Sadia Asif, Director CTL, met with Mark R. GinHSMrg, Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University, USA, and discussed the positive outcomes of the UMT-GMU collaboration. The goal of the Collaboration for Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Research (CFETR) is to foster collaboration and strengthen person-to-person ties between the U.S. and Pakistan through faculty exchanges, joint research, and scholarly work to further the collective understanding of effective pedagogical practices and expand research competencies.
Through this initiative, Faculty Fellows from UMT participated in academic seminars developed at GMU and engaged in research initiatives with Mason faculty in their fields. These activities were designed to expand academic capacity and infuse cross-cultural knowledge and international mindedness into educational practice. Two groups of 20 UMT Faculty Fellows each (total of 40) visited the Mason campus; the first group visited in Spring 2016, and the second in Fall 2016, for seminars, cultural exchanges, and research.
It is worth noting that the CFETR funding has been extended by the U.S. State Department for another six months for the UMT fellows.