ISLAMABAD: (Parliament Times) Discussions on COMSATS’ programmes to be expanded to its relatively newer Member States were made between the Ambassador of Federal Republic of Somalia to Pakistan, Her Excellency Khadija Mohamed Almakhzoumi, and Dr. S.M. Junaid Zaidi, Executive Director COMSATS, at the former’s office in Islamabad.
It was agreed that Somalia’s human resource development needs would be prioritized
by COMSATS, especially by way of effective higher education opportunities.
Somalia’s elated to benefit from a number of COMSATS’ post-graduate
scholarships/post-doctoral fellowships available at its Centres of Excellence
in different member countries: Pakistan (COMSATS University Islamabad and
International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences), Kazakhstan
(Al-Farabi Kazakh National University) and Egypt (National Research Centre).
Specifically, twenty-five post-graduate scholarships are planned to be set aside
for Somali students for studying at COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI),
Islamabad.
The institutional and technical needs of Somalia would be catered through research
facilities, faculty, student and research exchange among COMSATS 22 Member
strong Network, and relevant partner organizations and institutions in 27
member states and around the globe. As COMSATS’ member state, Somalia is well
placed to benefit nationally for S&T research through bilateral and
multilateral cooperation with the Centres of Excellence in 20 countries. The
Network of Centres of Excellence have a strong portfolio in a number of
important fields, many of which have strong bearing on the UN’s 2030 Global
Agenda; these include higher education and R&D, ICTs, Agriculture, Biotechnology,
Mathematics and Engineering; Industrial technology and research; Health; Water
Research; Climate Change and Environment; and chemical and biological
sciences.
Appreciative of COMSATS’ programmes, the Ambassador expressed satisfaction with the benefits Somalia is expected to make from its association with COMSATS, especially through the organization’s effective mechanism of South-South and Triangular Cooperation mechanism.