Inspire, a Regional British Council Higher Education Project, was launched on Monday. Director British Council Islamabad, Nasir Kazmi, who is leading the work in the field of higher education in Pakistan, formally launched the project. In his opening address, Kazmi stressed on the need of higher education and reiterated British Council's commitment to the field.
The participants were briefed on the funding opportunities that are available for research in education. It was pointed out that Inspire, the International Strategic Partnerships in Research and Education, is a British Council funded project that aims to significantly strengthen the academic and research partnerships between the United Kingdom and a strategic selection of countries in Central and South Asia, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan.
It has five strands; Strategic Partnerships, Policy Dialogue, Talented Researcher Exchange Programme, Leadership Programme and Transnational Education. The Heads of Institutions of local universities, senior faculty members, and eminent researchers attended the event. Participants showed keen interest in the new programme. Two strands of Inspire have been launched in Pakistan.
One is Inspire Strategic Partnerships programme designed to grow high level strategic relationships between Pakistani and the UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the other is The Talented Researcher Exchange Programme (TRXP), an initiative which aims to promote the development of researcher co-operation and contacts between Pakistan and the UK.
Earlier, Provincial Director, British Council Sindh and Balochistan, Syed Mashhood Rizvi welcomed the guests and briefed them about the seven programmes that British Council has initiated in Pakistan last year. These programmes include, Active Citizen, Connecting Classrooms, English for Life, Getting Qualified and Beyond, Higher Education Partnerships, New Silk Road and Skills for Employability.
Published: 21 October 2008