Welcome to this very special conference, Innovation and Internationalization in Pakistani Higher Education, which will be held on the beautiful campus of the University of Management and Technology, Lahore, on 20-21 March 2017! This conference has been designed to highlight research, innovative educational practice, and new knowledge generation as a result of the Collaboration for Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Research (CFETR), a two-year partnership program between UMT in Lahore and George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. CFETR is a part of the U.S.-Pakistan University Partnership Program, which is an Academic Linkages program of the Public Affairs Section of the U. S. Embassy in Islamabad and funded by the U.S. Department of State.
We invite attendees to engage with the forty outstanding CFETR Fellows from UMT, Mason faculty, and other invited professionals as they share their scholarship and research in individual and roundtable sessions, plenary sessions, and interactive workshops during the two days. The CFETR Fellows from UMT have designed their sessions to promote critical thinking and important educational dialogue on what it means to engage in innovation and promote internationalization in higher education in Pakistan.
Of special note is the important role played in the conference preparation and support by UMT’s Centre for Teaching and Learning and its director, Ms. Sadia Asif. It is the ongoing mission of the Centre to serve as a pedagogical hub and active facilitator of innovative educational practice and as a resource for the promotion of excellence in education. We also wish to express CFETR’s most sincere gratitude to UMT Rector, Dr. Hasan Sohaib Murad, who has supported this grant’s activities with genuine enthusiasm and unwavering support. We would also like to acknowledge Mr. Waqar Ahmed for his steadfast and ever-present work on behalf of the grant and this important conference.
We wish all of you a rich and productive conference filled with much knowledge exchange, great conversations, and learning.
Dr. Rebecca K. Fox, Principal Investigator
Dr. Anastasia P. Samaras, Co-Principal Investigator
The U.S.-Pakistan University Partnerships is an Academic Linkages program of the Public Affairs Section of the U. S. Department of State, Islamabad, and implemented by George Mason University.