Tianjin Foreign Studies University is hosting an Advanced Training Programme for senior academics and administrators from Pakistani higher education institutions under the CPEC Consortium of Universities, bringing a Pakistan delegation to Tianjin for a two-week programme that began on December 9, 2025.
The opening ceremony was attended by a high-level Chinese and Pakistani delegation including Ms. Li Yingying, President of Tianjin Foreign Studies University; Mr. Zhu Pengxiao, Vice President of TFSU; Ms. Gao Xiaojie, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Association of Higher Education; the Director International Exchange Officer of the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission; Ambassador Khalil Hashmi in a video address; and Ms. Aayesha Ikram, Director General (Global Engagement Division) of HEC Pakistan. Faculty participants travelled from institutions across Pakistan to take part in the sessions.
Ms. Li Yingying highlighted the importance of the partnership between HEC Pakistan and the China Association of Higher Education as a foundation for sustained cooperation through the CPEC Consortium. She said the programme demonstrates how educational exchange can promote knowledge sharing, strengthen people-to-people ties, and support joint progress in areas such as AI education as higher education adapts to rapid technological change.
Representing HEC Pakistan, Ms. Aayesha Ikram thanked the Chinese hosts for arranging the advanced training and noted Pakistan’s desire to learn from China’s advances in education, technology, and innovation. She recalled HEC’s Overseas Scholarship Programme that has supported more than 300 PhD scholars and numerous postdoctoral researchers in China and pointed to collaborative initiatives like the CPEC Consortium of Universities and the China-Pakistan Joint Research Centre on Earth Sciences at Quaid-i-Azam University as markers of deepening academic ties.
Ms. Gao Xiaojie described the relationship between the two countries as an “Iron Brother” friendship and said the CPEC Consortium has expanded from 18 to 130 member institutions since its launch in 2017. She outlined the consortium’s focus on collaborative research, capacity building and talent development in priority areas including AI, international engineering, cultural modernization and regional studies and emphasised a timely push toward innovation and AI education to prepare personnel for the intelligent era.
Remarks at the event also noted plans to promote practical cooperation between scholars in frontier fields such as AI and smart manufacturing and to deepen cross-disciplinary research in agriculture, IT, medicine and social development. A video address by Ambassador Khalil Hashmi reiterated the longstanding strategic partnership between Pakistan and China and underscored the value of educational exchange in strengthening bilateral ties.
The training under the CPEC Consortium aims to equip Pakistani senior academics and administrators with new skills and perspectives to enhance higher education collaboration and to expand joint work in AI and related technologies that are of growing relevance to both countries.
