital Library service for all universities

Digital Library23,000 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 nationwideOne Window Search EngineWeb of Science, Scifinder Scholar, EMBASE, IEEE, Chem/Biol.Abstracts etc.

Virtual University

4 Digital Satellite (PAKSAT-1) TV Channels for content delivery (License for 2 granted)Satellite Earth Station 2 Recording StudiosPotential for providing high quality training in remote areas of Pakistan

Paksat 1

Ku Band

C-Band

Mirroring of MIT’s Open Course Ware

30

International Video-lecturing Program

High quality video-conferencing equipment installedSeries of international lectures (nation-wide) by Nobel Laureates and top professors from leading universities in USA, Europe, Japan etc. from November 20062000 Lectures arranged !!!

Video Conferencing FacilityVideo Conferencing FacilityLaunched in Dec 2006 2006 2007 2008 Total

Universities Equipped 4 14 10 28

Events organized 14 532 122 668

Cost in Rs. million 5.344 98.960 13.264 117.568

Savings Time in

man-hours

2120 51044 7916 61080

32

A Focus on Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance StructureDefining QA Procedures / Standards

Statistics Compilation & Ranking of UniversitiesLiaison with International QA AgenciesEligibility Criteria for Appointments of FacultyEligibility Criteria for award of MPhil/PhD Degrees Four Year Undergraduate program

Innovation/Entrepreneurship

Innovation/ Entrepreneurship in University programsJoint Projects with Industry Technology Parks/Business IncubatorsIslamabad Technology City

Universities of Universities of Engineering, Science and Engineering, Science and Technology of PakistanTechnology of Pakistan

UESTP ConceptNine Engineering degrees from top foreign Universities in Pakistan (Savings—Rs 25 Bln spent annually in UK alone, Rs 80 Blnworld-wide !!!)Rectors, Deans, Heads of Departments and 75%-25% faculty from partner countryExamination /Quality assurance controlled by foreign universities (Foreign degrees!)Foreign industries in Technology ParksClasses commence in 2008/2009 !!

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

‘Engineering Pakistan’Anticipated Outcomes after 10 years :

Manpower Generation10,000 graduates/annum

2,000 PhDs/annum

High-Tech Industry Creation50 global companies operating in Pakistan

200 Joint-Venture Small & Medium Size Enterprises 100 Entrepreneurial Start-ups/annum

Development FundingAllocation of Budget in Approved Projects

Access to Information

4%

Research Enhancement

15%

Infrastructure 21%

Others1%

HRD59%

Results

400% in ISI abstracted publications over last 5 yearsYoung men and women have started opting to adopt careers in S&T subjects as first choiceLandscape of Universities has begun to change

Total Number of Publications

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 !!

Glowing International Reviews---A Silent Revolution

World BankUSAIDBritish Council

“Nature”--27th November 2007---- “The Paradox of Pakistan”

12 NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROMETERS AT ICCBS

MASS SPECTROMETER (ELECTRON BOMBARDMENT SYSTEM)

A GROUP OF GERMAN STUDENTS

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

Education,

Education,Higher Education

Thanks