Zong to provide subsidized AIOU Taleem Bundle facility to AIOU students and employees

ISLAMABAD, NOV 13 (DNA) – Allama Iqbal Open University and Zong signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the main campus of the university yesterday.

According to the agreement, Zong will provide AIOU Taleem Bundle to the students and employees of AIOU on subsidized rates which can be used to access AIOU online services like Aaghi LMS, AIOU Live (FM radio/TV), digital library and university website, etc.

Prof. Dr. Nasir Mehmood, Dean Faculty of Education chaired the MoU signing session. Professors, principal officers of the university, and senior management of Zong telecommunication network participated in the MoU signing ceremony. Sohail Nazir Rana, Registrar AIOU, and Mr. Farhan Zakir, Director Government and Corporate Sales Services, Zong signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organizations.

During his address to the participants, Mr. Moied Javeed, CCO, Zong highly appreciated the role of AIOU in promotion of education. He said that AIOU is one of those national institutions of the country which contribute tremendously to the progress and development of the country. He further said that he was impressed by the infrastructure of the university.

He proposed multiple possibilities of further collaboration between AIOU and Zong including interconnectivity of all 54 regional offices of the university through a single networking operation and collaboration of AIOU with a higher education institution of China specialized in online education for bring further improvements in AIOU’s online education system and delivery mechanism.

Mr. Ajmal Farooq, Director ICT, AIOU briefed the participants about the ongoing automation and digitalization processes of the university. He said that AIOU is primarily focusing on converting all of its academic and administrative operations and procedures from manual to digital.

He termed the agreement as a landmark achievement in facilitating the students to participate in online academic activities. He further informed that 89 percent of the students were able to connect to Aaghi LMS successfully and attended their online classes in spring 2020 semester.

While speaking on this occasion, Prof. Dr. Nasir Mehmood said, “AIOU is imparting low cost education to almost 1.4 million students and by joining hands with         Zong and other telecom companies AIOU would be able to improve its reach and accessibility”.  He, further, informed that 54 percent of the students enrolled with AIOU are females who come from distant regions of the country. Owing to cultural and financial issues, AIOU remains the only hope of education for them serving as a social welfare enterprise and nearly 36 lac students have so far graduated from the university.

Director Regional Services, Inam Ullah Shaikh, and Treasurer of AIOU, Dr. Aamer Shah, also spoke on this occasion and termed the agreement.