It is High Time to Elevate University Education in Pakistan, pledge HESSA

Rawalpindi, (Parliament Times) : The USAID’s HESSA project pledged to create synergies to elevate the status of higher education in Pakistan, and to create an interface for stakeholder engagement by brainstorming possible solutions in a two days Vice Chancellor’s Strategic Dialogue on Elevating HESSA’s Impact from 24 – 25 October, 2022 held at Marriott Islamabad.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Pakistan formally launched a US $19 million five-year HESSA program to support Pakistan’s higher education through bilateral academic linkages aimed at addressing employability issues facing Pakistani graduates. The main objective of this project is to increase the employability of the Pakistani workforce through trainings to enhance graduates’ capacity, relevance, adequacy, and inclusivity.
Dr. Saima Hamid, Vice Chancellor Fatima Jinnah Women University attended this two days’ workshop and actively pursued the university’s projects under HESSA. The meeting turned out to be so productive. The University takes pride in being as one of the 16 Pakistan public sector universities who are participating in HESSA project that will enhance student employability of targeted HEI’s in Pakistan and is a symbol of strengthening US Pakistan academic exchange endeavors. Under the visionary leadership of Vice Chancellor, Dr. Saima Hamid, Fatima Jinnah Women University is actively participated in the HESSA related projects including strengthening skills in successful department chairs, training workshops on women leadership in higher education, high impact practices and collaborative learning workshop, student support services annual capacity building and knowledge sharing summit, exchange visit women leadership in higher education, and strengthening teaching and learning of soft skills in higher education. The main goal of all these trainings is to produce a skilled workforce through initiatives. The university is strengthening its capacity to deliver market-driven education and research to enhance graduate employability. The vision of Vice Chancellor is mainly focused on the entrepreneurship and to better prepare female graduates to meet modern marketplace needs. Under this project FJWU is incorporating and adopting certain practices to promote student engagement, and to address the evolving needs of student bodies.