Highlighting the significance of cooperation in the field of education, U.S. and Pakistan Thursday vowed to keep working collaboratively in the area of key interest to both.
At a webinar hosted by the Pakistani embassy, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Cultural Cooperation, Marie Royce, noted that Pakistani students were welcome to the United States.
She encouraged Pakistani students to consider the United States as their number one destination for higher education.
Royce said Washington remains committed to enhancing educational cooperation and underscored that both sides need to continue to work together to achieve greater successes.
Pakistan’s Ambassador Dr. Asad M Khan described education as the “brightest spot and the glorious chapter” in the U.S.-Pakistan bilateral relations.
He said that the number of Pakistani students in the U.S., which had gone down significantly over the past few years, had now climbed back up to over 8,000.
Khan appreciated the U.S. government for its “valuable partnership” over the years.
Speakers also included Dr. Tariq Banuri, Chairman of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission, who said that U.S. universities and institutions played a significant role in helping Pakistan strengthen its higher education domain. He particularly called for enhanced collaboration between Pakistan and the United States for the promotion of online education in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
![Photo By Lucas Cantor (Georgetown Day - 17) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.viewsnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Georgetown_Day-768x508.jpg)
The webinar over two parts addressed ‘Challenges and Opportunities in Educational Cooperation’.
The participants featured Lisa Heller from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Rita Akhtar, Executive Director of the US Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP), Dr. Farhat Haq, The American Institute of Pakistan Studies (AIPS), and Atif Qarni, Secretary Education of Virginia state.
The second panel covered the impact of COVID-19 on bilateral educational cooperation. It featured prominent educationists including Adil Najam, Boston University), Raza Rumi Ithaca College, Cornell, Ali Khan LUMS, Furrukh Khan LUMS,and Saeed Shafqat FC College.
This is exactly the motivation behind the Parallel Pandemic Project between George Mason University and the University of Karachi: https://iir.gmu.edu/about/iir-events/ppp