Daily Times

KHAIRPUR: The International Conference on Research in Education and Technologies organized by the Department of Teacher Education in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan was inaugurated at Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur on Thursday.

Prof. Dr. Parveen Shah, the Vice Chancellor, inaugurated the International Conference.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Dr. Shah was optimistic that this International Conference will pave the way for the development and promotion of education. The theme of the conference – integration of Technology & Education – has great significance in the world and especially in developing countries like Pakistan.

Dr. Shah believed that these types of conferences are very essential and a viable platform for scholars, scientists, technologists, and educationists to establish strong networksin order to share the strengths and experience of their countries with each other. These events are the source of promoting international links, and coordination and cooperation for the pursuit of knowledge and expertise.

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ahsan, Dean of the Islamic Online University in the United Kingdom, was speaking as chief guest and shared a number of problems faced in the preparation of a PhD thesis. He stated that the best thesis should contain quality because common weaknesses are found in its structure, headings, sub-headings, and there is no link with its chapters with a lack of cross comparison and a conclusion that does not reflect the rest of the thesis. He added that time management was a severe problem faced by many students.

Dr. Rukhsanauddin, Professor at Mississippi University in the USA said in her keynote speech on, “Significance of Research and Technology in Education” that research in education is significant for enhancing the quality of teaching, learning, and teachers training program in order to improve educational standards.

She felt that research was important to hold teachers accountable in their profession. Research in education assists in making an informed decision on whether to spend a large sum of money on expenditures and to reduce cost of making bad decisions. She believed technology can help researchers, teachers, administrators, and policy makers in making timely decisions. The 21st century requires a technologically trained workforce for global competition.

Dr. Irfan Hyder, Dean of the Institute of Business Management (IoBM) in Karachi lectured on the “Future of Universities: Why Universities as we know them will not exist in the future!”. He warned that 21st century organizations that fail to see themselves as digitized knowledge transformers, and fail to see their missions as adding value through the transformation of digitized information, are doomed. Educational institutions and Universities that deal with knowledge, creation and knowledge transfer are now a primary target for the forces unleashed by the transition to the knowledge age of the 21st century.