This document summarizes ICT initiatives in higher education in Pakistan. It discusses the establishment of the Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN) to connect universities, the expansion of PERN2 with more connectivity and bandwidth, and efforts to provide national digital libraries, online journals, unified communication services, and a higher education management information system across Pakistan. The future roadmap includes expanding wireless networks, increasing videoconferencing capabilities, and implementing campus management solutions at additional universities.

1. ICT Status in Higher Education Sector of Pakistan Initiatives, Achievements and Future Roadmap Higher Education Commission Islamabad – Pakistan

2. Higher Education Commission, Pakistan Serving as Engine to Socio-Economic Development of PAKISTAN Technology for Rapid and Sustainable Growth Technology to Leap-Frog Technology Driving the Knowledge Economy

3. HEC Strategic Aims ICT helping overcoming Challenges Unified Communication Faculty Development Improving Access & Learning Excellence in Research Relevance to National Priorities HEC Scholars Publication National Internship Program Outreaching Core National Digital Library National Video Conferencing Program Teaching & Learning Pakistan Research Repository Turnitin/ iThenticate: Plagiarism Detection Tool PERN 2 Services Quality Assurance: Standards, Assessment, Accreditation University Ranking & Statistical System Reservation System for Degree Attestation National Higher Education Web Portal Information System Support Good Governance & Management Higher Education Management Information System (ERP & Campus Management Solution) National Higher Education Job Portal Education Management National Data Center Computerization & Networking Projects Network Operation Center Infrastructure Development: Physical, Technology Infrastructure National Research & Education Network: PERN

5. HEIs’ ICT Status (Yesterday and Today)

6. HEIs’ ICT Status (Yesterday and Today)

7. e-Services & Applications Progress & Achievements

8. e-HEC Information Portal

9. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution (SAP) 9

10. Higher Education Job Portal Posting of positions advertised by HEC Universities are also provided this facility to post their positions as well National Job Portal for job seekers in higher education sector More than 20,000 registered users

11. Reservation Systems for Degree

12. Common Profile

13. 13 National Higher Education Web Portal

14. Features of HE Web Portal Business Intelligence Collaboration MOSS Platform Services BusinessForms Portal Content Management Search

15. Support to National Internship Program

16. National Digital Library Program Digital Resources: Journals, Articles, Books, Thesis, etc.

17. Digital Archives E-Journals 23,000+ Journals Major Publishers/ Repositories IEEE ACME EBSCO Nature APS Emerald ACS Elsevier CUP JSTOR Blackwell Synergy

18. Digital Archives E-Books Scheme 45,000 books downloadable & printable

19. Pakistan Research Repository 2200+ PhD theses digitized 19 Digital Archives

20. 20 Mirroring of MIT’s Open Course Ware

21. HEC Monograph & Book Writing

22. Pakistan Research Repository

23. Bibliography of PhD Theses

24. Zero Tolerance against PlagiarismAnti-plagiarism Software (iThenticate) 24

25. Facilitating Universities to Combat Plagiarism: Access to Turnitin 25

26. Unified Communication – Convergence of Technologies Triple Play Services (Voice, Video & Data)

27. Unified Communication @ HEC

29. Instant Messaging (including groups)

30. Directory List of all users

31. Video Calls

32. Enterprise Voice Call Control

33. Multiparty Calls

34. Call Hold

35. Call Transfers

36. Call Forwarding

37. Simultaneous Ring with Phone

38. Audio/Video Conferencing

39. File Transfers

40. Desktop Sharing and control delegation

41. Call to phone extensions

43. Conversation History

44. Launch Instant Messaging from outlook

45. “Call all” Message Recipients

46. Directly contact using outlook

47. Miss conversation notification

49. Initiatives to Empower Higher Education Sector Progress & Achievements

50. Major Projects/ Programs Infrastructure National Digital Library E-Journals E-Books Pakistan Research Repository HEC Scholars Publication Higher Education MIS Campus Management Solution e-HEC Public Services HEC Web Portal Higher Education Job Portal Degree Attestation University Ranking System Graduates Repository Turnitin: Anitplagirism Software Mirror Site(s) Services Provisioning ICT Reforms (Computerization & Networking in Universities) Pakistan Education & Research Network (PERN/PERN2) R&E links to other NRENs Video Conferencing Systems National Data Centers Nationwide IP Telephony (VoIP) PAKSAT-1 31

51. Pakistan Education & Research Network (PERN) The National Research & Education Network of Pakistan

52. A project to fulfill the overall vision and objectives of IT Action Plan of the Government of Pakistan, A dedicated digital communication network interlinking all public/private sector chartered universities/ degree awarding institutes. Provides integration of data banks, collaboration for research and development activities and up-gradation of teaching and learning skills. Connectivity with Other Education and Research Networks worldwide. PERN Overview

53. PERN @ Inception Disputed Territory

54. PERN Evolution

55. Current Status

56. PERN2 project A multi-gigabit network for the education and research community of Pakistan

57. Proposed as to upgrade the PERN network with respect to; Last Mile Connectivity of universities to Fiber Optic System Increase the number of PoPs from three (03) to thirteen (13) across the country Start-up Phase

58. A high speed multi-gigabit dedicated network for universities/institutes/research centers of Pakistan. Achieving following for the nation NREN as per International norms and standard High level of data/information security Resource and information sharing both centralized and distributed Objectives

59. Network up gradation through Eight (8) Regional Access (RA) PoPs in major cities Three (3) Core Regional Access (cRA-PoPs) Five (5) Sub Regional Access (sRA-PoPs) Twelve (12) Local Access (LA) PoPs with in these cities 1 Gbps connectivity to universities/ institutes 10 Gbps fiber rings in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad 10x Gbps nationwide fiber link 2.5 Gbps Commodity Internet 155x Mbps R&E link to other NRENs of the world Scope & Targets

61. Islamabad/ Rawalpindi

62. Services Offered through PERN

63. The New International R&E Link Internet2 & TEIN2/3 TEIN2 and our colleagues from Japan will provide transit from the TEIN2 PoP in Singapore to the TransPac node in Japan, and from there TranPac will provide transit to the Pacific Wave exchange to finally take the circuit terminating to Internet2.

64. Initiations APAN 2006 in Taipei IU/TEIN2/HEC is bridged together in July 2006 MoU signed between PERN/HEC & Internet2 in December 2006 Idea floated Proposal of a dedicated link between PERN and Internet2 on cost sharing basis is floated in the Joint Committee Meeting on Science & Technology between Pakistan & USA in February 2007 Follow-up Co-PI follows up with NSF in April 2007 PI visits Pakistan in April 2008 History

65. Proposal submission/ approval A Joint Proposal is submitted by James Williams to NSF in July 2007 Proposal gets approval in September 2007 Materialization Request for Proposal document for bidding process get prepared in December 2007 Tender Process Advertisement goes public in January 2008 Tender is awarded in April 2008 Trilateral Agreement between HEC, IU/NSF and PTCL is signed on July 2008 Progress

66. Circuit Commissioned August 15, 2008 TEIN2 and our colleagues from Japan provided transit from the TEIN2 PoP in Singapore to the TransPac node in Japan, and from there TransPac provides transit to the Pacific Wave exchange to finally take the circuit terminating to Internet2 Inaugural Session The official launch of this connectivity was in 2008. Updates/ Status

67. PERN – Internet2 Connectivity

68. Second Initiative PERN participation in TEIN3 Project for Connectivity to GEANT2

69. PERN is in close coordination with people at Dante, GEANT2, and EC PERN has been taking part in TEIN2 meetings and was advised for its inclusion in TEIN3 project PERN is participating in the Feasibility Study being conducted by Dante Feasibility Study report is expected to be finalized by early next year Circuit commissioning is expected to be materialized somewhere in December 2009 (subject to PERN acceptance in TEIN3 project) Progress and Status

70. PERN – GEANT2 Proposed Connectivity

71. Collaborative Projects PERN- Providing necessary infrastructure and connectivity for collaborative research and activities 6/10/2011 52

72. EVO Panda Server Collaborative and Interactive communication PingER Monitoring Network health monitoring Bio-Informatics Node Part of Asia-Pacific Molecular Biology Network (A-IMBN) program Tele-Medicine Bridging the HealthNet with PERN/PERN2 High Energy Physics The largest project on the planet, Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is going to be operational, providing real data to the scientists. Few Major Research Activities

73. PERN2: Network Operation Center

74. Operations Facility Independent Network Connectivity Phones on the Desk Dial in # +92 (51) 9040 PERN (7376) Office Communicator UAN – 111 11 PERN Wall mounted display for PERN2 nodes monitoring Seating space of Three (03) level support Space for Two (2) persons for PERN2 Help desk Space for Four (4) persons for 1st level support Three offices for Senior Staff Workstations for all staff and Servers for network monitoring Glass partitioned space for PERN2 facilities NOC Components

75. Network Monitoring Software Orion Solarwind Huawei Datacomm Monitoring System (DMS) Service Communication Trouble ticketing facility to the member institutes Dedicated servers with SAN storage Email notifications of alerts/ alarms of various levels PERN2 public interface http://www.pern.edu.pk/ Management Software

76. Future Roadmap Outreaching with Infrastructure College Network of Pakistan (CNP)(Extending PERN2 to PERN3) Education Management Plan Setting up Higher Education Management Information System at all universities Educational Alliance Microsoft Oracle Learning Tools Development & Management

77. Wireless Coverage (WiMax) Wireless Coverage (WiMax) Wireless Coverage (WiMax) Wireless Coverage (WiMax) Wireless Coverage (WiMax) Wireless Coverage (WiMax) College Network of Pakistan

78. Video Conferencing Project and Program

79. Footprints of Video Conferencing Facilities in Pakistan under PERN

80. Video Conferencing Setup @ HEC

81. Video Conf. Facility Versatile Utilization 62

83. De-centralized architecture but centralized management and administration

84. Integration of various telephone exchanges across the offices of HEC6/10/2011 63 Nationwide IP Telephony

85. More Targeted Services

86. Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS)

88. Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad

89. University of Punjab, Lahore

90. Islamia University, Bahawalpur

91. Sukkur Instituted of Business Administration, Sukkur

92. Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi

93. Balochistan University of IT, Engg. & Management Sciences, Quetta

95. Physical Targets & Achievement

96. PERN Services extended to Higher Education Institutions in Country(Commencement year 2002)

97. Video Conferencing facility provided to higher education institutions Nationwide (Commencement year 2007)

98. IP Telephony services provided to higher education institutions Nationwide (Commencement year 2009)

99. Unified Communication Services to higher education institutions across the country (Commencement year 2010)

100. CMS Implementation in higher education institutions in Country(Commencement year 2007)

101. Licensed software access to the higher education institutions in the country(Commencement year 2010)

102. Support to the National Internship Program for applicants from the Country(Commencement year 2007)