RECTORS’ CONFERENCE 2025
SHAPING THE FUTURE: GOVERNANCE, LEADERSHIP AND REFORMS IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Date: 3-5 DECEMBER 2025
VENUE : COMSTECH SECRETARIAT, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
The higher education landscape across many OIC member states stands at a defining moment. Despite significant growth in the number of universities and student enrollment, systemic challenges continue to undermine the sector’s potential to drive scientific innovation and sustainable development. There is a dire need to improve governance structures, address critical leadership gaps, and modernize policy frameworks to meet the demands of the 21st-century knowledge economy. To truly harness higher education as a driver of collective progress for the Ummah, these deficits must be confronted with courage, clarity, and collective resolve across the Islamic world.
Objectives:
- To critically examine common governance challenges in OIC higher education systems and explore innovative models for accountability, transparency, and institutional strengthening.
- To address the leadership crisis by promoting the development of ethical, visionary, and people-centric academic leaders, drawing inspiration from universal values and the Prophetic model of character.
- To deliberate on educational reforms aimed at aligning curricula, pedagogy, and research with global competitiveness and the sustainable development needs of OIC societies.
- To foster collaboration among rectors, policymakers, and stakeholders from OIC member states to build a collective roadmap for transforming higher education into a catalyst for innovation, and social development.
Purpose of the Conference:
The COMSTECH Rectors’ Conference 2025 provides a vital international platform for rectors, vice-chancellors, scholars, and thought leaders from OIC member states to engage in a candid dialogue. The goal is to critically examine shared challenges, including governance deficits, leadership crises, and the need for reform, while identifying practical, collaborative solutions that can transform our higher education institutions into engines of innovation, inclusivity, and sustainable nation-building for the Islamic world.
Conference Coordinators:
Murtaza Noor
Focal Person/coordinator CCoE, Media, and linkages
Mnoor@comstech.org
Muhammad Haris Akram
Program Manager, COMSTECH
haris@comstech.org
Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad
Program Officer, COMSTECH
Haseeb.ahmad@comstech.org