Pakistan a peaceful country, says German students

Pakistan is different than what is shown on international media; the people of Pakistan are friendly, whereas women are equally active in every field of life, especially in the Punjab University, said students from Germany.

The 20-member student delegation from Germany’s Erfurt University is visiting Pakistan on a special exchange program toured the Punjab University (PU) Institute of Communication Studies (ICS).

ICS In-Charge Director Dr Noshina Saleem, Assistant Professors Shabbir Sarwar, Seemab Far Bukhari, Fahad Mehmood, FM 104.6 Program Manager Muhammad Irshad and students of the institutes were present on the occasion.

The teachers gave the foreign students a tour and they were shown working of various departments of ICS, including PU FM 104.6, Audio Video Lab, Computer Lab and the Library. During the tour, the visitors were shown an introductory documentary about ICS and its various programmes.

Dr Noshina Saleem gave a detailed presentation about the institute, its history and facilities available for students. She said ICS was always open for international students and every year many foreign students took admission to the institute. She said media and communication technology had linked the world and today the world need to work jointly to counter the challenges faced by humanity.

Delegation leader and Erfurt University Research Associate Dr Hasnain Bokhari said such visits narrow the gap between East and West and provided an avenue to learn from each other. He said the objective of the exchange program was to create dialogue space between youth of both countries, and to counter the misconceptions about Pakistan in the West.

Later, an interactive session was held between the German delegation and students of ICS. The visiting students shared their experiences of being in Pakistan and what they learnt about the country. They said that they found Pakistan to be a much different country. They said Pakistanis were very welcoming, friendly and hospitable people and they were enjoying their visit in the country. Students from ICS asked various questions from their German counterparts about the life and education system of Germany and education opportunities for foreign students there.