HEC steps forward to establish Centre of Excellence

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10 (APP): The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is endeavouring to establish of a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Water to deal with the water issue of Pakistan by institutionalizing the human resources development, research and outreach strategy.


A meeting was held at HEC Secretariat for laying the foundation for further deliberation and cooperation among partner institutions for training of manpower, research and implementation of research to utilize the available water resources for agriculture, industry, household and power generation.
For this purpose, Mr. John Briscoe from Harvard University and Mr. Tomas A Farrell from University of Nebraska especially travelled to Pakistan to share their expertise.
The CoE in water will be the first one among a series of such Centres for agriculture, energy, etc. that HEC intends to establish in the universities.
It is envisioned that Pakistani universities engaged in training and research on water resources along with top US Universities Harvard, MIT and Colorado State University etc. will take up the challenge to establish and execute a world-class Centre of Excellence with the support of USAID.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director, HEC informed the participants about the importance of CoE and stressed on the need of networking among the universities to resolve the water related issues.
Mr. Larry Dolon, Director, USAID said that the Centre will have cutting-edge curriculum along with world-class faculty. Mr. Shams ul Mulk, former Chairman WAPDA, enlightened the participants on major water issues that need to be addressed at the earliest.
Representatives of Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Agricultural University, Peshawar, Center of Excellence, UET Lahore, Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC), Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Pakistan Meteorology Department attended the meeting.