USAID's HESN programme: Punjab universities' VCs attend roundtable moot

Vice Chancellors and Rectors from 11 leading public and private sector universities in Punjab on Tuesday participated in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The discussion focused on USAID's Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN). Chairperson PHEC, Dr Mohammad Nizamuddin chaired the session, while USAID was represented by Provincial Director, Lea Swanson, and Deputy Director Innovation & Partnership Unit, Kanwal Bokharey.
Participants were briefed about the USAID HESN program, a partnership between USAID and seven top US universities, designed to channel the ingenuity of university students, researchers, and faculty towards global development. HESN has supported development labs at these US universities to engage students, researchers and faculty in innovating scientific and technological approaches to the world's most challenging development problems. "Through this program we hope to build partnerships with local universities to identify solutions to development challenges faced by Punjab that are efficient, cost-effective, accessible, and sustainable," said Swanson.
The USAID showed their interest in receiving demand driven proposals on key priority areas identified by respective universities in Punjab for further collaboration on global development through the HESN program. Professor Dr Mohammad Nizamuddin, Chairperson PHEC, expressed his views on the importance of research on development issues in order to address the challenges faced by the province.