KARACHI: Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad has announced on Tuesday that his office would be setting up a help desk at the Governor House in Karachi with the mandate to facilitate the universities of Sindh establishing academic ties with their counterparts in China. While speaking with a delegation of four Chinese universities and 13 vice chancellors of Pakistani universities he said, “We are going to establish a help desk at the Governor House for coordination between the universities of Sindh and China”. The 10-member Chinese delegation along with the vice chancellors of 13 universities of the country discussed prospects of academic ties with the Chinese universities and other educational institutions. The delegation introduced their programme for international institutions to the governor and said that for Pakistani students, the Chinese authorities would offer more because of brotherly relations of the two countries. Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan said that his desk would take care of coordination and collaboration of the universities of Sindh with Chinese authorities and academic institutions. He said that the Governor House had already established a similar desk for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in which investors and companies are being offered with facilitation regarding investment in the CPEC projects adding that the CPEC is future of our region”. The governor said intellectuals would be spearheading the future interaction between the two countries and the universities would be playing key role in grooming and providing those intellectuals. The governor praised Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU) Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh for engaging Chinese universities and establishing student exchange programme for which he expressed his pleasure and said that the programme is the first in history of Pakistan. He said, “It is good to know that our province has taken lead in establishing contacts with the universities in Hainan, province of China”. Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh said Sindh-Hainan Universities Forum, which organised the ongoing conference between the universities of the two brotherly countries is founded an unparalleled academic cooperation. Meanwhile, during the day’s proceedings on the second day of the three-day conference, officials of four leading Chinese universities introduced their campuses and faculties to a packed audience at a local hotel. The representatives of the Hainan University, Hainan Normal University, Hainan Tropical Ocean University and Sanya University gave introduction of their institutions in series of sessions during the conference organised by the SMIU. Hainan Normal University International Education School Party Committee Secretary Yundi Chen said that under the Chinese government’s policy of internationalisation and globalisation of the higher education, the number of universities in China is on the rise adding that the number of international students is also increasing. He said that the foundation of the Sindh-Hainan Universities Forum is historic, which would help China and Pakistan to start mutual programmes related to higher education and training in both the countries. Haikou Hainan University President Prof Jianbao Li said that he invited universities of all the provinces of Pakistan to send their students to the largest university of Hainan province of China. Hainan University International Cooperation and Exchange Deputy Director Xuebing Ling, Hainan Tropical Ocean University Vice President Prof Ziju Yang, Hainan Tropical Ocean University Prof Zuocong Chen, Sanya University President Lu Dan and his associates including Che Yi, Gao Yilan and Li Hiyan representing various disciplines and Zhijun Qing of Hainan Normal University’s journalism and communication school, gave presentations about their respective institutions. They said that the Chinese government, provincial government of Hainan and universities themselves are offering scholarships to foreign students in their institutions. The audience was also informed that more than 30,000 students are enrolled with the Hainan University alone.