Workshop for faculty members of Balochistan universities starts

Islamabad
Aimed at keeping university teachers abreast with current trends, a professional development workshop for faculty members of Balochistan universities started here on Monday at the Faculty Development Academy of Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT).
About 22 faculty members belonging to six universities of Balochistan are attending the workshop organised by the Inter-University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences (IUCPSS) and Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) in support with National Testing Service (NTS-Pakistan) and government of Balochistan.
The main objectives of the master trainer workshop include keeping the university teachers connected with the current trends in knowledge disseminating in areas such as curriculum development, assessment and evaluation, micro-teaching and research methodology, academic writing, classroom management, communication and presentation skills.
Speaking on the occasion, Adviser on Education to Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Muhammad Raza Barrech appreciated the training initiative as he thought that it would promote higher education in the province.
He said that such steps would be greatly helpful in improving quality of teaching and research in the higher education sector of the province. He believed that faculty of the province would benefit from these initiatives and further share knowledge.
He said that services and contribution of NTS for administering tests in far-flung areas of Balochistan were really commendable which helped the government of Balochistan a lot in merit-based appointments in education and health sectors of the province.
Inter-University Consortium Chairman and University of Haripur Vice Chancellor Dr. Nasser Ali Khan underlined the importance of continuous faculty development programmes, especially for the universities situated in far-flung areas of the country.
CIIT Islamabad Rector Dr. S M Junaid Zaidi assured that they would continue to support the initiatives aiming at strengthening higher education in Balochistan. He highlighted various programmes and efforts for promotion of quality research and teaching in higher education sector of Pakistan.
Earlier, in his message for the participants on commencement of the workshop, Balochistan Chief Minister Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch said that pre-service and in-service training workshops are very essential for the capacity building and professional grooming of university faculty. “In this age of information and communication technology, skill development of teachers is vital”, said the statement.