Pakistan in talks with US for getting 10,000 Ph.Ds trained: Ahsan Iqbal

[Edevelop]

NEW YORK (Web Desk) – Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal says a road map has been prepared to train ten thousand PhDs in science and technology and engineering sectors, reports Radio Pakistan on Saturday.

The minister said Pakistan is also holding talks with Washington to train these PhDs in the next ten years in US universities. This will help Pakistan meet its faculty requirements in higher education, he said this while peaking at a function in Washington.

He expressed the confidence that the upcoming Pakistan-US strategic level dialogue will make a headway towards this end.

Ahsan said security situation has improved in Pakistan significantly while the country has also made turn around on the economic front. He said steps are also afoot to end power outages by 2018.

He was confident that Pakistan is poised to rank amongst top twenty-five economies by 2025.

Pakistan in talks with US for getting 10,000 Ph.Ds trained: Ahsan Iqbal - Daily Pakistan Global

 

[Edevelop]

From Ahsan Iqbal's F.B Page


Met Bill Aulet, Managing Director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship at MIT in Boston. The center is responsible for entrepreneurship across all five schools at MIT starting with education but also extending well outside the class room with student clubs, conferences, competitions, networking events, awards, hackathons, student trips and most recently accelerators. He presented his book and we discussed ideas to promote entrepreneurship in Pakistani universities so that our youth become job creators instead of job seekers.

Met Karachi-born quantum astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala, Associate Department Head of Physics at MIT who is a member of the team of scientists that announced the scientific milestone of detecting gravitational waves, ripples in space and time hypothesised by physicist Albert Einstein. I congratulated her on her success and discussed opportunities for collaboration with MIT in the field of Science & Technology.

With Pakistani faculty and students of University of Pennsylvania

Met with Pakistani students at Kennedy School, Harvard University. Told them that Pakistan is Alhamdulillah improving year by year. We need to have confidence in ourselves and keep a sustained effort. CPEC offers great promise for Pakistan's future. Offered them full assistance in working on Pakistan related projects. Dr Asim Khawaja, Professor of Public Policy at Kennedy School, hosted the meeting. He is one of the few Pakistani American academicians in top US universities.

Met Prof.Richard Lester, Associate Provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, where he oversees the international activities of the Institute to discuss MIT's collaboration in setting up state of the art university in Pakistan. He presented his book on Productivity. We are launching a campaign on Productivity, Quality & Innovation for making Pakistan a competitive economy.

 

[Tiger Genie]

Finally a sane and useful bit of foreign affairs news about Pakistan. Good luck. May knowledge bring wisdom and peace.

It will be my tax dollars funding it but that's a better use than handing out billions in aid and arms to the Pak military

 

[Edevelop]

 

[Genghis khan1]

Good news if true. Zardari gang did the exact opposite. They even stopped the payments for Pakistani students who were studying abroad on scholarships and left them hanging.

Finally a sane and useful bit of foreign affairs news about Pakistan. Good luck. May knowledge bring wisdom and peace.

It will be my tax dollars funding it but that's a better use than handing out billions in aid and arms to the Pak military

No, I don't think that's the case. Pakistan higher education commission usually bears all the expenses. Unless some specific US agency or program is giving out scholarship for selected few.

 

[Thəorətic Muslim]

It will be my tax dollars funding it but that's a better use than handing out billions in aid and arms to the Pak military

It's the opposite. The Pakistani HEC funds the costs. My cousin is here now, she got about ~$4,000 I think for 6 months of study. About 7 from her batch came to the US last year.

But that was after applying for 2 years. Most students during the end years of Zardari/ first of Sharif were insiders.

 

[Mrc]

we need a 100,000 PHD's per year. I know HEC is arranging some with china. this needs to be ramped up. also ramp up coop with friendly European countries. this is the future........

 

[cloud4000]

Support this too, but what is Pakistan going to do with thousands of freshly-minted Ph.Ds? What environment will Pakistan create for these Ph.Ds to thrive?

I'm reminded how India created IITs to train the smartest of its citizens, only to realize there was nothing for them to do when they graduated. Many made their way to other countries, especially in US. The rest is history.

It's only recently India has learned this lesson.

 

[American Pakistani]

MIT is a great institute. Hope those 10k individuals extract every bit of knowledge and education from this golden opportunity. Best of luck.

 

[JamD]

Support this too, but what is Pakistan going to do with thousands of freshly-minted Ph.Ds? What environment will Pakistan create for these Ph.Ds to thrive?

I'm reminded how India created IITs to train the smartest of its citizens, only to realize there was nothing for them to do when they graduated. Many made their way to other countries, especially in US. The rest is history.

It's only recently India has learned this lesson.

I am reminded by this of a discussion I had recently with a friend. I don't know how different the situation is in India currently.

The discussion was that there are almost no jobs for engineers in Pakistan, except of course a small number in some multinationals or SPD organizations. The jobs most engineers are working are really technician jobs, on technician salaries. You spend 4 years of your life, and so much money, with so much effort, only to be hired at a salary of Rs.30,000 monthly ($300). The conclusion we reached was that the reason engineers are paid so poorly is because there are no positions worth paying for from the employer's perspective.

When we have high-tech industry where the employer can not only pay an engineer what he or she is worth but has actual need for their skill, then will the plethora of engineers/PhD do actual good.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

NEW YORK (Web Desk) – Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal says a road map has been prepared to train ten thousand PhDs in science and technology and engineering sectors, reports Radio Pakistan on Saturday.

The minister said Pakistan is also holding talks with Washington to train these PhDs in the next ten years in US universities.

Now doesn't this sound familiar @Nihonjin1051 as to what I have been saying....and what you are totally against.

You think all entrance to US Universities should be on merit alone..and I say the US will do quotas to get a country jump started with engineers/doctors/etc...even if that means bumping more qualified people out.

The US can throw billions in cash at a country and hope it sticks or train a bunch of people hoping they in turn will teach others and help build the country themselves.

 

[Thəorətic Muslim]

You think all entrance to US Universities should be on merit alone..and I say the US will do quotas to get a country jump started with engineers/doctors/etc...even if that means bumping more qualified people out.

The US can throw billions in cash at a country and hope it sticks or train a bunch of people hoping they in turn will teach others and help build the country themselves.

It's not the quotas. The reason Pakistan is sending PhD Candidates out isn't because they don't have the laboratories etc. Its because they want their students to get a feel for how other candidates do their research.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

It's not the quotas. The reason Pakistan is sending PhD Candidates out isn't because they don't have the laboratories etc. Its because they want their students to get a feel for how other candidates do their research.

How do they plan on getting a good portion of these 10,000 PhD people into good programs if competition is already fierce? Why is there even any talks if you think merit will be enough...they could simply apply to the programs just like everybody has been doing in the past.

BTW I'm not against the 10,000. I think it is a great idea.

 

[Aepsilons]

It's not the quotas. The reason Pakistan is sending PhD Candidates out isn't because they don't have the laboratories etc. Its because they want their students to get a feel for how other candidates do their research.

Correct !! This will be an opportunity for Pakistani scholars !

Now doesn't this sound familiar @Nihonjin1051 as to what I have been saying....and what you are totally against.

You think all entrance to US Universities should be on merit alone..and I say the US will do quotas to get a country jump started with engineers/doctors/etc...even if that means bumping more qualified people out.

The US can throw billions in cash at a country and hope it sticks or train a bunch of people hoping they in turn will teach others and help build the country themselves.

Pete, how is this any way related?

 

[Thəorətic Muslim]

How do they plan on getting a good portion of these 10,000 PhD people into good programs if competition is already fierce? Why is there even any talks if you think merit will be enough...they could simply apply to the programs just like everybody has been doing in the past.

Here is the program Pakistan has right now.

If you're a PhD candidate, with good academic standing. You apply for a scholarship to be sent abroad to do their research.

They can apply to any school that is in the top 100 of the country in their field. This is where they send their resumes to work under a Professor of that school. The Professor decides if they have space and are willing to supervise.

Once the professor accepts they forward a request for a J-1 Visa from the University to the Student to go for an interview at the US Embassy.

The HEC provides the cash for a round fare ticket and the ~$4K for living expenses.

Keep in mind we're looking at a Pakistani news site. Journalism is crap, with total lack of understanding of the subject the journalist is writing. So when "training" PhDs comes up i'm assuming this is the program thats being talked about.

There are many students that are denied visas, but this high level talk is probably to figure out the security necessities that Pakistani HEC itself can review to stream line the process.