By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: Renewing the Education Transformation Agreement (ETA) in Pakistan, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Microsoft have launched magnanimous initiative announcing over 100,000 free technology certifications for university students across the country. Microsoft and HEC collaboration reimagines the education landscape, empowers the next generation of students and bridges the gap between knowledge and employability.
Goal of the said academic alliance is to enable the next generation of computer science/IT experts on state of art technologies including but not limited to, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Business Applications, Office Automation / Productivity tools etc. as per the directions from Prime Minister’s Office. This partnership will ensure that Microsoft will be providing several services to all HEIs in leveraging new technologies to make learning inclusive, personalized, and student-centric through knowledge transfer workshops and training on trending Microsoft technologies like Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure.
The event was attended by several renowned Vice Chancellors, educators, students, academicians, and partners where accomplishments of previous years of partnership were highlighted and the next vision of the digital transformation of education system in Pakistan was shared. Mr. Rana Tanveer, Education Minister graced the event as the Chief Guest whereas the event was opened by Chairman Higher Education Commission, Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed and Jibran Jamshed, Country Lead for Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan.
Mr. Rana Tanveer expressed his thoughts saying “Such partnerships with companies like Microsoft empower the students to use their creativity in addressing real societal problems using Modern Technology and helps us bring them at par with the rest of the world, the future of our economy does not lie in just plans and politics; it lies in the hands of well-educated and prepared student workforce.
“Microsoft has been very helpful in nurturing creative minds through its Global Competition of Imagine Cup where e participants practically implement their ideas into successful startups and turn it into companies. “It is a proud moment for HEC that our talent gets the exposure at such Global platforms. Our students do not only get the opportunity to present their ideas at an international level, but they have successfully brought laurels for Pakistan as well” said Chairman HEC Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed.
Jibran Jamshed, Country Education Lead for Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan “Today technology is the key to fuel economic development, increase work force competitiveness, transition to a knowledge-based economy and help drive job creation. The single most important use of technology is to improve education and yet in many countries in the world we have not yet seen digital transformation in education. We are proud to partner with HEC who share the same vision and understand how critical it is to pace up with the Digital Transformation of Education happening across the globe.
