The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has launched the Global Scholars Network (GSN), a new digital platform aimed at connecting Pakistani diaspora academics, researchers, professionals, and international experts with universities across the country. Developed through the National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE), the platform is designed to serve as a central system for academic collaboration between global experts and Pakistan’s higher education institutions.

Developed through the National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE), the platform is designed to serve as a central system for academic collaboration between global experts and Pakistan’s higher education institutions.

Through the network, overseas scholars and professionals will be able to contribute voluntarily in areas such as PhD supervision, collaborative research, guest lectures, workshops, faculty development, curriculum improvement, innovation projects, and industry-academia linkages.

According to HEC, the platform will allow experts to create detailed professional profiles covering their qualifications, research interests, publications, experience, and specializations. Once verified and approved, these profiles will be available to universities across Pakistan, enabling institutions to identify and engage suitable experts for academic and research partnerships.

The commission said the platform introduces a more structured and transparent system for engagement, replacing fragmented and manual processes with a single national-level digital mechanism.

Universities using the platform will be able to search for verified experts by discipline, specialization, country, experience, and field of expertise, submit collaboration requests, manage engagements, and track outcomes through an integrated system.

HEC Chairman Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar said the initiative marks an important step toward the internationalization of Pakistan’s higher education sector by helping local universities benefit from global knowledge, stronger research collaboration, and improved academic quality.

NAHE Managing Director Dr Noor Amna Malik said the platform had been developed with scalability, security, and transparency in mind, and would also provide HEC with dashboards and analytics to monitor engagement, assess impact, and support evidence-based policymaking.

She also acknowledged the technical support of the Institute of Space Technology (IST) in developing the platform, while crediting Vice Chancellor Maj Gen Dr Syed Najeeb Ahmad (Retd) for his leadership during the project.

HEC further recognized the contribution of the IST development team, led by Director Information Technology Rizwan Majeed, for playing a key role in the design and development of the platform.

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