Pakistan’s first-ever academic consortium turns 10

Islamabad: The first-ever academic collaborative setup in Pakistan the ‘Inter University Consortium for the Promotion of Social Sciences’ (IUCPSS) completes its 10 years of splendid accomplishments.

This unique initiative was undertaken on 23rd January 2012 at the Islamia University of Bahawalpur in the presence of former Executive Director Higher Education Commission (HEC) Prof. Dr Sohail Naqvi and ten vice chancellors representing federal capital and all four provinces.

The National Coordinator IUCPSS, Murtaza Noor, specifically thanked vice chancellors, academia, IUCPSS member institutions and partner organisations across the country for their decades long unrelenting support. Elaborating on recent accomplishments, according to the IUCPSS National Coordinator, the five weeks international workshop on ‘Effective Online Teaching & Assessment Skills’ from July to August 2020 was a great success.

This workshop created an international core group of professionals interacting with Pakistani faculty members to use technology in educational delivery and assessment. Moreover, a workshop bringing newly inducted vice chancellors/rectors together produced more interactions among higher education institutions brought sustainable collaboration and exchanges among academic leaders of the country. National Student Societies Network under the umbrella of IUCPSS has received immense interest so far more than 50 universities joined this useful network. This network will mutually benefit youth across the country and fully empower academic leadership in utilising youth's potential towards their academic pursuits and effective engagement of the students at university campuses. Implementing the recommendations of first ever Roadmap on Peaceful and Tolerant University Campuses, the campus based student societies are being strengthened.

Pakistan’s first ever National Student Societies Convention and Expo will be organised during 2022. The IUCPSS is looking forward to conducting several programs in the coming year. Noteworthy is identifying the best learning and teaching practices and their adoption among the members and non-members institutions across the country. In the days ahead, the consortium also intends to recognise the services of academic and community leaders involved in promoting best educational practices during the COVID-19 era.