Islamabad, Pakistan – On September 13th 2021, the Post Graduate Certificate in Education qualification was launched at Shamadan Hall, Serena Hotel in the presence of the iQualify UK and International Centre of Excellence (ICE) Management from Pakistan and the UK Office. The purpose, as evinced by the theme of the event ‘TRANSFORMING TEACHERS TO ACADEMIC LEADERS’, was to empower the existing teachers with the highly demanded skillsets.

“PGCert in Education is a step towards acquiring the right leadership skills in the right environment and in the right direction,” said Ms Sumbal Manzoor, Head of Centre, ICE Pakistan and the moderator of the panel. “The comprehensively designed programme targets the essential skillset that the education industry depends on to address higher education and its shortfalls in teaching – with specific reference to Higher education landscape in Pakistan.” 

The event also included a panel discussion with the respected members of the education sector; namely, Dr Shaheen Sardar Ali (Rector NAHE), Dr Paul Dudley (Dean iQualify UK), Dr Nishat Riaz (Director Education – British Council) and Dr Muhammad Ali Saeed (Principal Bahria University – Management Sciences), who discussed the challenges of education sector and educationists at length. The session was moderated by Ms Sumbal Manzoor.

Dr Shaheen Sardar placed special emphasis on the quality of education and stated that it all depended on the training we receive from crib to the classrooms of universities and that the society’s challenges in individual development were the real problem of the country’s current state of the education system. She also focused on the point that teaching is an art and a science in itself and all educators must be in a constant process of personal development through self-reflection and hard work to keep up with the changing world. 

She pointed out that the pandemic had catapulted academia into training to teach online and this acted as an equaliser so we must keep in mind how we can always discipline ourselves. Such training programmes, she believes, are the need of the hour that NAHE is primarily focused on and this is what will align capacity with the delivery in classrooms.

Building on her views, Dr Paul Dudley reiterated the fact that teaching must always be done with passion. He stated that the skills and training a  teacher acquired in his life were the key to being a good teacher and with courses like PGCert, an additional value is added to a teacher’s perspective that opens doors to life-long learning.

Another insightful panellist, Dr Nishat, brought the words of Allama Iqbal and history to the session. She reminded the audience of how our region is built on the very foundation of learning, going back to the Indus Valley civilisation and urged them to revive that specific culture. In her opinion, it was the relationship between mentor-mentee that needed work; where the teachers must learn to become facilitators, counsellors, advisors, mentors and change-makers, for which they must adapt and train. She added challenges only rise when we put up resistance to change; only by making solutions and reflecting on ourselves can the education sector take a turn for the better.

Dr Ali also agreed with the point that training the faculty was the biggest challenge in Higher Education and said that the value of training has always been reflected in the faculty members. He urged that there was a need for the teachers to be provided with continuous learning environments that help them adapt to the new changes. Teaching is not just a job, he stated, it is a life-transforming role and if the teachers were skilled,  the students would be skilled too.

The closing remarks were made by Dr Masoom Yasinzai (Rector International Islamic University) who concluded an intellectually enticing event with his views on PGCert which he believes is important for all teachers to accelerate their academic teachers and be better teachers that are the changemakers of the world.

The PGCert in Education international qualification is open to all individuals and higher education institutions at ICE Pakistan. If you want to level up, register yourself on our website or if you want more information, visit our Islamabad campus or call us on the given number.

Website: https://ice.edu.pk/post-graduate-certificate-in-education

Address: 205, Korang Road, I 10/3, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Contact: 0341-0857423