March 6, 2023

Cardiff UK: On January 31, 2023 COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI) signed a Document of Understanding (DoU) with Cardiff Metropolitan University (Cardiff Met), a Wales-based university established in 1865 in UK. The DoU was signed during a high-profile signing ceremony during the B-International Consortium Meeting Global Collaboration Dinner, hosted by the President and Vice Chancellor of Cardiff Met, Professor Cara Aitchison. According to the signed DoU, the potential collaborations will be in the following areas:

• Research collaboration leading to joint projects and co-authored publications;
• Staff exchanges to enable co-operation in teaching, workshops and conferences, research enhancement, and access to facilities;
• Student exchange to support the growth of intercultural competencies and soft skills amongst the student population of both universities;
• Partnership opportunities for further Capacity Building Initiatives; &
• Post Doctorate Fellowships.

At the DoU signing ceremony, Professor Muhammad T Afzal, worthy Rector CUI presented the importance of B-International and significance of DoU and said:

“We, as educational leaders, need to prepare and partner for the transformation of societies in the era that is different from the past. COMSATS University Islamabad is committed to extending our relationship with Cardiff Met and other universities towards a sustainable partnership to jointly take on global challenges and the B-International project is an excellent example of how it will be done.”

Apart from CUI, three other Pakistani prestigious partner universities which signed agreements with Cardiff Met were Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design (PIFD). The agreements are aligned with the work of the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education, Building Internationalization in Pakistan (B-International), which is a project co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme, Key Action 2 Capacity Building in Higher Education, and led by the Cardiff Met. Apart from the consortium meeting, 25 colleagues from project partners in the University of Salamanca (Spain), University of Bologna (Italy), Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France), NUST, LUMS, PIFD, and CUI come together to review project activities to date, plan for the final year of the project, and for its impact and sustainability beyond the project lifetime.

Earlier, on January 30, 2023 Professor Muhammad T Afzal, worthy Rector CUI along with CUI delegation comprising Prof. Dr. Sajjad A. Madani, Registrar, Mr. Muhammad Azam, Treasurer and Mr Fazal ur Rehman a Team Member of B-International attended strategic meeting with Professor Cara Aitchison. Different areas of potential collaboration between CUI and Cardiff Met including student/staff exchanges, utilizing funding options of British Council/ Erasmus+, and Wales’s new international learning exchange program ‘Taith’ were discussed during this meeting. The CUI delegate had an opportunity of one-on-one interaction with external speakers to the event including Susana Galvan, Taith Executive Director, and Dr. Elid Morris, Taith Head of Operations who also led an information and Q&A session.

After this meeting, from January 30 to February 1, 2023 CUI delegation attended a bilateral collaborative meeting with Cardiff School of Art & Design, toured Cardiff School of Technologies, held a brief session on introduction to Cardiff Met Global Academies; attended a meeting and toured School of Sport and Health Sciences; attended a meeting and toured Cardiff School of Management; attended a Global Collaboration Roundtable where the delegation discussed the possibilities of mutual collaboration and exchanged the ideas.

On February 03, 2023, the Rector CUI and his delegation met with Professor Colin Grant, Vice Principal International, and Mark Coddington Global Projects and Policy Manager at Queen Mary University London (QMUL). The participants reviewed the progress on International Cooperation, placement of CUI alumni in QMU for MS and Ph.D., faculty mobility, Post-Doc Fellowship Opportunities, Joint Supervision of Ph.D. Students, faculty members of both universities to write research projects/ capacity building training for funding. The partners agreed to identify and share further suitable terms of engagement for future partnership agreements.