IBA - Center For Executive Education

Training of 'Clerks of Parliament' A collaboration of IBA, Karachi with Senate of Pakistan & Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS)

IBA, Karachi is pleased to be part of first of its kind initiative in Pakistan with Senate of Pakistan & Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS).

The first phase of this initiative was to induct, test and recruit Clerks of Parliament. This process of induction is completed successfully by IBA Testing Department.

In the second phase the Center for Executive Education, IBA, Karachi initiated a comprehensive six-week training program for the 23 Clerks of Parliament. The training program is hosted at Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) in Islamabad. The inducted clerks hold MPhil, MBA & MS in varied subjects from International Relations, Social Sciences to Business Management and others. The inducted clerks are representing all provinces of Pakistan.

The Inauguration Ceremony of Induction of 'Clerks of Parliament' was held on Monday, October 03, 2016 at Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS), Islamabad. The ceremony was attended by the Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, Secretary Senate Mr. Amjad Khan, Director QEC IBA, Karachi Dr. Shahid Raza Mir and Executive Director of PIPS Mr. Zafraullah Khan. Other prominent Senators, Joint and Additional Secretaries of Senate, Staff of PIPS and representatives of IBA were also present at the ceremony.

Mr. Amjad Khan, Secretary Senate, highlighted the efforts involved in this program. He highlighted that eight months ago, it was entirely a new concept, but this is the moment of achievement when Senate of Pakistan has been able to materialize and actualize this program. He also shared his believe that the batch, which has been selected through the rigorous efforts of IBA, Karachi and Senate of Pakistan involved in the advertisement, assessment and then interviews conducted by the Senate of Pakistan. He also emphasized on the fact that the Secretariat is also hopeful to bring a paradigm shift in the human resource of Senate of Pakistan. It is a unique initiative to utilize the youth and capitalize upon the knowledge, skills and more importantly passion, dynamism and vibarism of youth of Pakistan. He has also highlighted that there are three on-going internship programs. One program is with the selected universities of Islamabad, then second is a micro internship program for national and international students who approach Senate of Pakistan for Summer Internship program and lastly, this is the unique and flagship program, in which students have been selected through competitive programs, where IBA has become a principle organization to offer its services. The IBA has been involved in the whole process of advertisement, assessment, including MCQs, written exam and in interview Senate Secretariat was involved. He further elaborated that the interns will get the exposure of Parliamentary affairs during their internship and training process for which they have involved the most prestigious institute of Pakistan –IBA. During these trainings, selected clerks will be able to develop deep understanding of the issues related to the Constitution, Working of Senate, Parliamentary Affairs, Development Issues, etc.

Dr. Shahid Mir, Director QEC, IBA, Karachi also spoken to the audience on this auspicious occasion. He extended his gratitude to the Chairman Senate, Senators, Executive Director PIPS and other members from the Senate. He highlighted the efforts of Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Ex-Dean & Director IBA that under his leadership established different centers affiliated with globally top-ranked institutions working for the Public Sector and the Corporate Organizations in Pakistan. These centers include:

Center for Excellence in Journalism (CEJ) with the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University
Center for Excellence in Islamic Finance (CEIF) with different International Islamic Institutes
Center for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) with Babson College, USA
Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) with State Bank of Pakistan conducting research for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Including the "Consumer Confidence Index" with the State Bank published annually.

Center for Executive Education (CEE) has been acknowledged as one of the largest provider of executive education in Pakistan. It has started operations in 2004 for public sector Institutes initially and since then trained over 10000 professionals at all levels of management including the Board and the CEOs. The CEE is also bringing faculty from Globally top ranked Business Schools including INSEAD, Paris, London Business School, HAAS School of Business, Queens Business School Canada, to name a few.

Dr. Mir further commented that IBA is now more focused towards Research and development with the addition of a very prominent person from World Bank – Dr. Farrukh Iqbal our new Dean & Director who took charge from Dr. Ishrat Husain this year. Dr. Farrukh Iqbal has been involved in policy making at the World Bank for and in various countries.

He also elaborated the objective of providing trainings to the clerks, providing them with the requisite knowledge and skills needed in the Senate. For this training program, the content has been drafted with due consideration and consultation with Senate and PIPS. The trainings are designed in a way to enable them to understand the working of the federal government and the Senate in particular. The trainings will be covering nine primary areas ranging from soft skills and technical learning.

Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani welcomed the team of PIPS, IBA and selected clerks. He commented that the most prominent aspect that the whole process selection and recruitment by IBA, Karachi was based on merit. He addressed to the selected candidates that they should believe in themselves and he extended his greetings to the successful candidates who made their place purely on merit. The honorable Chairman also greeted IBA and further elaborated that it had been associated with the Senate of Pakistan from the very beginning and inception of this idea. The founding principle of getting IBA involved in this project was its prestige. He further elaborated that the IBA was and is an institute which is above any question. Therefore, the IBA was involved in the process of recruitment, written test and evaluation in the interview and now again, on the academic grounds. He highlighted that Senate of Pakistan 'once again placing the clerks in the hands of one of Pakistan's most illustrious and competent institution whose hallmark is 'merit and merit alone'. He further elaborated that IBA will be engaged for over one month for academic and corporate trainings to build the capacity of 'Clerks of Parliament'. The outcome of the training is to enable the Clerks with the requisite knowledge related to the administration of Parliament, Federal Government and Constitution of Pakistan. After the training by IBA, the Clerks will be sent back to the Senate where they will receive hands-on training on the working of the Senate of Pakistan.

The ceremony was covered by digital and print media.

The six-week comprehensive training program covers the following topics:

1 - Personal Development
2 - Constitutional Development: History, Development and Role of Parliament in Safeguarding the Constitution
3 - Parliamentary Practices: Comparative Analysis
4 - Functioning of Federal Government and functioning of Senate
5 - Legislation in Pakistan
6 - Innovation in Research
7 - Conflict Resolution and Negotiation Skills
8 - Financial Management
9 - Personal Development
10 - Drafting for Senate

On October 7, 2016, the Center for Executive Education completed the first two trainings of Clerks of Pakistan i.e. Personal Development with Dr. Shahid Mir and Constitutional Development: History, Development and Role of Parliament in Safeguarding the Constitution with Dr. Syed Jaffer Ahmed and Dr. Moiz Khan.

Press Release by Senate of Pakistan: http://www.senate.gov.pk/en/news_content.php?id=2368

For further Details:
Senate of Pakistan: http://www.senate.gov.pk/
Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS): http://www.pips.gov.pk/
IBA, Karachi: https://www.iba.edu.pk/
Center for Executive Education, IBA, Karachi: http://cee.iba.edu.pk/