PESHAWAR: University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar and University of Engineering and Technology Lahore have agreed to jointly promote research initiatives, academic exchanges, and training programmes aimed at strengthening innovation and addressing modern technological challenges through indigenous solutions.
The agreement was made during the visit of a delegation of UET Lahore led by Vice- Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Munir (TI) to UET Peshawar and a meeting with Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Sadiq Kattak on Thursday.
The visit was undertaken in line with the directives of the Higher Education Commission to engage with leading public sector engineering universities across the country and identify academic and research challenges being faced by the engineering sector, besides proposing collaborative reforms to the HEC.
During the meeting, the delegation and faculty members discussed in detail various challenges and proposals aimed at improving the standard of engineering education in the country. The discussions focused on modernisation of curricula, benchmarking engineering degree programmes with international universities, strengthening academia-industry linkages, integration of artificial intelligence and soft skills in faculty development programmes, promotion of entrepreneurship among students, and creation of funding opportunities for researchers, particularly seed funding for patent-oriented projects initiated by universities.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof Dr Sadiq Khattak stressed the need for seed funding to support innovation, patent development and knowledge creation in engineering universities. He said that under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s Good Governance Roadmap, UET Peshawar had initiated a comprehensive exercise to identify universities in the province and cluster them according to their patenting potential.
