Islamabad, July 7, 2026: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan hosted a high level delegation from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Wuhan Textile University (WTU), China, in Islamabad to discuss enhanced academic collaboration, research cooperation and innovation.
Executive Director HEC Dr. Zia Ul Haq chaired the meeting, which was attended by senior HEC officers and representatives of the National University of Technology (NUTECH), Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), the Ministry of Science and Technology, and other stakeholders.
Welcoming the delegation, Dr. Zia Ul Haq reaffirmed HEC’s commitment to building strategic international partnerships that support academic excellence, research advancement, institutional capacity building and knowledge exchange. He stressed the importance of stronger engagement between Pakistani and Chinese higher education institutions in line with the shared aspirations of both countries.
The Wuhan Textile University delegation briefed participants on the university’s academic portfolio, including expertise in textile and fibre technology, sensor technology and genetic engineering. It also shared details of its ongoing collaboration with NUTECH and the Institute of Space Technology (IST), while expressing interest in expanding links with more universities in Pakistan.
Both sides discussed joint research initiatives, faculty and student mobility programmes, joint supervision of postgraduate students, sandwich programmes and undergraduate level academic cooperation. The Chinese delegation also highlighted the need for Chinese language proficiency for Pakistani students seeking undergraduate studies in China and proposed wider promotion of Chinese language programmes in Pakistani universities.
The delegation said it was ready to support HEC under the Belt and Road Initiative through academic conferences, curriculum development for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and efforts to promote textile and fibre technology as an academic discipline in Pakistani higher education institutions.
After detailed discussions, the two sides agreed on several priority areas of cooperation. HEC will identify interested Pakistani universities for undergraduate academic collaboration with Wuhan Textile University, with formal partnerships to follow through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). The meeting also agreed to explore faculty exchange programmes, Chinese language initiatives in collaboration with the National University of Modern Languages (NUML), and short-term certification and technical training programmes for university technicians.
The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the visiting delegation and a commitment to deepen academic and research cooperation between Pakistan and China through sustained institutional collaboration.
