Business International Office
COMSATS University Islamabad
Principal Seat
Press Release
COMSATS Welcomes Veteran Academicians from Maldives, Libya, Uganda and Iran
Islamabad: COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI) hosted high-ranking academicians of Maldives, Libya, Uganda and Iran here in Islamabad Campus on March 21, 2023. These dignitaries visited hosts COMSATS University Islamabad on the sidelines of the 5th Vice-Chancellors’ Forum, held on March 19-20, 2023 in Marriott Hotel, Islamabad. Over 200 VCs, including 40 from 20 different OIC member states participated in the event.
Prof. Dr. Muhammad T. Afzal, Rector CUI extended welcome to the guests at a reception held on campus on Tuesday along with senior officials of CUI, who had assembled at the occasion.
Maldives’ Minister of Higher Education appreciated CUI’s milestones, progress and achievements and showed his keen interest for collaboration in the Faculties of Sciences and Health Sciences as well as in exchange programs not only between Maldives and CUI. Later on, participants from Maldives, Libya, Uganda and Iranian sides exchanged ideas on enhancing cooperation with CUI.
Visiting delegates included Dr. Ibrahim Hassan, Minister of Higher Education, Republic of Maldives, Farzana Zahir, High Commissioner of the Republic of Maldives to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Islamabad, Mariyam Fizaana Rashyd, Director General, Maldives Qualification Authority (MQA), Republic of Maldives, Prof. Dr Mohammed Ibrahim M. Ghoma, President, Gharyan University, Libya, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim N. Jleta, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Libyan Academy for Post Graduate Studies, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Libya, Prof. Ismail Simbwa Gyagenda, Rector, Islamic University, Uganda, Dr. Wardah M. Rajab Gyagenda, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Kampala University, Uganda, Prof Hamed Shah Rafati, Director General for International Affairs, University of Religions and Denominations, Iran, Prof Ebrahim Amini, Director, University of Religions and Denominations, Iran and Prof Seyed Mostafa Daryabari, Manager, International Institute for Culture and Civilization, Iran.
Later, Prof. Sajjad A. Madani gave a detailed presentation of CUI and highlighted milestone and achievements of the university. Officials of CUI present at the occasion included, Prof. Dr Sajid Qamar, Dean, Faculty of Sciences, Prof. Dr. Shahzad A. Malik, Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Prof Dr. Saqib Gulzar, Dean, Faculty of Business Administration, Prof. Dr. Sajjad A. Madani, Registrar, Dr Tahir Naeem, Director (P, D and HRD), Prof. Dr Shams ul Qamar, In-charge ORIC/ Academics and Mr. Ali Tawab Baloch, Head, International Office.
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Finnish Global Education Solutions’ Chairman, Mr. Risto Vahanen visits CUI during his visit to the Federal Capital
Mr. Risto Vahanen, Chairman of the Board, Finnish Global Education Solutions Ltd (FGES) visited CUI and met with the Head International Office, Mr. Ali Tawab Baloch on March 13, 2023. His visit was desired and arranged by Dr. S. M. Junaid Zaidi, H.I., S.I., founder Rector of CUI.
Mr. Vahanen was in Pakistan for participating in Finland-Pakistan Business Summit 2023 – a professional B2B event supporting networking, new business, trade and investments.
Mr. Baloch, Head International Office welcomed the visitant. Prof. Dr. Shurjeel Wyne, Head, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) showed him around three labs of the department: Machine, Computer and Communications Lab. The guest visited library of the university where the Senior Librarian apprised him about facilities, resources and digital information systems being deployed for facilitating students and faculty of the university. During a formal meeting, Mr. Baloch gave a detailed presentation of CUI, which the visitor appreciated CUI’s achievements by saying, “very good, interesting figures”. It was informed that CUI in the past had active collaboration with two Finnish universities: Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) and Tampere University of Technology (TUT).
Mr. Vahanen briefed that the FGES – a company based in Finland – is an academic partner, which provides services like professional development, institutions development and improvement, professional education and trainings and educational travel programs– the Finnish way.
Both sides deliberated on exploring avenues of collaboration between CUI and FGES and Finnish Universities. It was agreed that both sides will narrow down strong areas of collaboration. The Heads of CUI Research Centers, Faculty Members and CUI’s Faculty Development Academy will be mobilized for further interaction through online meetings with FGES. Mr. Vahanen will introduce CUI with Finnish Universities for collaboration as well.
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COMSATS University Islamabad signs a Document of Understanding with Cardiff Metropolitan University UK during a B-International Visit
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.
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Business International Office
CUI received the Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Eduard-Robert Preda at its Islamabad campus, today 16th of February 2023. The dignitary arrived at 10:30 and was warmly received by officials of the International Office (IO). After exchange of introductions and cordial pleasantries, the delegate was escorted and shown the campus including the Seminar Hall EE, Library and Video Conference room.
At the library detailed briefing was done by the Head Librarian about the library and its operations.
After campus visit, the delegate and IO officials gathered at the Internationalization Center to hold further talks and discussions. In this context, a PowerPoint presentation was delivered by Senior Program Officer, Mr. Arif Awan, on CUI highlighting its history, origins, management structure, campuses, achievements, faculties, research centers, and internationalization activities and objectives.
Mr. Preda appreciated CUI’s warm welcome and expressed his embassy’s desire to hold a mega event or a series of events at CUI for building cultural ties between both countries, and in this connection, he delineated at length on the nitty gritty of the said program which shall be in the context of 30th year’s celebration of Romania as part of the Francophonie (French speaking countries).
He went further to say that his embassy also would like to link up CUI with best universities of Romania.
Mr. Preda all along underscored the need to bring both countries closer through culture and music. In a lighter note, he said he is looking for recommendation to watch a good Pakistani movie.
Mr. Preda did point out one major difference between Romania and Pakistan education. In Pakistan male to female ratio always stands with male majority, but in Romania it’s the other way around!
The visit ended on a pleasant note with commitments to revert back, in due course.
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Business International Office
Islamabad: Professor Dr Amir Mahmood, Dean, School of Business and International Lead Dean/ Provost (Parramatta City Campuses), Western Sydney University (WSU), Australia along with Ms. Sabeeh Qayyum, Country Director – Pakistan, Innovative Research Universities visited CUI on February 2, 2023. Mr. Ali Tawab Baloch, Head International welcomed and greeted the visitors in a friendly way and subsequently arranged a formal meeting with Prof. Dr. Sajid Qamar, Dean, Faculty of Sciences (Acting Rector) and Prof. Dr. Saqib Gulzar, Dean, Faculty of Business Administration. Prof. Dr. habil. Shamsul Qamar, In-charge Academics/ Acting Head, Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC) also joined the meeting.
After introduction from both sides, the Head International Office made a detailed presentation of CUI and highlighted university’s major achievements, milestones, publications and rankings. Professor Mahmood revealed that he represented WSU’s Vice Chancellor's office for utilizing this visit in order to build up for WSU's high-level delegation visit to Pakistan later this year. For this, the two sides discussed about the possibilities of various collaboration prospects between the two institutions by initiating joint research programs in the first instance and other collaborative programs through an institutional memorandum of understanding in the future.
About Western Sydney University
Founded in 1989, the WSU was ranked 31 in the top 50 young universities worldwide by the 2022 THE Young Universities Ranking. Also having placed in the top two percent of universities globally in the 2022 THE University Ranking, Current student population is 49,200 including 6,300 international students. It has 11 campuses and alumni produced are 200,000+. The university is split into 13 schools as well as 13 highly accessible campuses across Sydney, 7 institutes, 12 centers and the subjects taught are Arts & Humanities, Law, Engineering & Technology, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, Clinical, Pre-Clinical & Health, Business & Economics, Computer Science, Psychology and Education. (https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/)
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