Tuesday 11 June 2013

Higher Education:

US professor launches in-house faculty training session in NUML

Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: An in-house faculty development training session, with the collaboration of University of North Texas, was started at National University of Modern Languages on Tuesday. It is being conducted by Dr Raja Masood Ashraf, Assistant Professor of Postcolonial Literature and Theory at the University of North Texas and the editor of ‘Pakistaniaat’, a journal of Pakistan Studies. 
The duration of this session is six weeks and two such sessions would be held every year over next three years. In his introductory session, Dr Masood Ashraf Raja, told the participants of the session, that literary theory allows us to look and grasp the spirit of a literary piece from different perspectives and angles.
Dr Raja told the participants that to be a post-colonialist, literary theorist or non-conformist, what we needed was an extensive knowledge of the historical periods, norms and literary trends. “In coming session, we will discuss and engage in activities which would help us explore new ways to analyse and interpret literature,” he added.
Speaking at the introductory session, Director General Brig Azam Jamal said that this three-year cooperative agreement would enhance the capabilities of the NUML English Department, while also providing faculty and students of UNT with unparalleled opportunities to learn about Pakistan and its culture. He said NUML is a premier language university with twenty-seven language departments and six campuses spread over Pakistan. 
The partnership would focus on faculty development and collaborative research, curriculum development, access to research materials, graduate student training and research, and the establishment of a Writing Resource Center at NUML.
Registrar Brig (R) Saeed Akhtar Malik told that this In-house Faculty Development Training session was the one of the phases of academic partnership between NUML and UNT. There were a total of three phases of this three-year-long partnership between NUML and UNT. In the first phase of this partnership, 35 faculty members and 18 students would visit UNT under fellowship program in UNT. 
The second phase was the In-house Training Session, which was presently in progress under the supervision of Dr Raja Masood Ashraf, at NUML. The third and final phase includes a Resource Centre, which has been established in NUML, he added. Dr. Masood Ashraf Raja and Registrar Brig (R) Saeed Akhtar Malik would be serving as Project Directors from their respective institutions. The introductory session was attended by Rector Maj Gen (R) Masood Hasan, DG Brig Azam Jamal, senior faculty members from different departments and regional campuses of the university.

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