ISLAMABAD ( BMZ REPORT )
Microsoft and the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan have collaborated to create an online portal “National Event Management System” (NEMS), developed by Xelleration Pakistan, for academic activities of higher education institutes. The purpose-built and enriched online portal will enable HEC to effectively manage over 3000 events, organized by universities and HEC under a country-wide Education-Alliance between Microsoft and HEC. Based on Microsoft Office 365 (SharePoint Online), this portal will also facilitate and inform the potential participants and attendees about the events as scheduled and published.
This pioneering facility will be offered to more than 157 universities and campuses, facilitating over one million students, faculty members and staff across the country. HEC – being the facilitator of the educational sector, will now be able to closely view and strategize education planning based on the audience feedback extracted from this portal. This portal offers user registration, attendance, and self-service scheduling of various activities for diversified events and also solve the problems highlighted in the feedback received from the participants.
The administration teams at universities can use this comprehensive facility to; manage events, manage facilities/ resources and reserve rooms for the events. A special feature will enable them to invite attendees for an event, or help them in self-enrollment. The portal also offer publishing & sharing the events on Social Media. Post-event feedback collection from the users through an automated mechanism and subsequently extracted from the portal. One click view of graphs and charts, representing the number of events, are amongst the main features of this portal, which can be compiled according to various disciplines or subjects, e.g. Engineering events, Medical events, etc.
A special inauguration ceremony was held in which this National Event Management System was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman HEC with the launch of portal available at http://pern-public.sharepoint.
“HEC will continue to play its key role in facilitating and strengthening the institutions of higher learning in Pakistan. National Event Management System has been meticulously designed to effectively resolve the operational challenges and enhancing the productivity of hundreds of events in diversified discipline, organized by and for HEIs across Pakistan, every year. It will also help in addressing the concerns and issues faced by participants in these events”, said Anwar Amjad, Director General (IT), HEC.
The Regional Public Sector Director of Microsoft NEPA – Harb Bou-Harb stated that; “It is a matter of pride for Microsoft to facilitate the creation of this sophisticated online facility, which will go a long way in streamlining the insightful events, conducted and managed by Higher Education Commission annually. Microsoft is fully committed to foster educational initiatives across the globe and elevate the standards of education in the developing world”.
“Today’s Educational institutions are aiming to prepare their students & faculty for the world beyond classrooms. They are empowering them by providing devices, access to software, training and other elements needed for outcome based learning” said Abid Zaidi, Country Enterprise & Partner Group Director, Microsoft Pakistan. “At Microsoft, we are proud to be the strategic partner of Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, which is leading the way forward for higher education and helping students realize their true potential through such initiatives.”