LAHORE: (May 12): Punjab University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran on Monday returned to Pakistan after participation Higher Education Summit for Global Development in Washington DC, US. During his stay in US the vice-chancellor promoted the soft image of Punjab University as well as Pakistan. He gave comprehensive briefing about Punjab University’s academic, research and co-curricular and extra-curricular activities to various distinguished educationists of America and other countries during meetings with them on the sidelines of the summit.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between Punjab University and Kansas State University (KSU) to exchange students and teachers mobility, to do joint researches and collaborate in other areas of mutual interest during his visit. About 200 delegates including vice-chancellors and presidents (VCs) of Asian, African and US universities attended the summit.

The summit was addressed by five US secretaries including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, US Secretary of Energy Prof Samuel Bodman, US Secretary of Labour Miss Alaine Chao and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr Michel Leavitt. President of Rwanda, an African country, Dr Paul Kagame also addressed the summit. The speakers emphasized that higher education is now a must for survival in modern times and that US should build “partnership” instead of a “donor recipient” relation with higher education institutions in the developing world. They also talked on their personal experiences as human beings involved with the developing world.

The member of Pakistani delegate include PU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, Fatima Jinnah Women University Vice-Chancellor Saeeda Asadullah, Higher Education Commission Executive Director S Sohail Naqvi, Institute of Business Administration Karachi Dean & Director Dr Ishrat Hussain, Lahore University of Management Sciences Vice-Chancellor Syed Zahoor Hassan, Agriculture University Pehawar Vice-Chancellor Said Khan Khalil, Quaid-e-Azam University Vice-Chancellor Qasim Jan, Sardar Bahadur Khan University Quetta Vice-Chancellor Shahida Jaffery, Institute of Business Administration Sukhur Director Nisar Ahmad Siddiqi and Agriculture University Faisalabad Vice-Chancellor Iqrar Ahmad Khan. The Pakistani delegation was the biggest and the USAID had funded their tickets and three nights stay in Washington.