Office of External Linkages (OEL)


Overview

Universities are considered as hub of new knowledge, vigorous research, and innovative technology which contributes to the welfare and development of the society and vice versa. External linkages is university’s frontline arm that serves to expand partnership with the national and international organizations in order to initiate and strengthen cooperation and collaborations for uplifting institutional standards in the domain of teaching, learning, research and administration. Understanding the significance of internationalization and global character of higher education, research and innovation, the first vice chancellor of the university Prof. Dr. Muhammad Zakria Zakar is pleased to establish Directorate of External Linkages. He believes that understandability, stability, strength and sustainability of our society rests with high quality and internationally competitive scientific education and capacity building in global perspective. So far, guest professor have visited UO from Germany, France, America, Scotland and Qatar and we the professors from other countries are like to visit UO in the current semester. The reports on all these visits are published in every issue of UO NEWS letter.


Projects

1

Cross-cultural Dialogues by Peter-Josef Boeck

Mr. Peter-Josef Boeck from Bielefeld (Germany) is an expert in business and commerce and visited the University of Okara (UO) from 22nd of October to 8th of November, 2018 and again from February 10-20, 2020. He interacted with faculty and many students, engaged them in a series of cultural dialogues, and talked about economic development and cultural diversity. The students learnt about academic culture, history, religion and politics, language and education system of Germany, social rights of the citizen, living a healthy life and significance of sports, studying in German-speaking Universities, seeking scholarships for admissions to MS/PhD at the Republic of Germany.

2

Research on Violence by Prof. Sebastian Kurtenbach (Germany)

Prof. Sebastian Kurtenbach is an interim professor at the University of Applied Sciences, Muenster, Germany. His area of interest is a political science and social policy. During his two-day visit from February 27-28, 2019, Dr. Sebastian Kurtenbach presented the results of their research project. He presented the codes of street and violence and how these codes vary in Germany, Pakistan and South Africa in the perspective and context of the culture in each country. The participants discussed how to improve the conditions of the youth to make them a productive part of the country and gave recommendations for the policymakers for the betterment of the youth through controlling violence.

3

Pakistan Railways and the French Railway system by Prof. Marnix Dressen-Wagne

Prof. Dr. Marnix Dressen-Wagne was a professor of sociology at Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University (UVSQ) France and supervised a research project on a comparative study of coach cleaners working in Pakistan Railways and the French Railway system. The topics about which Prof. Marnix talked at different university departments include Interviewing and Construction of Questionnaire, Gender and Hierarchical Relations, Hierarchical and Ethnic Relations, Natural and social sciences: Commonalities and differences, French school versus German school of social sciences and Labor Laws in Western Countries. He stayed at UO from March 2-16, 2019.

4

Glasgow's Professor in UO Conference

Prof. Dr. Norman Reid is a professor of science education at Center of Science Education at the University of Glasgow (UofG), Scotland. He was the first international keynote speaker in the first National Conference on Multidisciplinary Research (NCMR) held on March 27-28, 2019. During his stay from March 27-28, 2019, he talked about the history of Scotland and shared with the audience how Britain invaded Scotland and forcefully made it a part of Great Britain. He told the audience how the Scottish people responded to British invaders and how they retained their identity through the promotion of the Scottish language and culture. He talked about “Working of Brain in Language Learning” and explained how the brain and mental faculties function while learning a language and interpreting phenomena. He also discussed different levels of learning according to age and abilities of the individuals and complexities involved in learning a language, particularly a second language.

5

Research on Autism, intellectual disability, and Tourette syndrome by Prof. Hyung Goo

Prof. Hyung Goo from Hammad bin Khalifa University, Qatar delivered lectures and presented his research findings on Autism with the faculty and post-graduate students on September 21, 2019. His area of specialization is Autism, intellectual disability, and Tourette syndrome.

6

Collaboration with Confucius Institute, University of the Punjab, Lahore

Mr. Liu Chensheng is Director of Confucius Institute, University of the Punjab, Lahore. He visited UO on October 18, 2019. He met vice chancellor and faculty and sought possibilities for cooperation between the two institutes.

7

A Series of Lectures, Workshops & Seminars by German Scholar Asst. Prof. Hasnain Bokhari from Erfurt University

Asst. Prof. Hasnain Bokhari from Erfurt University, Germany, delivered 37 lectures, conducted many workshops and seminars on internet politics, report writing, digital entrepreneurship, academic writing, design and policy implications of eGovernment, social media management, sustainable development goals, integration with the German education system, and qualitative research methods for more than 61 hours from November 27 to December 16, 2019.

8

A seminar with Faculty on Promoting Research Culture in Academic Settings by an American Professor

Prof. Muazzam Nasrullah is CEO of Ingenious Health Sciences, Visiting Professor Georgian American University, Tbilisi, Georgia, Adjunct Faculty, Emory University & West Virginia University, USA. He talked about promoting research culture in academic settings and discussed different areas of interest related to public health and epidemiology from December 13 to December 14, 2019

9

An interactive Talk with an American Professor on best practices and techniques of surviving and thriving in peer-reviewed research

Prof. Gulzar Hussain Shah is a professor of health policy and management at Georgia Southern University, USA and holds department chair in health policy and community health. He delivered interactive lectures on best practices and techniques of surviving and thriving in peer-reviewed research and discussed with faculty about health policy and community health in American and Pakistani perspective on December 20 and December 21, 2019.

10

A Series of Lectures by American Professor Steven Granich

Prof. Steven Granich is a professor at the Department of Social Work and Counselling, Lock Heaven University, USA. During his visit to UO, he talked about family practice, applied research, research methods in social sciences, interdisciplinary approaches in the development of scientific knowledge, cultural comparison of developed and developing countries from January 11 to January 14, 2020.

11

A Professor from Sheffield University, England delivers a series of lectures on Research Skills

Associate Prof. Parveen Ali is working at Sheffield University, England. She conducted a series of interactive lectures and workshops on designing a research proposal, writing a research proposal and writing for publication on January 17, 2020. She also delivered a lecture on gender-based violence.

12

Students' Counseling on Academic Choice by a Canadian Consultant

Mr. Tahir Rahman is a Fellow of the Canadian Migration Institute, Canada. He delivered lectures on student counselling and opportunities for Pakistani students in Canadian Universities on February 6, 2020.


Contact

Dr. Azhar Ali Haidry, PhD, Incharge/Director of External Linkages, University of Okara, Okara, 56300, (Punjab), Pakistan

Phone Number: +92 44 263 6060

Email Address: del@uo.edu.pk