Business International Office
A two-member delegation from China Science and Technology Exchange Center (CSTEC) visited COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI) on August 6, 2018. The purpose of the visit was to explore and exchange possibilities of cooperation and collaboration between the two organizations. The CSTEC delegation comprised of following:
a) Dr. Zhao Xinli, Vice Director General
b) Mr. Yang Xiu, Program Manager
c) Mr. Jia Wei, First Secretary (S&T), Chinese Embassy, Islamabad
Following officials of CUI attended the meeting:
a) Dr. Arshad S. Malik, Head, International Office
b) Dr. Habib Bokhari, Professor, Bio Sciences Department:
c) Dr. Athar Hussain, Professor/ Chairman, Meteorology Department
d) Dr. Kalim Ullah, Associate Professor/ HoD, Meteorology Department
e) Dr. Imran Shahzad, Associate Head, Meteorology Department
f) Dr. Ishtiaq Ali, Associate Professor, Mathematics Department
g) Ms. Farrah Mahmood, Associate Professor, Architecture Department
h) Mr. Ali Tawab Baloch, Senior Manager, International Office
i) Mr. Rafaqat Ali Uppal, Assistant Program Officer, International Office
j) Mr. Tanveer Ahmed, Senior Admn Assistant, International Office
The delegation was received by Head (IO). The delegation was first shown different facilities and infrastructure of CUI. Upon completion of the campus visit, the delegation proceeded to the meeting room. All participants from both organizations introduced themselves. Both sides gave detailed presentations about their respective organizations and their activities & programs.
During the meeting, different options of collaboration and cooperation were discussed. It was agreed to initiate join research projects submitted jointly by CUI faculty and Chinese counterpart faculty. It was resolved that CSTEC may fund joint research projects.
Options were discussed to initiate training programs for CUI technical/lab personnel by CSTEC, which may either at the CSTEC premises or in Islamabad.
The delegation met with Mr. Arslan Farid Khan, graduate of BBA program from CUI Wah campus who attended training from CSTEC. The delegation called on Rector CUI, Prof. Dr. Raheel Qamar (T.I.). The Rector expressed his full support for initiatives proposed in the meeting. Toward the end the Rector presented souvenirs to the delegation members after which they departed from CUI on a happy note.
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A delegation of the China Science and Technology Exchange Centre (CSTEC) visited COMSATS University Islamabad. The delegation led by Mr. Zhao Xinli, Vice Director General CSTEC called upon Prof. Dr. Raheel Qamar, Rector CUI and discussed various avenues of scientific and educational cooperation between CSTEC and CUI on 6th August 2018. Prof. Qamar pledged support to all initiatives of training and development offered by CSTEC under the BRI & CPEC projects. Mr. Zhao Xinli presented Dr. Qamar some reports of CSTEC as well some of his authored books.
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CIIT International Office
Delegates from COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan (CIIT), comprising the following, paid a visit to the Embassy of Brazil on 16th April, 2018 and met with His Excellency Mr. Claudio Lins, The Ambassador of Brazil in Islamabad:
- Dr. Arshad Malik, Head International Office
- Dr. Gustavo H D Tonoli Associate Professor, Department of Forest Science, Federal University of Lavras, Brazil (who is currently visiting the Department of Biosciences, CIIT, Islamabad under Visiting Foreign Faculty Program of HEC)
- Dr. Muhammad Zeeshan Hyder, Associate Prof, Department of Biosciences,
- Mr. Muhammad Abbas, Senior Program Officer, International Office
The meeting was requested to focus on the ways and means for strengthening the academic and research linkages between CIIT and the research institutions in Brazil. After the exchange of pleasantries, a brief introduction to CIIT was made and a desire was explicitly expressed that CIIT keenly wished to foster closer ties with Brazilian research institutions and universities with active support of the Brazilian embassy in Islamabad. Several ideas were shared, discussed and agreed on which follow up actions were to be taken by all the involved parties including the Brazilian Embassy.
Meeting ended with a group photograph and exchange of the good will.
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CIIT International Office
The Ambassador of France, H.E. Dr. Marc Barety, along with his Higher Education Attaché Mr. Sebastien Cartier, were accorded a warm welcome upon their arrival at CIIT Islamabad campus on Monday, March 26, 2018. The purpose of the visit was to further bolster CIIT’s linkages with France and strengthen the engagement with the French Embassy in Islamabad. It is worth mentioning that this was the first visit of the newly appointed French Ambassador to any university in Pakistan.
A brief meeting took place between the visiting diplomats and the Rector CIIT and Head International Office where, besides, the exchange of pleasantries, a brief introduction to CIIT was made and a desire explicitly expressed that CIIT is extremely keen to foster closer ties with French academic institutions through the support of the French embassy. The Ambassador was also apprised about the current engagements of CIIT with French universities namely EPF, EESIE, University of Nice, Sophia Antipolis, University of Cote d’Azur and Paris Sorbonne and Chamber of Commerce in Paris.
Afterwards, the French Ambassador delivered a talk on Pakistan-France Relations. He said that France is a country which has a deep history dating back to ancient times when the first settlers made the present-day France as their home. France then traversed its journey from the medieval times through to Renaissance era and finally turning into the present-day Republic. The Ambassador further stated that France is a country which established relations with Pakistan right after its independence from the British Rule in August 1947 and has been cooperating with Pakistan on a number of fronts including Science and Technology and in the field of higher education. At present, France has around 160 universities most of which do not charge tuition fees making them most attractive destination for foreign students.
After the talk, questions regarding the lifestyle of students in France, scholarships opportunities in France, etc. were raised which were aptly addressed by the French Ambassador. Subsequently, Mr. Sebastien Cartier delivered a detailed and comprehensive presentation on “Educational opportunities in France” in which it was informed that it is possible to do higher studies in France in the English language and the fees are generally quite nominal. Students are allowed to work part time to finance their living expenses. Later on, two French alumni namely Dr. Bushra Sadiq from Department of Humanities and Dr. Abdul Rauf from Department of Biosciences shared their experiences of living and studying in France.
In his closing remarks, Dr. Arshad Malik, Head IO profusely thanked the Ambassador for sparing his precious time to visit CIIT. He also informed the audience that CIIT has 66 young French Alumni in its various campuses. He then gave a comprehensive briefing on CIIT, its impressive growth, national and international standing and outreach. Talking about CIITs fast growth, he said that the Times Higher Education (THE) latest rankings have placed CIIT amongst 301-400 range in the world in the subject of Engineering & Technology and among 401-500 both in Physical Sciences and Life Sciences; while in the world universities rankings, CIIT has been placed in the range of 601-800, and in Asian region at #125. In Pakistan, CIIT has been consistently performing above par in producing impact factor international research journal articles in excess of 1,000 in 2015, above 1,500 in 2016 and last year above 2,000. Dr. Malik also said CIIT has good relations with France and wishes to further build upon them by cooperating through student mobilities and visiting professors under institutional framework agreements.
The function ended with a group photograph after which the Ambassador departed close to 1.00 PM on a positive note of his availability whenever invited again to the campus.
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CIIT International Office
A 16-member senior delegation comprising of VC’s and international office representatives from the following universities of Italy visited CIIT on 20th March 2018 to learn more about Pakistan’s higher education sector in general and CIIT in particular:
- University of Rome-Tor Vergata
- La Spienza University-Rome
- Ca’Foscari, University of Venice
- University of Iuav, Venince
- Politecnico Di Milano
- Conservatory of Milan
- Albertina Academy of Fine Arts Torino
The Rector CIIT warmly welcomed the Italian delegation at the Rector’s Conference Room where other senior academics and Italian alumni had gathered to interact and exchange views with the visiting delegates. Through a brief power-point presentation, CIIT was introduced to the delegates as a young, reputed, fast growing, research focused and international oriented institution.
The Rector CIIT emphasized that CIIT is now chanting the mantra that we produce job providers and not job seekers. In this regard we are focusing on Entrepreneurship and have an Incubator at CIIT Islamabad which has already graduated 20 companies. He told that we also plan to build more incubators in other campuses and an S&T park also. CIIT is also adopting the hybrid mode of teaching, combining online lectures with virtual discussion boards and physical interaction on campus.
The Rector said that we have linkages with a number of Italian universities and have also availed number of mobilities to University of Padova under Erasmus Mundus program. In future we wish to work with Italian universities and benefit from Erasmus +, have split site or even full time PhD programs, Sabbatical leave, joint projects under Horizon 2020 and Italian participation at our international conferences.
The head of the Italian delegation Prof. Federico Cinquepalmi, in return said that we have a lot of room for cooperation and at the government level a framework agreement is being worked out, which can then be used to develop secondary agreements with top universities at both sides. Further the Italian side is interested in holistic interaction in a number of disciplines i.e. STEHAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Humanities, Arts, & Mathematics).
After the meeting the delegates, continued the discussions with CIIT academics and staff over lunch. A visit of EE labs, Architecture department and SSBC was also arranged for the delegates. After the visit, the delegated marveled at a painting exhibition exhibited by CAG, especially for them. The visit came to a conclusion through a group photo at the entrance of the library.
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