OPEC Fund for Int Development 2009 Scholarship
First Pakistani to get OFID scholarship
Rawalpindi, July 22: Sameen Shahid has become the first Pakistani to win the OPEC
Fund for International Development (OFID) 2009 Scholarship for a master's degree
in Public Administration at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of
Government. Her professional career includes work in Evaluation Research
and Development with the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF). She holds a
bachelor's degree in Economics and International Development from McGill
University, Montreal, Canada. Sameen got selected out of 3,000 applicants
from over 100 developing countries. The OFID scholarship covers costs up to US
$100,000 spread over a maximum of two years. The scholarship goes to qualified
students from developing countries to overcome the financial challenge of
advanced professional or graduate training. The News
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University-industry liaison
With the advent of the industrial revolution, the
conventional role of universities has been transformed from merely educating
young people to creating and disseminating knowledge to the whole society. Every
higher education institution needs enormous financial resources which are
typically provided through public funding in our country. The state demands a
return on its investment beyond traditional manpower development. Thus,
universities bear the responsibility of interacting with the entire society to
demonstrate positive gains. A university can reap large gains by establishing an
industrial liaison; one of the most important being an exposure to the realities
of practical problems. Such liaisons, which are a win-win prospect for
universities and industries, are common in developed countries but are
non-existent in our society. Currently, public sector universities in
Pakistan get reasonable levels of state funding, but this state of affairs will
not last forever. The time is approaching when these institutions will face
pressure to generate their own funding beyond the usual increase of the fees
charged to students. Under these demanding circumstances, the only recourse for
our universities will be industrial funding, especially in the pure and applied
sciences. By developing workable industrial linkages, the universities cannot
only raise requisite finances, but also can acquire a great deal of skill and
knowledge. This is probably the best way to contribute towards society as well.
Our higher education policy-makers and university managers must begin to play
outside of the stereotypical classrooms where only rudimentary problems are
discussed. The country is facing gigantic challenges in every sphere of life and
intellectuals and scholars, especially those serving in the universities as
faculty, must lend their hands in order to improve the deteriorated and troubled
situation. -By Dr Tauseef Aized (The Nation)
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Village book club dedicated to Benazir Bhutto
Islamabad: National Book Foundation (NBF) has established two village book
clubs in Mithi and Tharparkar to promote reading culture and to build a book
reading oriented society. NBF Managing Director Mazhar-ul-Islam said that in a
briefing held here on Tuesday. He said that the foundation is striving
hard to promote reading habits among people. For the purpose, book clubs are
being set up across the country. Mazhar-ul-Islam who himself an acclaimed writer
said that NBF had dedicated the first village book club in Mithi to Mohtarma
Benazir Bhutto since she was a gifted writer apart from being political writer,
he said. Replying to a question, he said the idea of setting up village
book clubs had been widely appreciated and people welcomed the book friendly
initiatives of NBF. He said that for the book clubs books were donated by
eminent poets and writers and Mazhar-ul-Islam himself. He said, it is
the first raindrop and in the coming days, hopefully, more books would come as
people would realise the significance of the book clubs. He said that the book
clubs also include children and women book clubs. He said that people living in
Sindh had more interest in reading books than those in other provinces. The News
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