To celebrate the upcoming third year anniversary of International Institute of Online Education (IIOE), IIOE National Centre, Pakistan, hosted by University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (UET Lahore) organized a series of activities at the national and sub-regional levels, including a global webinar on Female Leadership in STEM, an award ceremony and an IIOE Sub-regional consultation.
On November 15th, UET Lahore co-organized the IIOE Sub-regional IIOE Consultation with UNESCO-ICHEI. Representatives from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India and Bangladesh joined to discuss and share their opinions on digital transformation of higher education and the future development for IIOE. This consultation explored the needs, challenges and strategies regarding digital transformation and digital competencies of university teachers in respective 5 South Asian countries. To start off, representatives from Pakistan and Sri Lanka shared their respective gains and reflections in participating in IIOE. Based on these two cases, other representatives discussed strategies and paths to support university teachers' professional development in digital competencies. They have reached a consensus that it would be crucial to turn IIOE into a cross-regional teacher professional development community so as to enable mutual support and resource sharing.
At the two Venues of the Consultation
The outcomes of this consultation are not only essential for the reflection of IIOE's third year anniversary, but also serve as the preparatory meeting in the sub-region for next year's flagship event - the first cross-regional summit on digital transformation of higher education. Later this month, ICHEI will co-organize another consultation with ASEAN University Network for Southeast Asia.
Group Photo of the Representatives
On November 8th, UET Lahore organized an award ceremony for the IIOE Course Competition (video) to acknowledge and appreciate the performance of the winners from the university. Mr. Muhammad Tahir Naeem, Ms. Huda Riaz, and Mr. Razi Abbas from UET Lahore received the first prize, second prize and special prize respectively. Prof. Dr. Syed Mansoor Sarwar, Vice Chancellor of UET Lahore said that with the increasing recognition of blended learning, university teachers are actively looking for resources and opportunities to improve their digital competencies in teaching. IIOE Course Competition has provided an excellent platform for Pakistani university teachers to showcase their experiences and skills in this field". Dr. Waqar Mahmood, Deputy Secretary-General of IIOE Secretariat, Director of IIOENC Pakistan, and Director of Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS) added that this competition has encouraged many local university teachers to participate and produce a number of quality online resources.
Group Photo of the Awardees
On October 21st, ICHEI held a webinar on Gender Equality for Inclusive Higher Education: Female Leadership in STEM with IIOE National Centre, Pakistan and IIOE Partner - Lahore College for Women University (LCWU). Overall, 338 attendees of HEI professors, scholars, IT senior executives and those dedicated to promoting female leadership worldwide from 55 countries participated in the global webinar. This is the first activity co-organized by IIOENC's network members since the establishment of IIOENC Pakistan.
Group Photo of the Webinar Speakers
As one of IIOE's founding partner HEIs, the collaboration between UET Lahore and UNESCO-ICHEI continued to deepen and scale up. Since becoming the first Asian rotating Presidency Unit of IIOE in 2021, UET Lahore actively participated in IIOE course co-development and other activities. It also became the first IIOE National Centre by the end of 2021. In 2022, with continuous efforts, IIOENC Pakistan established an effective network and organized various IIOE events at the national level with the support and guidance from Federal Higher Education Commission. The successful implementation of IIOE South Asian Consultation is the best example of IIOENC Pakistan's capacity.
To celebrate the upcoming third year anniversary of International Institute of Online Education (IIOE), IIOE National Centre, Pakistan, hosted by University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (UET Lahore) organized a series of activities at the national and sub-regional levels, including a global webinar on Female Leadership in STEM, an award ceremony and an IIOE Sub-regional consultation.On No
