The impacts of climate change on natural resources can lead to displacement, worsening living conditions as well as it is an obstruction in the return of already displaced people. The parliaments played a key role in responding to the climate change and displacement and building long-term resilience. 

On September 21, 2022, an online webinar/dialogue was organized by the UNHCR and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), supported by International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP).

The objectives of the dialogue were to discuss:

• to increase parliamentarians’ understanding of the linkages between climate change, displacement and human security
• the role of parliaments and linkages for addressing and sharing the best practices for the climate issues and its impact

The distinguished presenters of the webinar included the following members;

• Mr. Martin Chungong, IPU Secretary General (TBC)
• Ms. Gillian Triggs, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR (TBC)
• Ms. Şafak Pavey, Senior Adviser, UNHCR
• Mr. Andrew Harper, Special Adviser on Climate Action, UNHCR

A large number of participants around the globe attended the session. Ms Sumiya Nauman, Manager Quality Assurance, NUMS also attended the webinar/dialogue.

The event included the briefing by the UNHCR Special Advisor on Climate Action, followed by a dialogue with parliamentarians to create an open space for information and good practice sharing. The presenters shared Strategic Framework of UNHCR for Climate Action with the participants and explain its role in mobilizing multi stakeholder partnerships to better address the protection needs of and to help build resilience for the most vulnerable within the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG-17, Partnership for the Goals and SDG-13, Climate Action)

The dialogue enabled the discussions between parliamentarians on challenges and solutions for disaster preparedness and prevention, access to services, and on building resilience for displaced and host populations affected by the climate emergency. The representative from parliament of Pakistan also highlighted the current situation and impacts of urban flooding during 2022 in Pakistan.  The opportunities to learn about tools to influence and monitor national actions tackling climate change were also discussed.

The concluding remarks were given by Special Advisor UNHCR, Mr. Andrew Harper, wherein he thanked all the presenters for sharing their view point with each other and with the participants of the webinar.

To support the understanding of the upcoming methodology changes for the institutions, Times Higher Education (THE) organized a Masterclass on World University Rankings (WUR) methodology and its implications for WUR 2024 on Wednesday 7 September, 2022. The webinar was hosted by Chief Data Officer Duncan Ross of THE. Ms Sumiya Nauman, Manager Quality Assurance from National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) attended the one-hour online session.

During the presentation, Mr Ross shared that since the methodology was last updated, the rankings have grown from 400 to 1799 universities. The new methodologies and its impact on the university’s overall and subject-level performance along with the impacts of Covid-19 (2023 Ranking) were discussed in detail. THE’s in-depth analysis includes a comprehensive assessment of each institution’s performance across the five pillars and the distinct metrics that underpin the THE World University Rankings, with in-depth focus on the wider range of bibliometric measures, he added. THE analysis is going to include benchmarking against domestic or international peers of institution’s choosing, he added.

In his concluding remarks, the presenter shared that this update will provide the universities a more robust, more insightful and better data for comparison and benchmarking. The webinar concluded with the vote of thanks to all the participants of the session by the Mr Ritin Malhotra, General Manager & Regional Director (Asia).

An introductory Masterclass on how to leverage and best communicate rankings results both to internal and external stakeholders is organized by Times Higher Education’s (THE) on Tuesday 20th September 2022. The session was attended by university stakeholders including rankings staff members, marketing & communications professionals responsible for reporting and communicating on rankings performances. From NUMS, Deputy Director Quality Assurance (QA) - Dr Erum Monis, Manager QA - Ms Sumiya Nauman and Assistant Manager - Mr Aqib Shafiq actively participated in the subject session.

Following were the presenters from THE for the Masterclass;

1. Duncan Ross (Chief Data Officer)
2. Mark Sudbury (Head of Reputation)
3. Claire Baumforth (Marketing Director)
4. Michael Lubacz (Business Development Director)

The team of experts shared through individual presentations the tips and guidance on best ways to use the rankings for promoting the university through rankings.  Every type of ranking has its own unique features, perspective, rules of participation, the information it provides and the influence of rankings, shared by Mr Ross.

All the presenters emphasized that the rankings methodologies, results, how the results are interpreted, institution’s performance and how ranking data supports its internal reporting are few very important and impactful features to be understood by the relevant staff of the university. It was also recommended by THE experts that the universities shall plan the activities strategically by understanding their key stakeholders that includes internal stakeholders (faculty, researchers), external stakeholders (students, parents, other institutes) and alumni. The informative messages developed by the university in relevance to the rankings shall address the requirements and expectations of each stakeholder.

The experts shared that the website of the university is face of the university where branding needs an intelligent effort by use of the best ways to pitch to media entities. The best practice and case studies on effective university communications, Interacting and engaging with audience on social media were also shared.

At the end of the session, the queries of the participants were answered in a well-defined manner by all the presenters with a vote of thanks for their interest in THE rankings.

The International network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) was the first ever International Network of Quality Assurance Agency in QA bodies. INQAAHE has introduced the INQAAHE Talks, which is a series of webinars focusing on global and regional issues presented by local and International experts providing the insight into Quality Assurance matters. In continuation of this series a webinar was arranged on “Quality Assurance and Recognition Practices, Challenges and Opportunities” on July 07, 2022. The webinar highlighted quality issues related to cross-border education, also referred to as transnational education (TNE), distance learning or offshore campuses.

The presenters included the following;

• Dr. Nitesh Sughnani, Director of University Quality Assurance at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), UAE
• Dr. Abi Coveney, Senior Risk Manager/TNE lead at the Office for Students, UK
• Dr. Kushnood Haq, Vice President for Institutional Field Relations at the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), USA
• Dr. Khairul Salleh Mohamed Sahari, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Quality Assurance) Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA)
• Dr. Fabrizio Trifiro, Head of Quality Benchmark Services Ecctis Limited

The speakers gave a comprehensive presentation on cross border education system, regulations and approaches that their organizations are taking to ensure the quality assurance systems in cross border education. Dr. Nitesh Sughnani spoke on higher education in Dubai and Quality Beyond Border group projects. Dr. Abi being the TNE lead at Office for Students, UK shared best practices in promoting the TNE in England. He said that the aim of all QA agencies should be to ensure access to higher education by anyone who wishes to acquire it.  Dr. Kushnood Haq elaborated that Quality Assurance systems in transnational education have been developed for a number of years to improve the professional and educational standards. He discussed, in detail the challenges and opportunities institutions face in transnational education in general.

The webinar was attended by over hundred participants from the universities across the globe. Dr. Erum Monis Deputy Director QA NUMS, Ms.  Sumiya Nauman Manager, Muhammad Waqas Manager (Data Analyst), and Aqib Shafiq Assistant Manager attended this webinar and represented NUMS through their participation.

National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) has participated first time since its establishment, in International Ranking i.e, Impact Ranking, 2022 by Times Higher Education (THE).

The Impact Ranking by THE are the only global performance tables that assesses the universities' impact on society based on the institution's success in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the broad areas of research, stewardship, outreach and teaching.

For Impact Ranking 2022, 1406 universities from 106 countries across the globe participated in the international ranking.

Out of 17 global goals, NUMS has participated for SDG 3, 4, 5 & 17 and ranked on 1001+ (Overall) internationally. NUMS stands amongst top tier Medical Universities and 55^th from overall universities from Pakistan who are contributing towards sustainability for UNAI Global Goals by having their social and economic Impact.

NUMS is also amongst the leading institution from Pakistan who is contributing towards the SDG 3 (Good Health & Well Being) by positioning itself on 11^th out of total 44 universities and ranked between 401-600 out of 1101 institutions internationally. Also, NUMS is positioned as 46^th out of 62 universities for SDG 4 (Quality Education), 36^th out of 49 universities for SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and 56^th out of 63 universities for SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals).

The QEC-LGU organized 1st International Seminar/Workshop on the topic “Quality Paradigm of the Developed Nations – Lesson for the Developing Countries” on April 7, 2022 (Thursday) at 1300 Hrs.

 International speakers with a diversified experience in the field of quality were invited for keynote speech, including Ms. Maria Kelo, Director of Institutional Development Unit, European Universities Association, Dr. Ailsa Crum, Director of Membership Quality Enhancement & Standards QAA, UK, & Ms. Katie Akerman, Director Quality Enhancement & Standards, University of ChiChester.

Ms. Maria Kelo presented her talk on European Quality Assurance and Institutional Development. She shared how EU Universities have attained and sustained International standards of QA. Dr. Ailsa Crum, spoke on QA in Higher Education suggesting a Road Map for Developing Countries. QEC Model at UK Universities was elaborated upon by Katie Akerman.

The meeting was attended by Dr Erum Monis, Asst Director Quality Assurance NUMS. The conference provided insight into international universities and hence, gave an opportunity to Pakistani Universities to make their QECs and Academics Departments compatible with the international market by adopting the international standards of teaching, coaching, mentoring, and Quality Assurance.

On International Women's Day, March 8, 2022 an online webinar was organized by Times Higher Education (THE) in partnership with UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC). Representatives from 30 plus universities around the globe attended the online session. Dr Erum Monis, Assistant Director Quality Assurance and Ms Sumiya Nauman, Assistant Manager QA participated in the international session.

During the session, the case studies were delivered by five inspirational academic leaders around the globe by sharing how their universities are beacons of excellence in driving progress towards gender equality. The speakers included the following members;

·         Erika Adriana Loyo Beristáin, Head of the Gender Equality Unit, University of Guadalajara

·         Eileen Drew, director, Centre for Gender Equality and Leadership, Trinity College Dublin

·         Kathryn Maud, assistant professor of women and gender studies, American University of Beirut

·         Bhavani Rao, director, Ammachi Labs and Unesco chair in gender equality and women’s empowerment, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham

·         Judith Waudo, director of the Center for Gender Equity and Empowerment, Kenyatta University

A presenter Ms Victoria Galan Muros (Chief of Research and Analysis) from International Institute of Higher Education (UNESCO IESALC) also shared the role of universities in promoting SDGs and subsequently their role in promoting the “Gender Equality”. She emphasized that Education, Research; Engagement & Management are the key areas towards achieving this goal. Another group presentation by Ms Rosa Ellis (Ranking reporter at THE) and Ms Emma Deraze (Senior data Scientist at THE) shared a very good statistics via graphical representation regarding number of female graduates by subject area and region, percentage of female faculty by subject, percentage of female research authors, percentage of senior female academicians in addition to the success and challenges in achieving the Gender Equality at global level.

At the end of the session, presenters were thanked for sharing their success stories and their own institute’s models designed for contributing towards Gender Equality by THE team. Participants were also encouraged for their presence and learning from the shared case studies. 

The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) initiative connects higher education institutions with the United Nations in order to support and contribute to the achievement of the organization's goals. NUMS is a member of United Nations of Academic Impact (UNAI). On 24^th January, 2022, UNAI organized an online workshop in the spirit of increasing the quality of life through SDGs. The session was moderated by Niki Harre, Professor in the School of Psychology and Coordinator of the Sustainability Module, University of Auckland (New Zealand). The presenters included,

• Mr. Alexander Leicht, Chief of the Section of Education for Sustainable Development - UNESCO
• Mr. David Hawley, Assistant Director for Student and Community Engagement at the Office of Global Engagement, North Carolina State University, USA
• Dr. Seth Murray, Director of Program in International Studies, North Carolina State University, USA
• Dr. Andrew Reeves, Project Director of Education for Sustainable Development, De Montfort University, UK  
• Dr. Julie Gwilliam, Lead for Education for Sustainable Development and Dean of Postgraduate Studies at the College of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Cardiff University, UK

The event was attended by over 300 participants from the universities across the globe. NUMS was represented by the participation of Air Commodore Muhammad Ismail, SI(M) (Retd), Director Quality Assurance, Dr. Erum Monis, Assistant Director QA & Ms Sumiya Nauman, Assistant Manager QA. The workshop discussed how higher education institutions can integrate sustainable development education into existing academic programs. One of the vital agenda point discussed in the workshop was to map undergraduate and graduate courses to the Sustainable Development Goals. The proposed initiative was to ensure university-wide curriculum review to ensure their integration of UN SDGs in all the universities. The session was concluded with the gratitude towards all the participants and with the spirit of making changes in the curricula to facilitate the achievements of SDGs in every academic institution. 

A workshop was conducted by Times Higher Education (THE) on THE Impact Ranking, 2022 on September 14, 2021. The session was attended by Syed Mahmood Raza (Provost QA &RD), Air Cdre (Retd) Muhammad Ismail (Director QA), Dr Erum Monis (Assistant Director QA) and Ms Sumiya Nauman (Assistant Manager QA).

The resource person for the workshop was Mr Duncan Ross, Chief Data Officer at Times Higher Education. The university representatives from various Asia Pacific Countries (APAC) attended the session. Mr Ross briefed the participants through a very detailed presentation regarding THE assessment process, requirements, methodology, data submission process and changes that have taken place for the Impact Ranking 2022. He also deliberated on how the universities can select the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of their high performing areas and present their data to THE for ranking purpose. An overview regarding the scoring criteria, standard units of measurements, and SDGs breakdown was also shared from THE DataPoints portal along with the general and specific examples of evidence and metrics. Different terminologies and their requirements like policies, students’ progress, courses, standards, first generation students, low carbon energy, outreach, water usage and sewage etc were discussed so that the participants can clearly understand the related requirements. It was also shared that the single or multiple evidences for the selected SDGs provided to THE by the universities will go through a validation process.

At the end of the session, the queries of the participants were answered in a very effective manner. The session closed by sharing the timeline for data submission for Impact ranking and contact details for provision of data provider’s details to THE by the institute.

3rd International Online Symposium on” Digital Teaching and Assessment; Challenges for Students” on November 27, 2020 was organized for all by Riphah Academy of Research and Education (RARE). The theme of the symposium was “Impact of digital transformation on student’s wellbeing in COVID era”.

The speakers from various countries including Canada, Australia, UAE, America, Malaysia, Turkey, Philippines, Keyna and Pakistan addressed the participants of the online symposium.

Speakers, mostly international students shared their hands-on experience with the participants regarding facing hurdles and difficulties due to COVID-19 and highlighted, how we can positively utilize the situation in enhancing knowledge.

Over 350 participants from across the globe attended the symposium. Dr Erum Monis, Assistant Director Quality Assurance represented NUMS on this event.

In response to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, higher education institutions around the world have rapidly transformed traditional face-to-face teaching into online teaching on a large scale. The change in teaching mode will directly affect the future development trend of higher education. In this regard The Macao Polytechnic Institute (MPI) organized a series of international conferences on various topics of higher education focusing on the theme of ‘Teaching and Learning Quality Assurance in Higher Education under the Pandemic’ in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN), held online from 25 to 26 November 2020. The conference was attended by NUMS Quality Assurance Directorate Officers.

During various sessions, Educationists and Quality Professionals read papers under the following themes; Opportunities and Challenges of Online Education, Educational Response Mechanisms in the Global Crisis, Higher Education Institutions’ Curriculum Adjustment to meet the needs of emerging industries, Future of Education: Quality Assurance for online education, Flexible Teaching and Learning at Higher Education Institutions under the pandemic, Quality Assurance of teaching in the context of “Internet + Education”, How to assess the effectiveness of students’ online learning, Teachers’ professional development under the trend of online education and the impact of the epidemic on the international movement of students.

It was a healthy activity through which people around the world came to know how ‘Online Learning’ was facilitated through various learning and assessment tools like Moodle, Zoom, Google Classrooms etc. It was fascinating to learn that people of our region faced similar problems of connectivity and student motivation. It was interesting to know that one of our neighboring country Bangladesh Government took a bold step in the right direction and made Zoom License free for all universities and encouraged the Internet providers to provide services at subsidized rates to students. It was also highlighted that one household with an average of five people, required at least five systems to work on which was a difficult situation for people to manage while working and learning from home.

It was concluded that keeping in view the world environment and health challenges Blended or Hybrid Learning should be promoted. It was also pointed out that governments should play a role in provision of internet services and systems for households with more students and workers.

Some participants from all over the world shared their best practices and how they were able to overcome the hurdles of going online by first ensuring that all the teachers were given training on software to be used and designed/modified courses being taught. It was learnt that practical classes for professional degree courses were either managed through simulation by some but most participating universities left it for the time when face to face teaching could be resumed.

A lot of emphasis was given on learning Analytics and Data informed decision making to lead to ‘direct impactful action’ (Wise 2020). In the seminar, the significance of evaluation of Learning Management systems by Quality Enhancement Cells was commended and was reiterated that it should continue to provide data backed guidance in academics for future as well.

The Impact of technology on organizational transformation in higher education, was discussed in a webinar conducted by the Institute of Business Management (IoBM) Karachi, QEC, on Jun 08, 2022. Representatives from various universities of Pakistan attended this webinar. Dr. Erum Monis Deputy Director Quality Assurance and Aqib Shafiq Assisant Manager-Junior QA participated in the session.

For higher education institutions, the pandemic was a catalyst for adopting and implementing new technologies. To speak on the said topic Dr. Reem AL Buainain Acting Chief Executive Officer Bahrain Polytechnic was invited as guest speaker of the webinar. Speaker discussed the history of quality assurance, quality assurance system, Pre-COVID and Post-COVID Scenario and its impact on quality assurance system of higher educational institutions. Moreover, she shed some light on how Quality assurance systems and good governance can reshape the educational structure of the universities.

Times Higher Education (THE) conducted Impact Rankings 2022 Masterclass on May 16, 2022 for universities of Pakistan. Ms Sumiya Nauman, Assistant Manager from NUMS Quality Assurance Directorate attended the online session. The presenters included the following;

• The Duncan Ross, Chief Data Officer THE
• Simone Dilena, President APAC
• Elizabeth Shepherd, MD Consultancy

Mr Ross through a very comprehensive presentation shared the detailed purview of performance by Pakistani Higher Education Institutes in Impact Rankings 2022. The presentation included the participation requirements, overall ranking bibliometric, how do THE measure the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets, verification of evidences, scoring criteria, SDGs indicators changes for 2022, most participated SDGs by institutes, year-wise scores, participation status of institutions globally, etc. The top trends of institutes of Pakistan participated in Impact Rankings 2022 was also shared by the presenters. It was shared that from the year 2019 to 2022 there is substantial increase in participation by the institutes from Pakistan as 10 universities initially participated in 2019, 23 in 2020, 36 in 2021 and 63 participations in 2022. Pakistan has risen to 3^rd place after Russia and Japan leading to increased submissions to THE for the Impact Rankings 2022.

The information on top most SDGs participated from Pakistan, how THE measures them and comparison of Pakistan with Asia and Worldwide was also shared. The areas of improvement as mentioned by the presenters included, but not limited to, the emphasis in increasing the number of research Publications by Pakistani institutes, courses to be designed in relevance to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that can ultimately be helpful to increase the universities in making an impact on the community and project themselves for International Rankings.