OUR STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD - The Higher Education Commission (HEC) in collaboration with the Microsoft Pakistan has launched National Student Software Accessibility (NSSA) Portal to provide genuine software availability to the higher education sector. The service will streamline software distribution to all faculty members and students of public sector universities in the country. All public sector universities recognised by HEC have been provided a customisable Portal for licensed software distribution. The portal consisting of around 150 software applications will enable over one million students and about 40,000 faculty members to download genuine Microsoft software. The event to mark the launch of the portal was held at HEC Secretariat on Saturday and was attended by the Vice Chancellors, Rectors, Directors, and representatives from different universities of the country. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Javaid R. Laghari, Chairperson of HEC said this is a great opportunity for institutions of higher learning to gain access to a broad spectrum of technology and enable the country to move towards a knowledge-based economy, ultimately benefiting the country through socioeconomic development. I appreciate Microsofts commitment for development of the education sector in Pakistan. It is always fruitful for public sector and private enterprise to combine expertise, knowledge and resources to ensure successful and sustainable education transformation.