Skip to Content
Springfield Technical Community College
Search
Menu
  • Opener Explore Programs & Classes
    • Credit
    • Degrees & Certificates
    • Register for Classes
    • Class Schedules
    • Course Descriptions
    • Flex Terms
    • Honors Program
    • Online Learning
    • Challenge Exams
    • Transfer Options
    • Non-Credit
    • Springfield Adult Learning Center (SALC)
    • HiSET/GED Exams
    • Testing & Placement
    • Workforce Development Center
    • More Programs
    • STEM Starter Academy
    • Early College
    • College Now Dual Enrollment
    • Gateway to College
    • Summer Youth Programs
  • Opener Apply To STCC
    • Admissions Policies
    • Information Sessions
  • Opener Pay for College
    • Financial Aid
    • College Costs
    • Scholarships & Awards
    • Free College
    • Financial Wellness
  • Opener Student Resources

    Student Support Quick Links


    • Academic
    • Tutoring
    • Registrar's Office
    • Request a Transcript
    • Academic Advising
    • Transfer Services
    • Library
    • Inter-college Access
    • Tech Support
    • Support
    • Career Services
    • Child Care
    • Disability Services
    • Domestic Violence Resources
    • Leadership/Mentoring
    • Student Affairs
    • Student Policies
    • TRIO Services
    • Veterans/Service Members
    • Wellness
    • Center for Access Services
    • COVID-19 Information
    • Health Compliance
    • Health & Wellness Center
    • Medical Re-entry Process
    • Mental Health Support and Resources
  • Opener Campus Life
    • Arts and Culture
    • Athletics
    • Bookstore
    • Campus Safety
    • Inclusion & Belonging
    • Fitness Center
    • Food Services
    • Housing
    • Parking and Transportation
    • Student Activities & Clubs
    • WTCC 90.7 FM
  • Opener About STCC
    • Accreditation
    • Board of Trustees
    • Shared Governance
    • Campus Map & Directions
    • Community Engagement
    • Contact Information/ Directories
    • Employment
    • Hispanic Serving Institution
    • History of the College
    • Institutional Research
    • Marketing & Communications
    • President's Message
    • Publications
    • Public Records
    • Purchasing/Bids
    • Strategic Planning
    • Student Consumer Information
  • eTools
    • STCCNet Portal
    • Email
    • Blackboard
    • ARIES

    • STCC Account/Getting Started
    • Reset Password
    • Tech Tutorials
  • Library
  • Visit
    • Visit STCC
    • Virtual Tour
    • Campus Map and Directions
    • Smoke-Free Campus
  • News
    • STCC News
    • Media Coverage
    • Campus Blog
    • STCC Around
    • Student News
  • Calendar
    • Academic Calendar
    • Final Exam Schedule
    • Events Calendar
    • Commencement
  • Alumni
  • Give
    • Donate Now
    • STCC Foundation
    • Ram Warrior Society
    • Past Campaigns
  • Translate
  • Home
  • /
  • About STCC
  • /
  • News
In this Section
About STCC
  • Accreditation
  • Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity, & Diversity
    • Policy
    • Complaints
    • Resources
  • Board of Trustees
    • Bylaws
    • Board of Trustees Meetings
    • Minutes of Board of Trustees Meetings
    • Alumni Trustee Position
  • Cabinet
  • Campus Map and Directions
  • Community Engagement
    • Community Dental Care
    • Facility Rentals
      • Event Request Form
    • Farmers' Market
    • STCC Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA)
    • We the Women
    • WTCC Radio
  • Contact STCC
  • Employee Directory
  • Faculty Directory
    • Endowed Chairs
  • Office Directory
  • Employment at STCC
    • STCC Cares: Employee Well-being Strategy
    • Employee Benefits
    • Internal Postings Job Availability Notice
    • Employee Excellence Awards
    • Retiree Community
    • Professional Development
    • Center for Online & Digital Learning
  • Hispanic Serving Institution
    • HSI Stories
  • History of the College
    • Our Presidents
    • Our Founders
    • Shays' Rebellion Website
  • Institutional Research
    • Data Request Form
  • Institutional Review Board
  • Marketing and Communications
    • Publications
      • College Catalogs
      • Course Brochures
      • Dean's List
      • STCC Student Success Plan
  • News
    • Hometown News
    • Media Coverage
    • STCC Around
    • Student News
      • Merit
        • STCC Merit Page
        • Share Your Story
  • President's Message
  • Public Records
    • Guidelines for Seeking Public Records
  • Purchasing
    • Accounts Payable
    • Facility Contractor Bids
  • Rankings
  • Shared Governance
  • STCC Assistance Corporation
  • Strategic Planning
    • Strategic Planning Task Force
  • Student Consumer Information
  • 29 Who Shine

STCC serves as a model for visiting Pakistani school administrators

November 30, 2016

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Naeem Yaqoob could have been mistaken for a student as he leaned in and gingerly cleaned a foot wound on a patient simulator at the SIMS Medical Center at Springfield Technical Community College.

But Yaqoob is not enrolled at the college, nor does he live in Western Massachusetts. He was one of 19 visiting administrators from vocational and technical institutions in Pakistan who stopped by STCC on Sept. 16 as part of the Community College Administrators' Pakistan Project.

How did he feel about the “SIMS” experience?

Naeem Yaqoob works on a patient simulator at STCC.

“It was awesome. It’s just like it was real,” Yaqoob said with a smile after “treating” a patient simulator that can talk about how he feels as well as produce fluids and emit odors.

The U.S. Department of State awarded a grant to create a program for community college administrators from Pakistan, according to Kermit Dunkelberg, assistant vice president of adult basic education and workforce development at Holyoke Community College. The grant was awarded to the Institute for Training and Development, Amherst, in partnership with HCC and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, College of Education.

Dunkelberg said two six-week programs, including one involving the visit to STCC, will be conducted in the Pioneer Valley. Each program will serve 20 administrators from vocational and technical institutions in Pakistan. They are visiting community colleges both in Massachusetts and outside of the state. Dunkelberg said the community college model used in Massachusetts “would fit well with the gaps in their system.”

“They come from technical training institutes,” Dunkelberg said. “They’re especially interested in STCC, being the only technical community college in the state.”

He said they plan to return to STCC on another day.

The project goals are to educate the Pakistani visitors about the U.S. system of university administration and to promote higher education in Pakistan, Dunkelberg said. Additionally, the program is designed to foster sustained engagement among Pakistani and U.S. counterparts and institutions, he said.

The project will affect up to 40 of the almost 1,000 technical and vocational institutions of higher education in Pakistan, Dunkelberg said.

The visit could lead to stronger and additional programs in Pakistan for disadvantaged and minority students, new research in support of public projects, enhanced educational leadership and the development of community engagement activities and university and business partnerships.

Yaqoob, who treated the patient at SIMS Medical Center, works for the government of Pakistan and serves as an administrator for the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission. He volunteered to treat a patient simulator with a serious foot wound as his colleagues from Pakistan looked on.

In addition to the hands-on experience at the SIMS Medical Center, the region’s preeminent patient simulation training facility, the group from Pakistan learned about the mission of community colleges like STCC.

During the half-day visit at STCC, they met with President John B. Cook, who offered an overview of STCC’s programs and fielded questions about the approach STCC takes toward educating its students.

Cook described the relationship between community colleges and the state government. He said that perhaps provinces in Pakistan could offer financial support to an educational institution the way Massachusetts provides support for STCC.

“You don’t necessarily need the federal government of Pakistan to underwrite this. It could be province by province, which seems similar to our state-to-state approach,” Cook said.

Cook invited a former colleague from Manchester Community College (MCC) to speak with the group. Adnan Tahir was born in Pakistan but now lives in the United States. With experience working in Information Technology (IT) and also teaching part time at MCC, Tahir detailed some of his research on challenges to implementing higher education in his native country.

“You need to start literacy from the ground up,” Tahir said, noting that millions of children do not attend school, and one key is engaging with families.

Before leaving campus, the visitors walked across the street to Springfield’s Technology Park to see the state-of-the-art machines used by students in the Mechanical Engineering Technology program: the lathes, milling machines and 3-D printers, to name some of the program’s high-tech equipment. They examined tools manufactured on machines by STCC students.

In addition to touring STCC, they were scheduled for activities on others days at Holyoke Community College.

The visitors generously offered gifts from their homeland. Cook received a traditional cap and a shawl, known as an ajrak.

One of the visitors, Engr. Noor Ul Qamar, principal of GCT Peshawar, said he hopes to bring some ideas from STCC and other community colleges back to Pakistan.

“When we return home, we will try to implement these ideas in our country,” he said. “The United States is the developed country, and we are a developing country. We are in a transition period.”

About Springfield Technical Community College

Founded in 1967 and located on 35 acres of the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, STCC is a major resource for the economic vitality of Western Massachusetts. As the only technical community college in Massachusetts, STCC, an Achieving the Dream Leader College, offers a variety of career programs unequalled in the state. STCC’s highly regarded transfer programs in business, engineering, liberal arts, science and technology continue to provide the most economical options for students pursuing a four-year degree. With an annual enrollment of more than 8,500 day, evening, weekend and online students, STCC is a vibrant campus rich in diversity.

For more information about STCC, visit www.stcc.edu. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@S_T_C_C).

Media Contact:

Jim Danko, jdanko@stcc.edu, (413) 755-4812

 

  • See All News

Website Disclaimer

Springfield Technical Community College provides the information herein as a public service, with the understanding that Springfield Technical Community College strives to achieve the highest standards in content accuracy on its Website. Springfield Technical Community College makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or suitability of the information and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this Website. Errors or omissions should be reported to the web developer: webmaster@stcc.edu. Visitors to our Web pages might see links to Internet resources outside of the Springfield Technical Community College Website: all are provided solely for the convenience of our Website visitors. By providing such links, Springfield Technical Community College should not be considered as endorsing any or all outside sites linked from our main site. When a visitor links to another site that is not an official Springfield Technical Community College Website, the user is no longer on a Springfield Technical Community College Website and thus, Springfield Technical Community College disclaims any responsibility or liability for the services or information offered at such non-college sites. At all times, Springfield Technical Community College makes every effort to accurately present programs and policies to the public. Those responsible for preparation of the catalog, the class schedule, and all other public announcements make every effort to ensure that the information presented is current and correct. However, Springfield Technical Community College reserves the right to modify or eliminate courses or programs and to add, amend, or repeal any and all rules, regulations, policies, and procedures at any time. Springfield Technical Community College assumes no responsibility for publication errors beyond its control. All users of the College's Website shall have no expectation of privacy over such use.

Springfield Technical Community College
One Armory Square,
Springfield, MA 01105
(413) 781-7822
.
  • Contact
  • Employment
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap
  • Campus Map & Directions
  • Affirmative Action & Title IX
  • Student Consumer Information
  • Accessibility
Comwealth Commitment Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram