Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) University of Karachi, Amal Academy and PepsiCo Pakistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the University of Karachi to work together on enhancing the professional skills of university graduates. Vice Chancellor University of Karachi, Prof. Dr.  Nasira Khatoon, Ali Siddiq, CEO Amal Academy and Hatim Khan, Director Corporate Affairs PepsiCo Pakistan signed the MoU. Through the MoU, Amal Academy will offer the Amal Career-Prep fellowship program to the students at the University of Karachi.

Amal Academy is focused on upskilling youth since 2014 through the Amal Career-Prep Fellowship. Graduates join the fellowship to complement their technical skills with professional skills, so they are better prepared for the job market. ‘Our youth has tremendous potential; our Fellowship enables students to become more aware of all that they are capable of. We aim to help them develop self-belief, become lifelong learners, problem solvers, and socially responsible citizens. Employers today are looking for more than just technical skills, and we are proud to be partnering with PepsiCo and Karachi University to empower these leaders of tomorrow! said Mr. Ali Siddiq, CEO Amal Academy.

The PepsiCo Foundation, the philanthropic arm of PepsiCo has partnered with Amal Academy to fund the Amal Career-Prep Fellowship. Since 2019, over 6000 graduates have completed the fellowship. The PepsiCo foundation funding has enabled Amal Academy to scale the program at the national level creating opportunities for graduates living in far flung areas to benefit from the program. Over 40% of the program graduates are women. ‘We are completely invested in our PepsiCo Positive vision of driving positive action for the planet and people. We thank the University for hosting us; this partnership helps expand the program coverage in the province of Sindh.’ said Mr. Hatim Khan, Director Corporate Affairs PepsiCo Pakistan.

STEAM Pakistan Joins Forces with LUMS to Make Maths Accessible to
School Children.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Education experts at a two-day workshop have
emphasized the need for providing an opportunity to students in public
sector schools to narrow their innate interest in maths and the
traditional learning environments as it would help in encouraging
their mathematical thinking, mainstreaming mathematics, and
collectively creating new knowledge.

The workshop on maths circles was organized at the Lahore University
of Management Sciences (LUMS) here on Friday.

The event was part of the STEAM Pakistan project led by the Ministry
of Federal Education and Professional Training in partnership with the
Malala Fund. This is the first effort of its kind in Pakistan to
mainstream maths circles among Pakistani school-going students.

Key speakers at the event included Founder of Math for Love, Mr. Dan
Finkle; Prof. Dr. Mayada Shahada from University of Bahrain, and Chair
of the Maths Department at LUMS Prof. Dr. Imran Anwar. Students and
faculty focal persons from STEAM Pakistan’s partner universities from
across Pakistan participated in the workshop.

In his opening remarks, Dr Imran Anwar, Chair of the Maths Department,
LUMS, said, “There continues to be a gap between a child’s innate
interest in maths and the extent to which traditional learning
environments provide them with an opportunity to explore this
fascinating subject. We hope to bridge this gap by mainstreaming the
practice of maths circles in government schools across Pakistan.”

Talking about the concept of maths circles, the organizers on the
occasion shared that they were essentially learning spaces that
engaged participants in mathematical enrichment activities. Such
spaces are aimed at encouraging mathematical thinking, mainstreaming
mathematics, and collectively creating new knowledge.

In her remarks, Head of Partnerships with the STEAM Pakistan project
Sana Kazmi said that Maths Circles are one of the core program
activities of STEAM Pakistan through which faculty members and
students of our partner universities will visit government schools to
attract children towards maths by introducing them to concepts and
problems through fun, relatable activities that they will learn as
part of this two-day workshop. “We are confident that our efforts will
inspire a generation of learners in Pakistan, especially young girls,
to approach maths with curiosity and love instead of fear,” she added.

According to Dr. Mayada Shahada, she understands that this was a
first-of-its-kind event in Pakistan and it will prove instrumental for
the evolution of maths learning in Pakistan and make greater space for
global linkages.

Highlighting the significance of STEAM Pakistan, Javed Malik,
Programme Director Malala Fund Pakistan, said that the STEAM Pakistan
is a collaborative project through which they are providing support to
the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training to advance
secondary school-aged girls’ access to science, technology,
engineering, arts, and mathematics education in Pakistan.

The STEAM model of education essentially adopts an integrated approach
to learning that propagates cross-disciplinary learning among students
and capacitates them from an early age to think critically, work
collaboratively, independently devise creative solutions and become
resilient problem solvers.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) The School of Business Studies (SBS) at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi organized its 1st International Conference 2022 on ‘Decision Making in a Disruptive Age’ at Marriott Hotel, Karachi. The three-day conference is being held from June 22-24, 2022. Esteemed local and international academicians, researchers, students and speakers are participating in the conference.

The first day of the conference comprised of two workshops on ‘Consumer Neuroscience’ and ‘Governance in Islamic Finance’.

The first workshop on ‘Consumer Neuroscience’ was conducted by Dr. Joseph Devlin, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience & Vice Dean (Innovation & Enterprise), Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London (UCL); Dr. Daniel Richardson, Professor of Experimental Psychology, UCL; and Dr. John Hogan, a Neuroscientist at UCL.

The insightful workshop on neuroscience featured interactive sessions and examined the role of technology in understanding human behavior and its applicability in business research. The difference between implicit and explicit attitudes and consumers actual behaviors were also discussed.

The speakers shed light on various topics including, cognitive dissonance, eye tracking, skin conductance response, justification of consumer choices and a thorough understanding of Neuro receptors and devices. The speakers also shared various case studies, experimental findings, and key insights from leading brands about the benefits of neuroscience and situations where neuroscience can go wrong. The sessions were interactive with discussions where the participants also shared the examples of their own experiences and understanding of the topic.

The workshop covered topics including, the mechanism of the visual systems, the role of eye movement and consumer decision making, and color constancy. Moreover, the role of consumer neuroscience for businesses as a big thinking strategy was discussed, backed with examples of various successful advertisement campaigns which the trainers had conducted for renowned agencies. The workshop concluded with a discussion on the future of neuroscience and a Q&A session, where all three UCL speakers and Dean, School of Business Studies (SBS), and Head of Neuroscience lab, IBA, Dr. Wajid Rizvi responded to various questions.

Dr. Wajid Rizvi shared his experience of establishing Pakistan’s first ever Consumer Neuroscience Lab at the IBA Karachi. Commending the initiative, he said that conferences like these play an integral role in apprising marketers with the latest developments and practices in the field neuroscience.

The second workshop on ‘Governance in Islamic Finance’ commenced with an enlightening session on the theory, practice and challenges in corporate governance faced by Islamic Institutions by researchers including, Dr. Tasawar Nawaz, Lecturer in Finance, University of Plymouth; and Dr. Nader Virk, Senior Lecturer, in Finance, Accounting and Finance, Swansea University.

The session touched upon important themes relevant for decision-making in the disruptive age. The discussion leaned towards a pertinent question of how there is a need for Islamic Shariah Boards to establish standardized practices to interact with the conventional financial system which has the potential to reduce cost for the end-consumer and effectively avoid the Lemon’s Problem in the financial marketplace. On the revenue end, Islamic Institutions tend to charge a Halal premium in consumer goods and lending, which increases the price for the end-consumer.

The concluding remarks focused on the bottom-up approach where end-consumers play a more proactive role in determining how Islamic Institutions are governed.

HEC  & Microsoft Organized “Microsoft Campus Connect Day 2022” to Implement ETF and encourage Collaboration between Educational Institutions

Islamabad (Nut Desk)  Microsoft Pakistan organized the Campus Connect Day 2022, an Education Transformation Framework initiative that is taken to attain its goal of seamless knowledge transfer through digitalizing the education system and transforming learning practices of higher institutions across Pakistan. The event was held hybrid and attended by hundreds of academicians, Vice Chancellors of different universities, faculties, and Government officials in both the Public and Private landscape. It’s worth mentioning here that for over 12 years, Microsoft has been engaging with the Higher Education Commission and institutions across Pakistan to help transform Education through the power of technology and this year again the engagements are built upon the 4 key pillars of the Microsoft Education Transformation Framework (ETF): Student Success, Academic Research, Secure and Connected Campus & Teaching and Learning.

The core objective of this hybrid blended event was to share the programs offered and delivered as part of the ETF and showcase the country’s top educational institutions that are diligently learning and implementing Microsoft technologies. Also, how Microsoft is supporting the institutions in leveraging Microsoft’s customized products and services to digitize their core functions. Microsoft classroom features such as “Microsoft teams” that can help students, faculty, and staff to collaborate digitally. The benefits of other useful tools and platforms such as Microsoft Azure in Education and Academic Research – a power tool to improve services and reduce overheads at the same time. The event successfully also brought under discussion ways to engage students in a hybrid model environment, access to appropriate devices and learning platforms, technology integration and student well-being, and the impact of continuous professional learning on educators.

The event was attended by Vice Chancellors and leaders of education across Pakistan including Chairperson, Higher Education Commission Dr. Shaista Sohail, Microsoft Country Education Lead Mr. Jibran Jamshed and DG IT Mr. Nazeer Hussain.

Dr. Shaista Sohail graced the event by joining as a Chief Guest.  While expressing her thoughts she said that “Education sector is the backbone of any economy and since we know Microsoft is genuinely striving here in Pakistan for a great cause, we assure our absolute support in unleashing the true potential of technology in Pakistan”

Mr. Jibran Jamshad, Country Education Lead for Microsoft in Pakistan said that “The last couple of years made us realize the massive impact of technology in our lives and the Education industry is no exception. The use of technology is equally needed for the public and private institutions and at the federal or provincial level. By driving customers through a cloud-first journey and modernizing their data centers/operations, gearing up students for future-ready skills through Microsoft certifications, modernizing classroom practices via hybrid learning, automating the back office through Dynamics 365 ERP and campus management system, we are trying not only to transform the system according to the need of the hour but also increasing efficiency and productivity”

Mr. Nazeer Hussain, DG IT, Higher Education Commission also shared his thoughts and said that “We, at HEC are happy to extend our partnership to Microsoft, both to enhance the technological capacity of educational institutes and to address the challenges posed during pandemic as well as the emerging post pandemic situation. Microsoft has been a key partner in the transformation of Pakistan Education System through provision of cutting-edge IT solutions. During these challenging times, Microsoft has beefed up its support for remote learning platforms like Teams among others. We count on Microsoft’s continued support and innovative solutions to benefit students, faculty members and educational administrators and enable Pakistan to compete with stakeholders in the international academic community.”

 

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Beaconhouse, the country’s largest network of private educational institutions, and FranklinCovey Education, a trusted leadership and training company, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the ‘Leader In Me’ programme, a school transformational model and process that empowers students with leadership and life skills necessary to thrive in the 21st century.  

FranklinCovey’s Leader in Me is an evidence-based training model, developed by educators to build resilience and leadership in students, create a high-trust culture, and help improve academic achievement. This model equips students, educators, and families with the leadership and life skills needed to thrive, adapt, and contribute in a dynamic world.

The MoU was signed by Kasim Kasuri, Chief Executive (CE) at Beaconhouse and Fazal Niazi, Practice Lead FranklinCovey Education, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

Under this MoU, Beaconhouse School System will have access to the Leader In Me curriculum and a license to use FranklinCovey’s intellectual property, including books meant for Grades 3 to 5 that include skills such as critical thinking, creativity, self-discipline, relationship building, and goal achievement for learners. These books will supplement the personal, social, health, and emotional (PSHE) curriculum through valuable insights and teaching resources. Students and parents will also have access to the Student Schoolyard site by Leader in Me.

In addition to the above, the collaboration also makes Beaconhouse School System the first exclusive partner for the ‘Train the Trainer’ programme.

With this partnership in place between Beaconhouse and FranklinCovey Education, Pakistan is third in school strength for the Leader in Me programme after the United States and Brazil.

Speaking at the occasion, Kasim Kasuri, CE of Beaconhouse stated, “At Beaconhouse, effective learning in the classrooms begins with empowering students to drive their learning journey.  FranklinCovey’s Leader In Me programme in principle is aligned with our learner agency concept of students taking ownership of their learning.  Leader In Me is an excellent value addition to Beaconhouse’s existing curriculum and I am hopeful that in the longer run this endeavour will help us raise and educate effective future leaders for our country.”

Fazal Niazi, Practice Lead FranklinCovey Education, Pakistan and Azerbaijan, while speaking to the audience highlighted the ever increasing importance of social emotional learning and student wellbeing. He said, “The FranklinCovey Education team is proud to collaborate with the Beaconhouse School System, who have been market leaders in the education sector of Pakistan for the last five decades.

Therefore, it is apt that Beaconhouse Schools will be the ones to launch the Leader in Me programme at this scale for the first time in Pakistan. Leader in Me is a premier social emotional learning framework and whole school transformation process since 1999. Findings of the leading educational research bodies have shown it to be most effective in creating a leadership culture, teaching leadership principles and aligning academic systems. We are very excited to see the results of the Leader in Me process transforming the educational horizon of Pakistan.”

Beaconhouse School System was established 46 years ago by Mrs. Nasreen Kasuri and has been an epitome of educational expertise and community development in Pakistan. The school system currently has over 315,000 students enrolled full-time across seven countries.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Software engineers are in greater demand than ever before. Almost everything we do relies upon the use of technology and they are the facilitators. But while there is no shortage of engineer vacancies, there are few businesses willing to take on the inexperienced. Global tech platform, SkillReactor, has been devised to help close the gap between graduate engineers and the businesses that need to employ them. Providing virtual work experience, SkillReactor enables new and existing software engineers to gain relevant experience and develop their industry understanding on fully-fledged projects in a programming language of their choosing.

By allowing users to operate, code, and problem solve in an industry simulated environment, SkillReactor helps new engineers to learn best practices when coding and get job-ready. Providing a workable solution to the current Software Developer skills shortage. SkillReactor’s scalable approach allows developers from all backgrounds to build their problem solving, comprehension, and research abilities. This in turn helps to improve their employability, while ensuring that employers have access to the critical skills they need to grow. And with remote working now more widely accepted than ever before, SkillReactor’s approach to upskilling uniquely positions the business to prepare developers for a remote environment. The platform has also been devised to help existing developers to upskill, whether that’s learning the demands of a new sector, or developing their skills in another coding language.

Launched by former Amazon and Google engineers – Asim Shaikh, Ryan Bell, and Yinka Fasawe – SkillReactor also helps candidates who have completed a project to find work by linking them with recruiters, and employers. ‘Today, getting work experience is a bit of a chicken or egg problem,’ explains founder and CEO Asim Shaikh. ‘Most job adverts say that you need work experience to be considered, yet to get work experience in the first place you need a job. SkillReactor should put an end to this scenario by offering virtual work experience to graduate engineers, and anyone wanting to expand their skillset. ‘Allowing individuals to build professional work-like projects and accelerate their full-stack developer or backend developer career with a job-ready project portfolio, SkillReactor is our solution to the growing skills gap problem.’

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir)  To enhance the professional growth of students and promote industry-academia linkages, Air University conducted Career Fair 2022
at its university premises today.

The career fair provides excellent opportunities to students for
gainful employment as well as to strengthen its partnership with
prospective employers. At the same time it provides an opportunity for
prominent national and multinational companies to connect with fresh,
energetic talent and position themselves as preferred employers.

More than 100 national and international organizations representing
multiple industries and sectors participated in the Career Fair.
Students and recruiters took part in different activities including
extensive on-spot screening interviews, sharing information as well as
exchanging resumes. Moreover, company representatives also counselled
students regarding their career choices and job market requirements.

Vice Chancellor Air University, Air Marshal (Retd) Javed Ahmed said
that such events provide common platform to students and job providers
so the talent gets the recognition and ways to channelize their inner
strengths and energies and employers get the best for their companies.
He mentioned that post COVID 19, virtual networking options are very
important as employers and employees both prefer to connect through
virtual platforms.

He further added that as part of CPEC interventions government should
ensure provision of university at every 1000 KMs which can serve as a
major prosperity tool to help Pakistan promote education and overcome
economic problems.

Director Digital Time Communications, Nazakat Hussain appreciated the
role this industry-academia-youth linkage is playing in the youth
employment. He said that such collaborations will go a long way in the
economic and social development of country by polishing talent and
creating a talent pool.

The Diabetes Centre also participated in the career fair not only to
hire fresh graduates but also raised awareness among the youth about
the diabetes and its symptoms.

Pepsi, Air Blue, Nayatel, Meezan Bank, Soneri Bank, UBL, Askari Bank,
Ufone, ProPakistani, PTCL, Huawei, Fauji Cements, Digital Time
Communications, The Diabetic Centre and many other prestigious
organizations participated in the Career Fair 2022.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) This marks the sixth iteration of the Huawei ICT Middle East Global Competition in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. The competition is a Huawei annual ICT initiative, designed to nurture global ICT talent. On 23rd, December 2021, winners for the Middle East regional finals were announced and Pakistan’s team one won first prize of 20,000 USD. Not only so, the second prize was also grabbed by Pakistan’s team two. 150,000 students from 2000 universities located in 85 countries/regions have participated in the 6th iteration of the competition.

The competition, set to be hosted in Shenzhen and conducted online, consists of the opening ceremony, launch conference, closing ceremony, practice competition and the innovation competition. The practice competition focuses on the participants’ knowledge and skills. It adopts the written exam and the lab exam, and the ranking is based on the exam score. It is divided into two tracks: network and cloud.

The innovation competition focuses on the participants’ comprehensive capabilities. The competition adopts the network evaluation mechanism. Participants are required to design works or solutions with commercial and social benefits by using new ICT such as AI, IoT, big data, and Cloud.

2021-2022 Regional finals winners, Pakistan’s team; Sateesh Kumar, Iqra Fatima, and Bhagchand Meghwar along with their instructor Dr. Faheem Yar Khuhawar and team two; Hafiz Rizwan, Adnan Ali, and Mukhtar Memon along with their instructor will be participating in the practice competition.

 

 These students hail from Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Islamiya University Bahawalpur and, UET Lahore and Virtual University.

In the Innovation Competition, two further teams from Pakistan will be competinghave been nominated this year. Osman Ahsan Sheikh, Muhammad Abdullah Ahsan Sheikh, Aqsa Amir and their instructor Merai Syed represent team ‘Homevism’, comprised of students from National Incubation Center, NUST. The second team from LUMS consist of Umer Farooq, Tabish Rafiq, Areej Ahmed and their instructor Muhammad Saeed from National Incubation Center, LUMS.

The ME Regional Winner team instructor Dr. Faheem Yar Khuhawar statement:”Back in 2017, I attended a short ICT training organized by Huawei to prepare instructors for ICT Academy to be established at various universities of Pakistan. Since then, i have been providing training to undergraduate and graduate student to getpromote Huawei’s Certification in Routing and Switching Track. InSince 2019 and in- 2020, Pakistaniour students came to the levelhave excelled in the  of Middle-East and Global Finals and won the competition. This year too, Pakistani studentsthey have secured won Huawei’s ICT Competition 2021—Middle East with first and second positionin the Middle East stage. It is a privilege and honor for Pakistan to earn the place into represent Pakistan in Huawei’s ICT Competition 2021 – Global Final happening in June, 2022.”

The Global Finals set under the theme of ‘I. C. The Future Foreseeable’ and ‘I. C. The Future You at the Center’ is set to take place between the 17th and 19th of June.

The competition has always been well received in Pakistan as it promotes innovation and creativity while serving as a link between the classroom and the professional workplace. By nurturing university students’ talent in Pakistan, it also contributes to increasing national ICT competitiveness while enhancing digital transformation efforts.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi’s Princess Zahra Pavilion has won third place at the 12th Casalgrande Padana Grand Prix awards 2019/2021. The building, which started operations in 2019, serves as the private wing for the hospital at its Stadium Road Karachi campus and was named Princess Zahra Pavilion last year.

The Casalgrande Padana Grand Prix is an architecture award and a permanent fixture on the international architectural scene. It has a rich 30-year history and has had 1,800 projects entered by 1,300 designers from all across the globe. This year’s awards were decided by a seven-member jury comprising of renowned architects, interior designers and design journalists from across the world. The announcement came at an awards ceremony on May 27, 2022 at the MUDEC Museum and Exhibition Centre of Milan, a centre dedicated to interdisciplinary research on the cultures of the world.

The Princess Zahra Pavilion (PZP) won third place in the “Public Building” category. Other award categories included Shopping and Office Centres, Residential Buildings and Façade Cladding, Outside Flooring, Swimming Pools and Spas.

“Who says a hospital has to look sterile and clinical?” asks Samir Sadrudin, Global Director of Design and Architecture at the Aga Khan University. Bright, generous, colourful and delightful, the PZP redefines spaces for healthcare, says Sadrudin, adding that while winning the award was a testament to PZP’s design and architecture, and “a very rewarding experience”, the true results are reflected in our patient’s satisfaction and experience every day.

Some noteworthy architectural and design features of the Princess Zahra Pavilion include the interiors, colour, texture and flooring patterns and, decorated carpets. The ceramic flooring of the hospital, with its light, bright surfaces, offers a novel take on the textile and symbolic tradition of the Persian carpet. The decorative patterns and coloured borders add emotional value to the technical performance and hygienic qualities of the material, bringing a welcome homely sensation to the setting.

The facility was carefully designed to provide peace and tranquillity to patients as they recuperate from clinical procedures. Inspired by Islamic art and culture, the architecture and landscaping have been carefully crafted to create a calming environment that contributes to patients’ healing process and early recovery.

Karachi (Muhammad Yasir) Cambridge Dedicated Teacher Awards is a global competition where teachers from all around the world are appreciated for going the extra mile to help students achieve their full potential. Award nominations are dependent on how far and beyond teachers are willing to go to make the ordinary, extraordinary.

2022 Cambridge Dedicated Teacher Awards included 7000 nominees from 113 countries across the globe from which 6 regional winners were selected by a panel of judges who made it to the final round. This included Ms. Uroosa Imran from Beaconhouse School System who is the regional winner for MENA and Pakistan. Ms. Uroosa teaches a child who suffers from a rare muscular disease due to which he is unable to sit, walk or hold things in his hands. Because of her efforts, the child comes happily to school, participates in all the activities and is learning to express his needs and wants. Her relentless efforts are an inspiration to teachers across the globe.

Teachers from Pakistan have always been at the forefront of these awards. Previously, Mr. Ahmed Saya from Cordoba School was elected as the global winner of this award for his exemplary efforts.

Ms. Karima Kara, Country Head for Cambridge University Press added, “Teachers are arguably the most important members of our society. They give children purpose, set them up for success as citizens of the world, and inspire in them a drive to do well in life. I am extremely proud that year after year, teachers from Pakistan are winning this award and are inspiring good in others”.