Chairman PHEC emphasizes the importance of skill-based education

Chairman, Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) Prof Dr. Fazal Ahmad Khalid, at Faletti’s Hotel, Lahore while addressing the inaugural session of the five-day Leadership and Management Training program for the Vice-Chancellors of public and private universities in Punjab said that Universities must focus on developing students’ employable skills, cultivating their values, and trimming their attitudes to maximize their employability chances in the market.

Amjid Saqib, Executive Director Akhuwat Foundation, Secretary Higher Education Department, Govt. of Punjab, members of the Punjab Higher Education Commission, and vice-chancellors of public and private universities in Punjab attended the PHEC’s inaugural ceremony.

Universities will need a competent team and an inspiring leader to do this. Through inspirational leadership, and effective management universities can cope with the emerging challenges in higher education and achieve good governance at their campuses, he added.

According to the chairman, the program will allow vice-chancellors to strengthen their networking and assist them in reforming higher education institutions to boost academic quality and international rankings. Prof. Dr. Fazal Ahmad expressed his resolve saying, the initiative would enhance vice chancellors’ commitment to ensuring sustainable education, quality, standards at their institutions while contributing towards the socio-economic development of the country.

In his remarks, PHEC Chairman Prof. Dr. Fazal Ahmad said that industry 4.0 had revolutionized the world and proven disruptive to traditional modes of governance and leadership and that vice-chancellors had to re-align themselves to meet the demands of this changing environment in order to effectively run campus affairs.

He said that PHEC had trained vice-chancellors from public sector universities in the first phase last year.“The program was appreciated by the participants and there were calls for another program for the freshly appointed vice-chancellors. The current batch of the training program has included vice-chancellors/rectors from private sector universities as well” he added.

Syed Javed Iqbal Bokhari, Secretary of Punjab Government’s Higher Education Department, also spoke to the audience. He highlighted that university achievement is tied to vice-chancellors’ individual performance and that universities should be centers of excellence in education, research, and public service.

He added that the role of vice-position chancellors was critical in this regard and that they needed to work hard to bring university standards up to worldwide standards and compete with global higher education institutions.

Earlier addressing participants, Dr. Amjid Saqib, the Executive Director of the Akhuwat Foundation, underlined the importance of value-based education and character development for students, stating that the life of Prophet Mohammad (SAW) offered a guide for all of us to model such traits.

He congratulated PHEC on organizing such a vital program and praised Prof. Dr. Fazal Ahmad Khalid’s leadership. The five-day program will cover a wide range of leadership and management issues, including creating instructional excellence, students’ and faculty’s roles, quality improvement procedures, university financial management, leveraging information technology, and institutional transformation. The program will conclude on September 17th, 2021.