A team of undergraduate students from Pakistan won silver at the annual genetic engineering competition by Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM), a foundation in Boston, Massachusetts.  This worldwide synthetic biology competition started off initially with university students but later opened up to high school students, entrepreneurs and community laboratories.

The team designed a genetically engineered fish named “Reporter Fish” which can detect five types of heavy metals and can also change colour to report metal contamination present in the water.

These kinds of achievements are owed to improved standards in higher education in Pakistan. According to a report published in 2013 – 14 by Higher Education Commission in Pakistan, 255,000 Pakistanis are admitted in vocational training schools and over 3 million students are enrolled in over 1,086 degree colleges and 161 universities

Students from Pakistan, scientists and researchers are producing highly recognised research work and over the years, enrolment in higher education has also been on the rise.  

British Council Pakistan strives to support universities, institutions and other education decision makers in their advancement and partnership development strategies to consequently strengthen collaboration within local universities and UK institutions.

For details on partnership development, contact the SIEM Pakistan team for customised consultancy offers.

To contact the SIEM Pakistan team, please get in touch with Saman Imtiaz, Head SIEM, Pakistan at saman.imtiaz@britishcouncil.org.pk CC: siemsouthasia@britishcouncil.org

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