Islamabad - A two-day national symposium on “Curriculum Development in Higher Education” started here at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) on Tuesday.
The symposium, which is being organised by the academics division of Higher Education Commission (HEC), is aimed at brainstorming the most suitable procedure to be adopted as a guideline for undertaking curriculum revision and development at undergraduate and graduate levels. The symposium is aimed at placing higher education in its local milieu from the international context that is kept in view when transplanting educational practices, identifying and filling the gaps that currently exist in higher education curriculum planning, responding to needs of the society and related industries, fulfilling the curriculum development needs with regards to coordination and alignment, improving horizontal and vertical relationship in curriculum, and revising the curriculum on regular bases for continuous improvement.
Speaking at the occasion, Engr Muhammad Balighur Rehman, minister of state for federal education and professional training who was the chief guest in the opening ceremony, said curriculum is one of the most important components of the education system. He said that timely revision of curriculum was imperative for assuring quality of education and setting high standards for the education sector.
The minister stressed the significance of academia’s linkage with the industry, SMEs as well as the government to make sure that education institutions work as an engine for the socio-economic growth of the country. Chairman HEC Mukhtar Ahmed elaborated though HEC’s curriculum revision committees in different disciplines have been meeting regularly to review curricula of respective subjects but a need was felt to gather experts and evaluate the review process itself.