EU, other states want to invest in CPEC: Ahsan

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said on Tuesday that European Union and other countries have shown keen interest to invest in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). "The CPEC is an over $50 billion project and together with Chinese friends, Pakistan would overcome all crises confronted to it," said the minister while addressing the 4th Deans and Directors Conference entitled 'Business Education and its Context: Points of Convergence & Divergence' held under the auspices of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and National Business Education Accreditation Council (NBEAC).
Ahsan Iqbal said the government has focussed on investments that are aligned properly with the growing needs of society to enhance productivity. Political instability, extremist and energy crisis severely harmed the country before 2013, but the incumbent government has now overcome the challenges. He said the role of business schools in economic uplift of a country is very critical as they provide human resource and help construct modern economy.
Globalisation has changed the world in many ways in the age of dynamism, regionalism and branding, he observed and said technology is now redefining the business landscape, adding that technological innovation is a vital element for business education.
The minister said business schools can help to create new vistas in economic development as they enable designing of new business models based on growing technological needs. Education is crucial for nurturing of a society but targeted investment and policies are imperative to achieve the goals of education.
He said, in the past, governments failed to invest on proper lines in the strata of education and development but today Pakistan has achieved international acclaim for its progressive economic and education policies. Ahsan Iqbal said advancement in business technology has become a need of the hour and the government is putting forth every effort to facilitate the youth in new dimensions of business education and technology. He said, "By 2025, we will be able to produce 20,000 PhDs and half of them will be under the US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor."
He further said that business education has witnessed a remarkable transformation as it is linked to almost every sphere of life. He said promotion of education is imperative for development of a country.
"Education improves social, mental and intellectual skills of a person making him productive for society," he maintained. He stressed the need for aligning investment in education with production and development for the country's prosperity in a real sense.
Dr Mukhtar Ahmed urged the conference participants to come up with solutions to the challenges facing business education in the country. He said business schools need to have a strong research base and empirical data. Problem-solving impact of research should be concentrated while conducting research, he underlined. He highlighted the role of business schools in the socio-economic development of a country and urged faculty members to pay due attention to training of students alongside education.
Chairman NBEAC, Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad congratulated NBEAC on its 10th anniversary. "We have a total of 129 business schools out of them 70 belong to public sector and 59 are in private sector. Pakistani business schools are taking benefits of the accreditation process of NBEAC and we believe that quality of business schools will be improved," he said.