Pak-Taiwan Academic and Research Cooperation Opportunities; Coverage of Prof. Dr. Atta-Ur-Rahman visit to Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
With every passing day, with every tick of clock even with every blink of eye world around us is diversifying at geometric progression, fictitious things from the fairy tales are now a reality, the flying carpet of Aladin, the invisible cloak of Harry Potter and talking tom of Shrek are no more impossible. It seems that we are Alice in wonderland encountering more extraordinary adventures.
Keeping in view all the transformation from fictions to realities in the world of science, the research has a key role in globalization strategy for the development of science and technology where collaboration among masses has always helped scientists to keep abreast of international science to share expertise and resources. International collaboration in higher education sector opens the door for the youth to share the state of the art knowledge in the field of their expertise as well as public engagement in science, engineering, and technology. The knowledge and expertise gained through investment in people and innovation allow the world to maintain a technological leading edge, build a stronger global economy and improve the quality of life of their people. Since the dawn of 21st century, the advancement in science has brought several challenges which pave the way to need of global unification in the R&D divisions to collaborate and tackle global challenges such as climate change, public health, and food crisis. As a result of scientific collaboration, almost one-fifth of the world`s scientific research papers are co-authored internationally.
Pakistan, being an emerging power in South Asia, has been glorified internationally through the development of Higher Education Infrastructure in the county which has, no doubt, impressive contribution in solidifying the foundation of the nation through education and research. The establishment of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the quality of education and research is boosted up by increasing the number of universities, PhDs, and scholarships for students and qualified faculty. On the other hand, Taiwan is at the leading edge in the field of well established IT, IC and the education sector renowned by the top ranking universities in Asia as well as many in the list of top 500 in the world.
Pakistan and Taiwan have an enormous potential of collaboration possibilities in a number of academic and industrial areas including space technology, nanotechnology, nanoelectronics, renewable energy, sports, tourism, environmental technology, agriculture, and engineering. It is quite evident by the history of well-established institutions around the globe that the academic and research collaboration is a viable tool that not only accelerates the progress but also enhances the quality of the work and extends the potential of the partners. Academic collaboration is beneficial to the faculty in learning new teaching tools, and to the students in increasing the breadth of their knowledge and learning different approaches to solving a problem.
The need of time for both countries is to share the expertise in the said fields by mutual collaboration initially in the education sector and then in the industry followed by the bond in the private sector to invest in offshore bilateral trade. The top and foremost dire importance is to match the research interest and facilities available in Pakistani institutions like Quaid e Azam University (QAU), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Ghulam Ishaq Institute (GIKI), Agriculture University Faisalabad (AUF), COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) and many others with the counterpart of Taiwanese universities like National Taiwan University (NTU), National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), National Central University (NCU), National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) along with many other leading science and technology universities to establish linkage for the students and staff mobility, co-organize conferences, seminars, share the research facilities, cooperation, assisting each other with initiatives, projects, and innovations.
In the wake of desire of academic collaboration, a renowned scientist from Pakistan, Professor Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, (former President of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and former federal minister of education, Pakistan) was invited, in November 2014, as an “International Distinguished Lecturer” by International Affair Office (IAO) Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. The most prestigious research institute in Taiwan maintained its tradition of honoring students, researchers, scientists and people from different spheres of life to listen to the words of wisdom from the internationally acclaimed renowned scientist which could be as an ice breaker between both nations to establish linkage academically.
Dr. A. Rahman is a well-known name among contemporary scientist owing to his matchless contributions to the field of organic chemistry and revolutionizing the higher education sector in his native country Pakistan. The Royal Society of London acknowledged his scientific work by electing him its prestigious member in July 2006. Dr. Rahman quoted in an interview that “It is an overwhelming experience to see your name in the list of member of Royal society along with some great scientist as Sir Isaac Newton and Einstein”. Dr. A. Rahman has also won the prestigious UNESCO Science Prize (1999). He also owns “TWAS Prize for Institution Building” Durban, South Africa and highest civil award (“Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeischen am Bande") by Austrian govt. (2007) in recognition of his eminent contributions to the world of science. Currently, he is President of Network of Academies of Sciences of Islamic Countries (NASIC), Foreign Fellow of Korean Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society. In his country, he is a role model for coming generations and mentor of young scientists. Pakistan Govt. has awarded him with the highest civil award and many other titles.
While talking about Taiwan, he appreciated the rapid progress of Taiwan and applauded the research work being conducted in Academia Sinica and many other universities for their role in national, scientific, industrial and economic growth. Professor Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman also described how the developing countries like Pakistan can compete with fast-growing science and can achieve the desire towards the development where education is the only tool to progress and key to prosperity. His model for higher education is also reviewed and appreciated by many countries. He stressed on building strong relations between both countries especially in the field of technology transfer in education and agriculture. He was also keen to start student exchange and capacity building programs between Pakistan and Taiwan. In short, although it was his first visit to Taiwan, he let his presence felt by his intelligent talk.
Author: Shahid Mehmood Awan
Ph.D. Research Scholar,
Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
