Islamabad: The National Academy for Higher Education (NAHE), Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, organised a consultative meeting on Artificial Intelligence (AI), institutional preparedness and capacity building in higher education.
Chairman HEC Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar chaired the meeting. It was attended by Managing Director NAHE Dr Noor Amna Malik, vice chancellors, senior faculty members and representatives of public sector universities, HEC Regional Centres and Huawei Technologies.
The meeting stressed the need for a coordinated national approach to AI adoption and institutional readiness in higher education. The deliberations covered AI literacy, digital infrastructure, High-Performance Computing (HPC), cybersecurity, human resource development, governance, academic programmes and responsible use of emerging technologies.
The discussions assumed particular importance in view of HEC’s recently circulated requirement for a three-credit-hour AI-related course for undergraduate and graduate students from Fall 2026.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar said AI was rapidly transforming education, research, industry, governance, healthcare, agriculture and academic administration. He emphasised that universities must move beyond viewing AI merely as a collection of tools and should develop institutional capacity to understand, manage and responsibly integrate AI.
The HEC chairman said AI readiness required digital infrastructure, computing capacity, trained human resources, cybersecurity, institutional governance, academic expertise and ethical safeguards. He also pointed to the digital preparedness gap across the higher education sector and underlined the need to strengthen national capacity in HPC, data infrastructure, cybersecurity and specialised AI expertise.
He encouraged stronger collaboration among universities, technology companies, researchers and policymakers for effective and responsible AI adoption.
Dr Noor Amna Malik highlighted NAHE’s ongoing efforts to develop AI capacity among university faculty and management. She informed the meeting that NAHE had successfully completed two AI training cohorts, comprising 64 participants physically and 366 participants virtually.
She said additional comprehensive AI training programmes were being planned through HEC Regional Centres and 15 identified cluster points to extend capacity-building opportunities across Pakistan.
During the meeting, Meng Gengchang, Solution Expert at Huawei Technologies, and Leo shared industry perspectives. University leaders also shared practical examples of AI adoption, including AI-enabled admissions at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, AI academic programmes at BUITEMS and AI-related initiatives at PIEAS.
The meeting underscored that AI readiness was a whole-of-institution responsibility requiring AI-literate faculty, trained management, appropriate policies, robust infrastructure, cybersecurity safeguards, ethical frameworks and continuous professional development.
The consultative session concluded with a shared understanding of the need for a nationally coordinated roadmap for AI training, infrastructure development, responsible AI adoption and institutional preparedness.
A follow-up meeting will be convened within the next few days to further deliberate on and finalise the strategy. University management, faculty, IT professionals, researchers and other relevant stakeholders will also be brought on board.
