The Pakistan Digital Authority welcomed Professor Dr. Muhammad Irfanullah Arfeen from the Quaid-i-Azam School of Management Sciences at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, along with 24 students and two faculty members, for an academic visit to PDA headquarters. The session was designed to give students practical insight into Pakistan’s evolving digital transformation landscape, covering areas such as digital governance, data governance, artificial intelligence and digital public infrastructure, alongside other key initiatives currently being undertaken by the authority.
The session was led by Mohammad J Sear, Vice Chairperson of PDA, who engaged directly with the visiting students and emphasized the importance of developing a digitally skilled workforce capable of contributing to Pakistan’s technology driven future. Discussions during the visit touched on the broader scope of PDA’s mandate, which includes overseeing the National Digital Masterplan and coordinating digital public infrastructure initiatives across government institutions, giving students a closer look at how policy level digital transformation work is structured within a regulatory authority setting.
PDA described such academic engagements as an important platform for connecting academia, students and public sector digital transformation efforts, framing the visit as part of a broader effort to foster greater awareness of Pakistan’s digital ambitions among the next generation. For QASMS, a school focused on management sciences at one of Pakistan’s leading public research universities, the visit offered students exposure to the practical and policy dimensions of digital governance work that extends beyond standard classroom coverage of technology and public administration.
The engagement reflects a growing pattern among Pakistani government bodies and regulatory authorities of opening their doors to university students as part of broader efforts to build early awareness and interest in digital governance careers. As Pakistan continues to expand its digital public infrastructure and AI related policy initiatives, sessions of this kind are increasingly being used by institutions like PDA to connect academic learning with the practical realities of implementing large scale digital transformation projects at the national level.
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