By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Wednesday called for the promotion of distant education and e-learning which was cheaper as well as affordable for a lot of people. He emphasized the need for expanding the outreach of the Virtual University of Pakistan so that students from remote areas of the country could benefit from online education.
The President expressed these views during a briefing on Virtual University of Pakistan (VU) here at Aiwan-e-Sadr. Rector VU, Professor Dr Arshad Saleem Bhatti, briefed the meeting about the role of the university in the promotion of online education and distance learning. He highlighted that currently 100,000 students were enrolled in various disciplines and over 80,000 students had graduated from the university.
It was informed that VU was providing digital skills to its students, besides broadcasting lectures and educational content over its own four TV channels. Addressing the meeting, the President asked the VU management to chalk out a new vision and future plans for the university as per the requirements of the digital age and set timelines to achieve its goals and objectives.
He also asked the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to expedite work on the finalization of its policy for virtual education, which would benefit the students belonging to remote areas of the country.
Earlier on September 9, the President said that higher education could effectively be promoted in the country by widening scope of online education as well as skill learning to cope with the growing market needs. Addressing the Best University Teacher Award 2020 ceremony, Mr. Alvi said the access to higher education could be enhanced by enhancing the proportion of online education as had been experimented during the COVID pandemic.
The ceremony was attended by Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood, Parliamentary Secretary Education Wajiha Qamar and Executive Director Higher Education Dr Shaista Sohail besides vice chancellors and rectors of different universities.
The president, who earlier also conferred awards among three Best University Teachers, said the online education was also a cost-effective method which could facilitate more students without increasing the expenditures.
Dr Tasnim Akhtar of Aga Khan University, Dr Muhammad Wasif of NED University and Dr Muhamad Zulfiqar Ali of Agriculture University of Multan received Best University Teachers Awards in their respective categories.
The president exemplified the role of Virtual University imparting online education successfully, though there was always room for quality improvement.
