On August 14, Pakistan’s Independence Day, President Asif Ali Zardari officially approved and announced the list of recipients of Pakistan’s civil awards for 2026. Professor Zhou Yushu, President of Inner Mongolia Honder College of Arts and Sciences, was awarded the “Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam” (Star of Quaid-i-Azam) Medal, becoming one of six international figures to receive this honor this year.

Pakistan’s civil awards were established in 1957 and constitute one of the country’s highest national honor systems. They cover five orders and four grades, and are intended to recognize individuals and foreign citizens who have made outstanding contributions in fields such as science, education, literature, and public service. The “Star of Quaid-i-Azam” belongs to the Commander-level honor within the “Order of Quaid-i-Azam” and is specifically awarded to foreign experts who have made special contributions to promoting Pakistan’s international relations and advancing bilateral cooperation. A total of three Chinese nationals received this medal in the same batch, and President Zhou Yushu was the only university president among them.

President Zhou Yushu has continuously promoted China-Pakistan educational and cultural exchanges for more than a decade. Under his leadership, cooperation between Inner Mongolia Honder College of Arts and Sciences and Pakistan has continued to deepen: since 2015, the college has received Pakistani international students, and has cumulatively trained more than 80 students in seven cohorts; it has established the “Masood Scholarship,” built the “Masood Hall,” set up a Pakistan Research Center, holds an annual “Pakistan Culture Day” event, and has sent Chinese language teachers to multiple schools in Pakistan.

At present, the English edition of A Study of the Ancient Seal Script Symbols of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro — Tracing the Origin of the Indus Valley Script has been officially published in Pakistan. The book selects 401 well-preserved ancient seals from the Harappa and Mohenjo-daro sites for script interpretation, successfully deciphers 132 individual characters, and builds a scientific analytical framework for interpreting Harappan script, providing important academic support for research on the ancient civilization of the Indus Valley. In February 2025, President Zhou Yushu presented the Chinese edition of the book to President Zardari, receiving high recognition from the President. President Zardari personally wrote an inscription: “To all the hard work of your team!” Khalil Hashmi, Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, also highly praised the work.

In December 2025, the undergraduate education program in Computer Science and Technology, jointly organized by the college and the University of the Punjab, Pakistan, was officially approved by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. This is the first China-Pakistan undergraduate-level Sino-foreign cooperative education program. It is scheduled to begin enrollment in September 2026 and will adopt a dual-degree training model, achieving a leapfrog development in the college’s cooperation with Pakistan from personnel exchanges to degree education.

The college will take this award as an opportunity to deepen all-round cooperation with Pakistani universities in areas such as joint talent cultivation, joint scientific research, and academic publishing, continuously enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the youth of the two countries, and keep consolidating the foundation of China-Pakistan educational cooperation.

Honder and Pakistan

In 2010, Masood Khan, then Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, visited Honder for the first time, opening the prelude to cooperation and exchanges between Honder and Pakistan.

In 2011, under the arrangements of the Embassy of Pakistan in China, 25 teachers and students from Honder visited Pakistan and established cooperative relations with multiple universities.

In 2015, Honder received its first batch of 8 Pakistani students under the Embassy of Pakistan in China scholarship program. From 2011 to 2018, Honder sent more than 40 teachers and students in batches to Aitchison College, the National University of Modern Languages, and other schools in Pakistan to teach Chinese and study abroad.

To strengthen cooperation, exchanges, and related research with Pakistan, Honder built the “Masood Hall” (named after the former Ambassador to China, housing a large collection of historical materials and treasures) and established the Pakistan Research Center. With the support and help of successive ambassadors, Honder’s cooperation and exchanges with Pakistan have continued to deepen.

In 2017, Mr. Rahat Tariq, Counsellor of the Embassy of Pakistan in China, was invited to attend Honder’s opening ceremony and deliver a keynote speech.

In 2021, Ahmed Farooq, Deputy Chief of Mission (Minister) of the Embassy of Pakistan in China, was invited to attend Honder’s opening ceremony and deliver a speech; he also attended the college’s first “Pakistan Culture Day.”

In 2023, at the invitation of the Embassy of Pakistan in China, President Zhou Yushu visited the Embassy of Pakistan in China to meet with the new Ambassador to China, Hashmi, and former Ambassador Masood Khalid.

In 2024, at the invitation of the Embassy of Pakistan in China, President Zhou Yushu visited the Embassy of Pakistan in China to meet with Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Hashmi, and his wife.

In February 2025, at the invitation of the Embassy of Pakistan in China, President Zhou Yushu went to Beijing to meet with Pakistani President Zardari, who was on a state visit to China.

In May 2025, at the invitation of the Embassy of Pakistan in China, President Zhou Yushu attended a thematic seminar hosted by the Embassy of Pakistan in China and delivered a keynote speech.

Since enrolling Pakistani international students in 2015, Inner Mongolia Honder College of Arts and Sciences has cumulatively trained and sent more than 80 international students in seven cohorts.