HEC, Microsoft launch largest Free Skills Initiative for students across Pakistan

Islamabad: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Microsoft have renewed the Education Transformation Agreement (ETA) in Pakistan with a magnanimous launch announcing 100,000 free Technology certifications for University Students across Pakistan. Microsoft and HEC collaboration re-imagine the education landscape, empower the next generation of students and bridge the gap between knowledge and employability.

Under the umbrella of this academic alliance, the goal is to enable the next generation of computer science/IT experts on state of art technologies including but not limited to, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Business Applications, Office Automation / Productivity tools etc. as per the directions from Prime Minister’s Office.

This partnership will ensure that Microsoft would be providing several services to all higher educational institutions (HEIs) in leveraging new technologies to make learning inclusive, personalized and student-centric through knowledge transfer workshops and training on trending Microsoft technologies like Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure.

The event was attended by several renowned Vice Chancellors, educators, students, academicians and partners where accomplishments of previous years of partnership were highlighted and the next vision of the digital transformation of education system in Pakistan was shared.

Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Rana Tanveer graced the event as the chief guest whereas the event was opened by Chairman Higher Education Commission, Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed and Jibran Jamshed, Country Lead for Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan.

On this occasion, the federal minister said, such partnerships with companies like Microsoft empower the students to use their creativity in addressing real societal problems using Modern Technology and helps us bring them at par with the rest of the world. The future of our economy does not lie in just plans and politics; it lies in the hands of well-educated and prepared student workforce, he added.

Chairman HEC Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed said that Microsoft had been very helpful in nurturing creative minds through its Global Competition of Imagine Cup where the participants practically implement their ideas into successful start-ups and turn it into companies. “It is a proud moment for HEC that our talent gets the exposure at such global platforms. Our students do not only get the opportunity to present their ideas at an international level, but they have successfully brought laurels for Pakistan as well”, he said.

Jibran Jamshed, Country Education Lead for Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan said that today, technology was the key to fuel economic development, increase work force competitiveness, transition to a knowledge-based economy and help drive job creation. The single most important use of technology is to improve education and yet in many countries in the world we have not yet seen digital transformation in education. We are proud to partner with HEC which share the same vision and understand how critical it is to pace up with the Digital Transformation of Education happening across the globe, he expressed.

The event was concluded with the announcement of the launch of This Year’s Highly Acclaimed Imagine Cup Initiative. All students under the HEC umbrella were offered to register at https://imaginecup.com/Pakistan and submit their novel tech ideas to avail the chance to win USD 100,000, a global trophy along with a mentoring session with Microsoft’s CEO himself. All in all it was a very motivating event with a lot to offer to students and educators.