Aerial photo taken on April 9, 2022 shows a view of the Karot Hydropower Project in Punjab province, eastern Pakistan. It is a major pilot project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). (CTG/Handout via Xinhua)
With the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) entering an advanced stage, exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in higher education have been reaching a new level over the past few years.
by Raheela Nazir
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The educational cooperation and exchanges between Pakistan and China are playing an important role in promoting the high-quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a Pakistani scholar said.
"BRI is a framework for multi-national economic development. It is providing a window of opportunity that will bring socio-economic stability for countries around the globe including Pakistan," Safdar Ali Shah, director general of CPEC cell at the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, told Xinhua.
With CPEC entering an advanced stage, Shah said the exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in higher education have been reaching a new level over the past few years, adding that further collaboration in higher education is crucial to the building of CPEC and the development of the country.
"Pakistan needs to produce young talents that meet the requirements of Chinese companies who want to invest in the country and are in desperate need of skilled people acquainted with the local conditions and languages ... so there is a need to ramp up educational cooperation for providing strong intellectual and talent support to Chinese companies," the scholar said.
Pakistani Minister of Planning, Development and Reforms Khusro Bakhtiar addresses during the annual conference of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Consortium of Universities in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan on Nov. 18, 2019. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)
According to Shah, 18 universities from China and Pakistan established the CPEC Consortium of Universities back in 2017 to promote academic exchanges for the high-quality development of CPEC, now the number of member universities has increased to over 110, indicating a substantial rise in academic and educational exchanges over the years.
The academic collaboration under the CPEC Consortium of Universities included the establishment of China study centers at various universities across Pakistan, joint research projects, language training and talent cultivation, cultural activities and joint conferences, workshops and exhibitions, he added.
"The number of Pakistani students learning Chinese language and the number of Chinese students learning Pakistan's national language Urdu have also increased considerably over the years, bringing the people of the two countries closer and closer," he noted.
Under the educational cooperation programs between the two neighbors, Shah said thousands of Pakistani students are studying in China, learning Chinese culture, language and majors, adding that most of these students are studying on Chinese scholarships.
A competitor operates robots during the World Vocational College Skills Competition in Tianjin, north China, Aug. 19, 2022. The competition is a part of the World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference, where the Luban Workshop, a Chinese vocational workshop program training talents overseas, are attended by about 700 participants from more than 120 countries and regions. Twenty such workshops have been built in 19 countries including Thailand, Britain, Pakistan and Portugal.(Xinhua/Sun Fanyue)
Besides providing opportunities to Pakistani students, Chinese universities are going the extra mile to improve the education quality for the students to meet the needs of the two countries' major projects like CPEC and other vital fields, he said.
"Measures such as transforming the talent training concept to cultivate applied and compound talents, improving the teaching level by assembling a team of teachers with high professional standards, and designing tailored textbooks, are being taken for Pakistani students in Chinese universities to enhance the standard of education and training," he said.
The scholar believed that as Pakistan and China are closely bonded as a result of CPEC, the two countries should further explore and promote more exchanges and cooperation in higher education to achieve quality education sharing and achieve win-win and mutually-benefited friendly relations.
Aerial photo taken on June 3, 2022 shows a section of the China-aided Eastbay Expressway of Gwadar port in Gwadar of Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province.(Xinhua/Jiang Chao)
Launched in 2013, CPEC is a corridor linking Pakistan's Gwadar Port with Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which highlights energy, transport and industrial cooperation.
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