President urges upon universities to conduct market oriented research and development

President Dr Arif Alvi has emphasized the need to conduct market-oriented research and development activities in the universities and equip the youth with marketable skills to help them gain employment.

The president, addressing the convocation of the National University of Technology (NUTECH) in Islamabad, said that Pakistan had enormous human resources in the form of its huge youth bulge, which could be turned into an asset by equipping them with in-demand skills and technical and vocational expertise. This, he said, would help enhance national productivity and efficiency, besides providing gainful employment to its youth.  

The president said that with the advancements in technology, modes of learning were also changing and now a great volume of information and knowledge was readily available on online platforms. He said that in the past, scholars used to rely on limited technological tools and gained knowledge through observation and deduction, and knowledge was transferred through oral and printed means.

President Alvi underscored the need to increase the number of graduates, particularly in the fields of IT, cyber security, data analytics, and artificial intelligence, by imparting education through distance, online and hybrid modes of education. He said that virtual and hybrid modes of education had resulted in reduced tuition fees and training durations in many USA-based universities, adding that Pakistan already possessed the necessary infrastructure to promote virtual and hybrid learning.