Pak-Austria Fachhochschule: One More Step Toward Building Knowledge Economy in Pakistan

[Riaz Haq]

Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (PAF-IAST) campus is ready to open in Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It represents one more step toward building Pakistan's knowledge economy and growing high-value technology-based exports. Pakistan is collaborating with several countries, including the United States and China, to build up high-skills education capacity in the country. Early progress is confirmed by a Nature magazine report that Pakistan's scientific output is growing at the fastest rate in the world. Pakistan's high-tech exports are relatively low but surging by double digits, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.

Pak-Austria Fachhochschule (PAF-IAST) Campus, Haripur, Pakistan

21st Century Workforce:

Pakistan's economy is rapidly transforming from traditional agriculture to modern business and industry.  Accelerating penetration of smartphones, personal computers, flat screens, mobile broadband, indoor plumbing, motorized vehicles, home appliances, air-conditioners, tractors, tube-wells, advanced construction machines and  solar and other technology-based products and services requires a highly skilled workforce to design, manufacture, market, sell, operate and service.

Building this new highly skilled workforce must begin with designing curricula and facilities. It also demands a new crop of trainers and educators and closer collaboration between academia and industry.

PAF-IAST:

PAF-IAST aspires to be a leader in delivering effective education for the 21st century workforce. Currently, only 18% of Pakistanis and 19% of Indians under the age of 24 have the skills required for 21st century jobs, according to a United Nations and Business Coalition for Education study. It's the percentage of all school age children on track to complete secondary AND reach the learning benchmarks spelled out  by National Achievement Test (NAT) 2016 for Pakistan  and NCERT 2017 for India.

Built in collaboration with the Austrian government, Pak-Austria Fachhochschule (PAF-IAST), Haripur will offer specialized courses in artificial intelligence, railway engineering, mining, agriculture, food technologies and other fields. “Set in middle of the campus is natural lake, fed by the springs of surrounding mountains. The campus is just a 3-kilometer drive from the Hazara Motorway,” according to PAF-IAST.

NUTech:

National University of Technology (NUTech), an institution similar to PAF-IAST and chartered institution of higher learning, was launched in Islamabad in 2018.

NUTech will not only produce hands-on engineers and scientists but it will also serve as an umbrella organization for training skilled technicians and tradespeople to build, service and maintain advanced technology-based plant and equipment.

NUTech will work with a national network of technical and vocational training institutes to produce skilled workers.  It will include representatives of business and industry in design of curricula to ensure these workers meet the needs of the industry.

National University of Technology (NUTech) Campus in Islamanad

Specialized Institutions:

Pakistan Air Force's Air University, established in 2002, is an example of a specialized institution aimed at developing human capital in the aviation sector.

Development of a new advanced fighter is a wide-ranging effort that will encompass building human capital in a variety of fields including material science, physics, electronics, computer science, computer software, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, avionics, weapons design, etc.

Air University has added a new campus in Kamra Aviation City. The university already offers bachelor's master's and doctoral degrees in several subjects. Pakistan Air Force Chief Sohail Aman told Quwa Defense News that the campus will “provide the desired impetus for cutting-edge indigenization programs, strengthen the local industry and harness the demands of foreign aviation industry by reducing … imports and promoting joint research and production ventures.”

Higher Education in Pakistan:

There are over 3 million students enrolled in grades 13 through 16 in Pakistan's 1,086 degree colleges and 161 universities, according to Pakistan Higher Education Commission report for 2013-14.  The 3 million enrollment is 15% of the 20 million Pakistanis in the eligible age group of 18-24 years.  In addition, there are over 255,000 Pakistanis enrolled in vocational training schools, according to Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA).

Graduation Day at NED Engineering University For 1300 Graduates in 2013

Pakistani universities have been producing over half a million graduates, including over 10,000 IT graduates, every year since 2010, according to HEC data. The number of university graduates in Pakistan increased from 380,773 in 2005-6 to 493,993 in 2008-09. This figure is growing with rising enrollment and contributing to Pakistan's growing human capital.

Source: UNESCO's Global Education Digest 2009

Higher education in Pakistan has come a long way since its independence in 1947 when there was only one university, the University of Punjab. By 1997, the number of universities had risen to 35, of which 3 were federally administered and 22 were under the provincial governments, with a combined enrollment of 71,819 students. A big spending boost by President Pervez Musharraf helped establish 51 new universities and awarding institutions during 2002-2008. This helped triple university enrollment from 135,000 in 2003 to about 400,000 in 2008, according to Dr. Ata ur Rehman who led the charge for expanding higher education during Musharraf years. There are 161 universities with 1.5 million students enrolled in Pakistan as of 2014. As of 2019, there are 174 universities in the country.

Former Chairman of HEC summed up the country's higher education progress well in a piece he wrote for The News in 2012: "Pakistan has achieved critical mass and reached a point of take-off. For this phenomenal growth to continue, it is important for the government and other stakeholders to support and further strengthen the HEC as a national institution and protect its autonomy. If this momentum continues for another 10 years, Pakistan is certain to become a global player through a flourishing knowledge economy and a highly literate population".

Summary:

Pakistan is expanding science and technology education with institutions like PAF-IAST and NUTech. These represent progress toward building Pakistan's knowledge economy and grow high-value technology-based exports. Pakistan is collaborating with several countries, including the United States and China, to build up high-skills education capacity in the country. Early progress is confirmed by a Nature magazine report that Pakistan's scientific output is growing at the fastest rate in the world. Pakistan's high-tech exports are relatively low but surging by double digits, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.

Here's an introductory video about Pak-Austria Fachhochschule Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (PAF-IAST) Pakistan:

https://youtu.be/IJDjDisjy_c

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Haq's Musings

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Artificial Intelligence Development at NED Engineering University

Pakistan's Computer Services Exports Surging

Pakistan's Scientific Output Growth Fastest in the World

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[Riaz Haq]

On September 17, a historic event occurred. The prime minster of Pakistan inaugurated a beautiful campus of Pakistan’s first foreign engineering university, the Pak-Austria Fachhochschule, in Haripur Hazara, about 40 miles from Islamabad.

By Dr. Ata ur Rehman

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/722202-a-visionary-project


The university has a lake and is surrounded by beautiful undulating hills with wild flowers and medicinal plants growing on them. It is the first university in Asia, and possibly in the world in which eight leading engineering universities in Austria and China have come together as partners. These include three Austrian Universities of Applied Science and Engineering (Fachhochschule) and five Chinese universities that are leaders in their respective disciplines.

Pakistani students will thus have the opportunity to benefit from lectures and courses of these foreign universities, and some will even get degrees from those universities. A dream that I had dreamt for the last 15 years has at last come true and a wonderful beginning has been made towards establishing a network of such high-quality foreign engineering universities in Pakistan. Kudos to PM Imran Khan.

The courses that will be offered by F H Johanneum (Graz, Austria) will be in the fields of electrical/computer engineering, biomedical science and information design. MCI Innsbruck Austria will offer courses in environmental engineering while Johannes Keppler University in Linz, Austria will offer postgraduate M. Phil and PhD level training in artificial intelligence. In addition to these, several leading Chinese universities are formally involved to set up four postgraduate Centers of Excellence, making it the most powerful educational program in the region. MS and PhD level courses on high speed railways engineering will be offered by Beijing Jiaotong University, the top university in China in this field. Similarly, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technologies, the leading institute in China in this fast emerging field, and Guangdong University will offer postgraduate training programs on artificial intelligence.

Pakistan possesses a huge amount of unexploited mineral wealth, but we do not have the capability to extract these minerals and market them internationally. So China’s leading university in this highly specialized field, China University of Mining and Technology, has agreed to set up a Center of Excellence in this field which will train students at MS and PhD levels in mining, and mineral extraction and processing technologies. Another Center of Excellence will be established in advanced agricultural sciences, with focus on hybrid seed production, biotechnology for increasing quality and yields as well as food processing and packaging technologies will be established by Jiangsu University.

The involvement of no less than eight foreign universities in the Pak-Austria Fachhochschule will add new dimensions to higher education in Pakistan. The center piece of the university would be the Technology Park to foster innovation and promote new start-up companies with close linkages with foreign and Pakistani industries. Emphasis will be on applied research of industrial importance. The aim will be to foster strong linkages between industries in Austria and China with those in Pakistan through the development and manufacture of innovative products both for the local market and for export.

The Pak-Austria Fachhochschule will offer Bachelors, Masters and PhD programs. The curricula will be identical to those followed by the foreign collaborating universities in line with the industrial strength of the partner countries. The education processes will be as per standards of the foreign partners and will meet HEC and PEC (Pakistan Engineering Council) criteria so that qualifying students can get double degrees, provided that the educational programs are accredited by the partnering foreign universities.

[Riaz Haq]

Islamabad to Get Danish University of Emerging Technologies

https://propakistani.pk/2025/03/15/islamabad-to-get-danish-universi...

The federal government has approved establishment of the Danish University of Emerging Technologies at Sector H-16, Islamabad.

Reports said that the Federal Cabinet, through circulation of summary, approved establishment of Danish University of Emerging Technologies at Sector H-16, Islamabad.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) had proposed over 100 102.5 Acres (820.75 Kanal) of land located at Sector H-16, Islamabad for establishment of Danish University of Emerging Technologies, Islamabad.

It is pertinent to note that the current government has taken a significant step for promoting quality education in Pakistan for under privileged children, the Daanish School Project which aims to provide quality education to underprivileged and deserving students across Pakistan, particularly in remote and less-developed areas.

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PM announces new university with funds recovered from UK

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20250313124317435

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week announced that a new university would be set up in the capital Islamabad using £190 million (US$246 million) recovered by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) from a Pakistani real estate tycoon.

After Pakistan’s Supreme Court recently released the money from a fine settlement account to the federal government account, Sharif announced it would be used to establish an institution called Daanish University that would focus on applied sciences and boast advanced research facilities. Sharif is to be its patron.

Former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced in January for corrupt practices related to a case involving Al-Qadir University. Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party, was found guilty of using the Al-Qadir University trust to obtain land from Pakistani real estate tycoon Malik Riaz, whose illegal money was seized by the UK authorities and returned to Pakistan in 2019.

According to Judge Nasir Javed Rana, Khan, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, was guilty of using the office of prime minister to divert the funds from the UK into a fine settlement account of a housing society owned by Riaz, who has since absconded.

Announcing the use of the funds to establish the Daanish University of Applied and Emerging Sciences at a steering committee meeting for the new university chaired by Sharif in Islamabad, the prime minister ordered the land acquisition and a charter for the university to be finalised.

“Daanish University would be an institution where deserving and talented students will receive high-quality, research-based education.

“This university should be developed having international-standard technical and applied sciences and equipped with state-of-the-art technology and advanced research facilities with highly qualified faculty,” the minister said, according to a press statement issued after the meeting.

Like Al-Qadir University, which was established under Al-Qadir Trust, this university will also be established under Daanish Trust. The government maintains that setting up this university under a trust will ensure its independence and financial survival.