[Pakistan] Virtual university launched

[Irfan Khan <nahknafri@yahoo.com>]

PAKISTAN: Virtual university launched

ISLAMABAD, 10 Mar 2002 (IRIN) - The Pakistani
government is launching a virtual university on 25
March, which will impart formal education to students
across the country, without having them to relocate
and giving them access to one of the best faculties in
the world. Virtual study facilities like this
initiative could prove an asset to underfunded
traditional higher education sectors in developing
countries.

Rector of the Virtual University, Naveed Malik, told
IRIN from the Pakistani city of Lahore, that in the
first phase, 1,000 students will be enrolled in a
four- year degree programme of Bachelor of Computer
Science. The university invited applications from
students on Friday. It plans to expand the number of
subjects and students in the future.

"We are going to bring education to their [students]
doorsteps," Malik said, explaining that it was not
entirely a new idea, which was being implemented in
Pakistan, but that there were not too many similar
models in the world.

"The only other similar model that comes to my mind is
the African Virtual University, which is a World Bank
sponsored project," he said but explained that it was
not imparting formal education as Pakistan planned to
do.

Students gaining admission to the university will have
to meet strict selection criteria. Once enrolled they
will have to log on to Virtual University Learning
Management System servers everyday for a minimum
number of hours equal to lectured hours at a
conventional university.

"The biggest advantage of having a virtual university
in Pakistan is to be able to have the expertise of
faculty available to students," Haider Qazilbash,
national Expert for Investment and Technology for the
United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
(UNIDO), told IRIN.

He said many good professors did not want to move to
Pakistan, but their skills could be utilised through
on-line, interactive lectures. "Competent
facilitators, who can bridge the gap between students
and their inhibitions in asking questions in English
langauge, can play a very effective role," Qazilbash
added.

Malik said apart from not having to leave their homes
to get admission to the university, a student would
only have to stump up one tenth of conventional
tuition fees, which would allow poor but talented
people to take advantage of the facility. "Our fees is
1,445 rupees [US $24] a month, much lower then the
public sector institutions as well," he explained.

Private sector IT training institutions are mostly
profit oriented and often charge very high fees. They
are also concentrated in larger cities thus denying
students living in remote and rural areas a chance to
improve their skills and qualifications.

Malik said setting up a virtual educational facility
costs one sixth of what a regular university would
cost because capital and revenue costs are much lower.
Pakistan's virtual university has an approved budget
of just $16 million for a period of four years,
whereas a conventional university would require $100
million in start up costs, Malik said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=24279&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


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