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HEC to launch English language course for M.Phil/PhD students
Islamabad, Apr 04, 2008: The Higher
Education Commission (HEC) would launch a standardized English language course
for M.Phil and PhD students at the national level.
The decision was
taken at a meeting of the Sub-Committee on English held under the auspices of
HEC's Committee on Development of Social Sciences and Humanities.
The meeting
reviewed the content, curriculum, pre-testing, pedagogical tools and assessment
standards for the proposed English Language course. It was decided that a
comprehensive course with three main components including speaking, reading and
writing skills would be designed in order to improve the language proficiency of
M.Phil and PhD students.
The meeting also
finalised recommendations for faculty and institutional development, training,
and promotion of research culture in the discipline of English. The task had
been assigned to the Sub Committee by Dr. Ishrat Husain who is Chairman of the
Committee on Development of Social Sciences and Humanities.
The Sub-Committee
also raised the issue of absolute paucity of HEC recognized journals in the
field of English. The members stressed the importance of improving the standard
of existing journals and starting new ones which fulfill the HEC
criteria.
The meeting also
appreciated the efforts of HEC for initiating a number of practical steps in
order to strengthen Social Sciences and Humanities in the universities of
Pakistan. The participants believed that these steps would be quite helpful for
socio-economic development of the country.
The meeting was
chaired by Dr. Nasir Jamal Khattak, Associate Professor, Department of English,
and University of Peshawar. Those who attended the meeting included Dr. Samina
Amin Qadir, Dean, Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, Fatima Jinnah Women
University Rawalpindi, Dr. Naseem Achakzai, Director, English Language Centre,
University of Balochistan Quetta, Dr. Shirin Zubair, Chairperson, Department of
English, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Dr. Shahbaz Arif, Chairman,
Department of English, University of Management and Technology Lahore, Mohammad
Omar Idrees, Project Director HEC and Syed Musa Hassan Programme Development
Officer HEC. App
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