KARACHI (APP) The Baluchistan Consortium University Partnership Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was inked at the residence of the US Consul General in Karachi on Monday.
Representatives of three universities of Baluchistan-University of Baluchistan, Sardar Bahadur University of Women and Baluchistan University Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences signed the agreement.
For the University of Massachusetts, USA, Mike Hannahan, inked the document.
The US Acting Consul General in Karachi, Chad Peterso, presided over the ceremony.
The two-year "Building Bridges" partnership links the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with the University of Baluchistan, Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University Quetta and Baluchistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences.
The partnership will send professors and students from the three participating Baluchistan universities to the University of Massachusetts for summer exchanges in 2017.
The US State Department is providing $ 864,000 in financial support for the initiative.
"Building Bridges creates a network of students, teachers and administrators from all three members of the Baluchistan Consortium Partnership to improve participant skills both in and out of the classroom," said Dr. Peterson.
He said that it would also help enhance the quality of education received by students both in Baluchistan and at the University of Massachusetts.
It was pointed out that the programme is geared toward faculty and students in Management Sciences and Entrepreneurship.
"We are excited about working together to build the skills needed to develop business and entrepreneurship curriculums and advanced training methodologies," said Mike Hannahan, Director of the University of Massachusetts Civic Initiative.
"The key is to come up with solutions that work for Pakistani universities," he said.
He stated that another key benefit is that students and faculty from Pakistan will study U.S. culture and government to better enable them to discuss how to develop cutting-edge management science and entrepreneurship programming," said Acting Public Affairs Officer Li Ping Lo.
The program participants will learn about the United States while developing a deeper appreciation of their own capacities as both educators and leaders," she said.