HEC to establish Nano-Science Centres of Excellence
By Hina Kiyani

ISLAMABAD—The Higher Education Commission (HEC) would set up state of the art centres of excellence in Nano-science and Technology.
The project would reach its full potential in the next 10 years with thehelp of Rs. 3 billion, said HEC Chairman and Advisor to the Prime Minister on Science and Technology Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, while inaugurating atwo-day symposium on Nano-Science and Technology organized by the Department of Physics, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology and COMSTECH.
"Only way to make our presence felt as a nation on the global scene wasmove towards a knowledge economy that can only be achieved by tapping into our vast reserve of human resources," he said.
Dr. Atta said he was committed to widening access for students toquality institutions. He termed the major problem that of quality and hence HEC's major thrust has been improvement of quality offaculty through doctoral and post doctoral studies abroad.
He informed the gathering of HEC's various programmes that over 500 students are provided scholarships annually to study in the best universities abroad.
He informed that Pakistan has a $150 million Fulbright Programme, the largest in the world, under which 640 students will study in Ivy League universities in the US.
Students trained abroad would help in changing the academic landscape, he said.
Not only was HEC providing the means and opportunity to study abroad,its multi-pronged approach included creating a research friendly environment in universities at home, said the Chairman.
Under the Tenure Track System faculty members were offered much higher salaries, while research and travel grants were also made available for them.
On the other hand, the Digital Library is at present offering over 20,000 research journals online apart from 4,000 e books.
The latest initiative was the setting up of video conferencing facilities in public sector universities which will make available interactive lectures in disciplines of science as well as social sciences to students
Pakistan would thus become the first country in the world to initiate such a an international video conferencing programme from top authorities in the world in its universities.
The Chairman invited the international speakers of the symposiumto establish linkages between their universities and those in Pakistan 50suchlinkages are being established with British universities.
Dr. Ismat Shah, Professor University of Delaware, an expert in Nano-Science and its Applications said though the topic seemed a bit exotic for Pakistan but it had great relevance as it had a multitude of inter-disciplinary qualities and he believed in exposing the scientific community to the field in order to begin work in it.
He expressed hope that the senior and junior faculty as well as participants of research and development organizations would find areas of interest to establish research in.
Papers were presented by physicists from China, Argentina, USA, Austria, Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, South Korea and Pakistan.