University of Bradford to boost region's ties with Pakistan
A delegation from the University of Bradford will visit Pakistan later this month to create new partnerships between the country and the Bradford region.
The trip will look to engage with alumni and key stakeholders and create new opportunities for the two areas to collaborate.
The delegation, which includes Vice-Chancellor Brian Cantor and Director of External Affairs, Mark Garratt, will visit Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi from 22-28 February. They will host a series of dinners titled 'Destination Bradford: Education & Culture from the heart of the UK'. This will be in addition to holding discussions and meetings with institutions and senior government officials.
In Lahore, the University of Bradford will be a key partner of the Lahore Literature Festival which takes place Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 February. The festival is the city’s premier free-to-public cultural event. It explores the dialogue and interface between literature and the arts that shape our cultural, social, economic, and political frameworks. The VC and Mark Garratt will feature in a session on the Sunday titled 'Making Knowledge Work', which will look at the role of universities.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bradford, Professor Brian Cantor, said “Pakistan is a key area for us in terms of recruitment, alumni, and partnership collaborations, both academic and industrial. It’s our ambition that this visit will create new opportunities, not only for the University but for the Bradford region as a whole.”
Fahd Asif, Regional Manager, said: “Pakistan features as a key country within the University's new internationalisation agenda. This high-profile delegation visit aims to celebrate our long-standing links to Pakistan and will open new avenues of collaboration and partnership with stakeholders here.”
In preparation for the visit, a team from the University visited Pakistan in November 2018. During this visit they met with several senior figures including the Federal Minister of Education H.E. Shafqat Mahmood and the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development H.E. Zulfi Bukhari to discuss the University's work within the Pakistani Higher Education Sector.
There are long standing links between Bradford and Pakistan, including the current Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, being a former Chancellor at the University.