Building a Knowledge and

Innovation Society

Prof.Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS
Federal Minister/Chairman, Higher
Education Commission

President, Pakistan Academy of
Sciences


There is a Light at the
End of the Tunnel
EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
Why Science and Technology?
Science can help feed the hungry, heal
the sick, contribute to poverty alleviation,
protect the environment, provide dignity
of labour, and unleash the creative talents
of our youth by fostering innovation and
entrepreneurship, resulting in a
satisfying and joyful life



The Magic of Science
Biotechnology


Information Technology


Material Sciences


Pharmaceuticals
Agricultural Biotechnology
Health Biotechnology
CERN
E-Commerce
Nanotechnology
Bucky Balls
Ageing
Medicinal Plants
NANOTECHNOLOGY
MATERIAL SCIENCES
MOLECULAR MEDICINE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
VISION
Socio-economic development is no longer
dependent on natural resources
(eg.Japan, European countries)
KNOWLEDGE has now become the main
driving force of world economies and
hence the basis of socio-economic
development
INDUSTRIALIZATION is the key to high
GDP growth (through innovation /
production of high value-added goods
(engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, IT,
Biotechnology, etc.)
Overarching Approach
Simultaneous Bi-Modal Approach
Required
Bottom-Up
Basic Health, Primary Education, Water .
Top-Down
Higher Education
Emphasis on Science & Technology
Industrial Linkages
Imperatives for Socio-Economic
Development
Socio-Economic
Development
Central Role of Higher Education/
Technology Development
In National Plans--
VISION!!!!
Linkages Between Applied Research
& Industrial Development
Govt.Facilitating Policies
Quality /Relevance
Of Education/Research
STANDARDS!!
Budgetary Allocations
(Min.2% of GNP)-
The-catch-up game!
Real Wealth--
Our Children----with a population of 156
million, about a 100 million below the age
of 25, Pakistan is blessed with a huge pool
of creativity

Challenge is to empower them with
quality education and skills----and
provide them opportunities to contribute to
the process of socio-economic
development
Strategy for
Economic Development HE,S&T

160 19.6 Saudi Arabia

OIC Countries

230 8.1 Austria
260 10.2 Belgium
Knowledge Based Economies
GDP
(Billion US$)
Population
(Million)
Country
Impact of just one institution----MIT
MIT graduates and faculty have founded
4000 companies
Employ: 1.1 million people
Annual Sales: $232 billion
Collectively these companies are the 24th
largest economy in the World!
Pakistan---A Promising Program


Higher Education budget increased 2000%!!!

Full support from President of Pakistan

A real beginning after 50 years of lip service
HEC Plan of Action
ACCESS / QUALITY / RELEVANCE

Faculty Development
Infrastructure (Free Access to Literature
Free Access to Sophisticated Instruments,
Technology Assisted Learning)
Focused Support in Key Areas
Linkages to the Economy
Quality Assurance
STRATEGY
1) BASIC SCIENCES
Physics,Chemistry,Mathematics,Biology)
2) APPLIED SCIENCES
(Engineering, Agricultural sciences,
Biotecnology, Information Technology,
Pharmaceuticals, New Materials,
Communications, Renewable Energy)
3) SOCIAL SCIENCES
4)ECONOMICS, FINANCE, MANAGEMENT
5) LINKAGES WITH INDUSTRY
6) EMPHASIS ON K-ECONOMY---HIGH
TECH INDUSTRY!!
Attracting the Brightest!
Change in Salary Structures---under Tenure
Track system salaries of Professors raised to 4
times of Federal Ministers in government!

Research Productivity Allowance----based on
Cumulative Impact Factors during the preceding
year

Reversing the Brain Drain----under Foreign
Faculty Hiring Program 270 eminent ex-
patriot/other scientists attracted to return to
Pakistan (salaries upto US$ 4,000 per month)
Attracting the Brightest!
Research Funding (upto US$ 600,000
per international linkage program)
Guaranteed Jobs to fresh Ph.D.s with
higher salary structures under tenure track
system
75% Reduction of Income Tax for all
academics

Training the Brightest!
Massive Foreign scholarship programs
initiated---500-1000 students being sent
abroad annually to top universities in
Europe, USA, China

Indigenous Ph.D. programs---expansion of
the existing Ph.D. output to 1500 per year

Huge Local Scholarship Programs for
Undergraduate level studies initiated---Rs.1
Billion to be spent!

Training the Brightest!
Local Ph.D.s being offered
opportunities for postdoctoral training
in top foreign institutions

Linkages being established with top
Western Institutions---50 with British
Universities, many others

US$ 150 million Fulbright program for
MS/Ph.D. level training in tier 1
universities with USA----largest in world




New Initiatives
Fulbright scholarship support program (US $
150 million)
Post-doctoral program Phase-II (700)
Foreign University Linkage program
HEC-BC Linkage program (50 linkages)
New Engineering Universities
New Law Universities
Using Technology to Leap-Frog!
Pakistan Educational Research
Network

Digital Library Program PAKSAT 1
(Pakistans Educational Satellite)

Pakistans Video-conferencing Network

And an environment that
stimulates creativity and
welcomes advances in the use of
Information Technology
IT Education
s and Eabling
enviroment
High capacity, reliable and
accessible communications
The IT Strategy
Laws and enabling
environment
Service to the
Citizens
822 cities on the Internet
2002
Iran
Afghanistan
India
China

From 40 to 1,000
Cities on Optical
Fibre (2000-2005)
SDH/PDH
(525/622 Mb/s)
backbone being
upgraded to
DWDM
10 Gb/s
Spread of Internet Services in Cities & Towns of
Pakistan
Information Technology
1050
2000
580
29
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Year
Internet user growth
Internet users
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200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
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Internet users
Start point
Today
June 2000: 130,000 Oct 2004: 6,800,000
Actual users
more than 6
Million!
Dial up
Plummeting costs.
Cost /E1
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20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
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$
Cost /E1
Start point
Today
June 2000: US$ 87,000/E1 August 2001: US$ 6,000
October 2004 : US$ 3,800
Now US$ 2,000/2 Mb/s !
Bandwidth Available
Operative Data bandwidth
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50
100
150
200
250
300
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Operative Data bandwidth
today
Start point
August 2000: 32 Mb/s Mar 2002: 265 Mb/s
Oct 2004: 1200 Mb/s

Mobile Telephony---the Effect of
one Good Decision!
1992-2000, little Growth(300,000 phones)
2001, CPP regime brought in
Network expansion of 3 million phone-
lines ordered in 2002 ! Mobilink, U-fone
Explosive growth continues till today (over
24 million phones todayhottest sector of
the economy)


PAKSAT 1 A major opportunity
PAKSAT 1

A MAJOR COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE
WITH 34 TRANSPONDERS

CAPABLE OF CARRYING 250 TV
CHANNELS!!( 4 New TV Channels for
Education!)

BACKBONE FOR PERN (Pakistan
Educational Researh Network)


Paksat 1
Ku Band
C-Band
PERN
Pakistan Education & Research
Network
Jamshoro
Tandojam
Nawab Shah
D.I.Khan
Topi
Khairpur
Khuzdar
Abbottabad
Core Network Nodes 03
Total Universities 56
(16 OFS, 22 DXX,
17 DRS, 1 VSAT)
Pakistan Education and
Research Network
Information highway exclusively for
universities
Promote collaborative research and the
sharing of domain knowledge
Platform for launching aggressive distance
education programs
Platform for Digital Library service for all
universities
Virtual University
4 Digital Satellite (PAKSAT) TV Channels
for content delivery (License for 2 granted)
Satellite Earth Station
2 Recording Studios
Potential for providing high quality training
in remote areas of Pakistan
Distance Learning
MIT Open Courseware
University of California Television
E-Books Program
Virtual University

Digital Library
22,000 full text journalsnation-wide,free-
of-charge!!!
Abstracts of 20,000 journals
One Window Search Engine
Web of Science, Scifinder Scholar,
EMBASE, IEEE, Chem/Biol.Abstracts etc.
International volunteer lecture program
through Paksat 1
Video Lecturing Facility
Using Technology to Overcome
Faculty Shortage
Cost of Travel
Nation-wide Lecture Series---sharing
Faculty!!
International Lecture Series
International Video-lecturing
Program
High quality video-conferencing equipment
under installation
Series of international lectures (nation-
wide) by Nobel Laureates and top
professors from leading universities in
USA, Europe, Japan etc. from November
2006
Core Groups in different disciplines formed
to organise lectures (Maths, Physics,
Chemistry, Biology etc.)
Establishment of New
Engineering, Science &
Technology Universities
(UESTP)



Partner Countries
(Coordinating Universities)
China
France
Sweden
Germany
Austria
South Korea
Netherlands
Japan
Italy
LONG LIVE CHINA PAKISTAN
FRIENDSHIP!!!
China-Pakistan Friendship is
deeper than the deepest
oceans---and higher than the
tallest mountains---


Thanks