Director QEC, Punjab University, Prof. Dr. Aamir Ijaz presented a research paper on title “Achieving Performance Excellence in Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan through QECs” in an international conference of Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) that was held on 17 th - 19 th April, 2015 at Kunming China.

Dr. Muhammad Rafiq Baloch, Director General, Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), Higher Education Commission Pakistan, chaired the session. QEC heads of different universities of Pakistan were present on the occasion.

Although Quality Enhancement Cells are working in different universities of Pakistan since 2006, but no research was done on the role and effectiveness of these cells in the universities. Director, QEC, PU chose this neglected area for research. Prof. Dr. Aamir Ijaz described the steps taken by higher education institutions to improve the quality of education and the impact of QECs in the universities. He explained different quality assurance models and shared the results of his research to identify the factors that contribute in the improvement of quality of higher education, faculty development, effective leadership and empowerment of QECs in the universities.