By Asad Cheema
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) organized a roundtable here on Monday to strengthen the academia-industry linkages.
The roundtable was participated by Rectors, Deans, Directors and other representatives of various universities including Nust, Comsats, Bahria, Fast, Quaid-e-Azam, Ripha, Foundation, Institute of Space Technology, Szabist, Cust, IIUI, National Skilled University, Pieas, Federal Urdu and Air University and representatives of various local industries.The representatives of both sides discussed short, medium and long-term goals to improve academia-industry linkages. They also discussed the key challenges that should be addressed to improve the industry’s reliance on academia for applied research to enhance industrial productivity and produce demand-driven students for industry.
It was highlighted during the roundtable that HEC should further encourage universities to adopt its already approved 3+1 academic criterion to enable students to spend 3 years in universities and one year in industries for degrees in order to provide them practical experience of industrial functions. Speaking at the occasion, Executive Director HEC Dr. Shaista Sohail said that the HEC has started a series of interactive meetings with Chambers of Commerce & Industry to improve academia-industry linkages that would help tailor the research initiatives of universities to solve the industrial problems and produce skilled human resource for industry that would ultimately improve economic growth of the country. She also gave a presentation about the various grants being provided by HEC to universities or research initiatives for the benefit of industry.
Member HEC, Dr. Akram Sheikh said that the government was focusing on promoting the knowledge economy and the only best option to achieve this goal was to bridge the gap between academia and industries. He said that 25 percent of the country was being lost due to industrial wastage and stressed that universities and industries should work together to plug this wastage and improve GDP growth.
President ICCI, Muhammad Shakeel Munir said that advanced countries have achieved fast economic growth by developing strong industry-academia linkages and Pakistan has to adopt the same approach to accelerate its economic growth.
He also highlighted the importance of giving representation
to Chambers of Commerce & Industry in Boards of Universities and Academic
Councils to improve academia-industry linkages. He said that universities
should develop curriculum in consultation with stakeholders to produce
demand-driven graduates for industry. He said Chambers of Commerce &
Industry should be involved in evaluation criteria of faculty members that
would bring both sides even closer.
Chairman Founder Group, Mian Akram Farid emphasized for closer linkages
between industry and universities to promote industrial efficiency and
produce value added products. He said that focus on skill development and
vocational education was important for SMEs development. He said that a
course on industry promotion should be included in degree programs.
Rector International Islamic University, Prof. Dr Masoom Yasinzai
appreciated the HEC and ICCI initiative on bridging the gap between two
important pillars of the economy. He stressed to introduce the industry
professionals as Professor of Practice in the universities to enhance the
skill set of graduates.
Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh Senior Vice President, Faheem Khan Vice President
ICCI, Tariq Sadiq, Nasir Qureshi and Rectors/Deans of universities also
spoke at the occasion and shared useful ideas for promoting
academia-industry linkages.
