Dr. Camer W. Vellani's Presentation
His Excellency the Governor of Sindh, Mohamedmian Soomro; The
Honourable Minister of Education, Sindh, Professor Anita Ghulam
Ali; The Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Captain
UAG Isani; The Co-Chair of the World Bank-UNESCO task force,
Dr. Henry Rosovsky, and members of the Task Force Dr. David
Bloom and Mr. Syed Babar Ali; Distinguished members of the diplomatic
corps; Trustees and faculty of the Aga Khan University, ladies
and gentlemen: Asalaam Alaikum.
I welcome you warmly to this seminar on Higher Education In
Developing Countries: Peril
and Promise.
The provision of higher education is needed in every country
for acquisition of knowledge and skills beyond that which can be
acquired by apprenticeship and training for skills alone.
Acquisition of knowledge equips one with specific
understanding and skills, and also conditions attitudes that
influence interpersonal relationships. Knowledge of the
richness, diversity and interdependence of the physical,
biological and behavioural elements of the world in which we
live adds the broader context that induces tolerance and
constructive behaviour.
Higher education is a process of development of the mind for
learning derived from critical examination of information that
is available globally nowadays, experience, role models and
other means to prepare one for versatility of application and
growth of new knowledge and skills.
Society needs higher education for its development. How,
then, should society support it? The outcome of education is the
consequence of the integrated efforts of faculty, staff and
students, and the milieu that supports close interaction. How
should these requirements be organised to derive optimal
benefits from the enormous investments that are made in higher
education by the society and its government, by the lifetime of
learning that is devoted by the faculty, and the time and energy
committed by the learners?
These critical questions need to be addressed by every
country. The deliberations of the World Bank-Task Force on
Higher Education and Society on the future of higher education
in the developing world have identified issues pertaining to the
public interest; the system, standards and breadth of education;
and the governance and support for higher education. Each
country has to further define the issues and, more important,
find practical mechanisms for improvement in its own context.
The process has begun in Pakistan with an intensive and constructive
seminar involving the leadership of public and private universities
and colleges and the University Grants Commission as well as
the Minister of Science and Technology at Lahore University
of Management Sciences on February 5 and 6 and continues this
afternoon.
The President of the University, Mr. Shamsh Kassim-Lakha and
I, look forward to the presentations by the authors of the
report of the Task Force, and the Governor of Sindh, and the
participation of the audience in the discussion to follow.
Before I invite Dr. Henry Rosovsky to speak, I wish to inform
you briefly about him.
Dr. Henry Rosovsky, the Geyser University Professor Emeritus
at Harvard University, has a long and distinguished academic
career in the field of Economics, Economic History and Japanese
and Korean Studies.
He is an economist, renowned for his specialisation in
Japanese economy, his leadership as the former Dean of the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, and as mentor and
supporter of his former students, many of whom are now in
similar positions of leadership.
His role as the co-chair of the World Bank-UNESCO Task Force
on Higher Education and Society with special reference to
developing countries will be long remembered. He is one of the
two major co-authors of the report.
A strong proponent of general education, Dr. Rosovsky is a
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a
Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He has received the Du Bois
medal in Afro-American Studies and Achievement in Life Award
from the Encyclopedia Britannica as well as numerous honorary
Doctor of Law degrees.
It is now my pleasure to invite Dr. Rosovsky to deliver his address.
Dr. Camer W. Vellani
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