‘Practical steps needed to bridge gap between industry, academia’

Industry and academic must work together to tailor courses for providing students holistic education in their respective fields and training them to think critically, ask right questions and communicate effectively, said Sima Kamil, deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, on Saturday.

Kamil, who was addressing a webinar on ‘Reshaping Higher Education: Nurturing leaders for Pakistan’s tomorrow’, hosted by Habib University, urged people from industry and academic to practically work together towards bridging the gap between the two sectors.

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“Given the crisis of higher education in Pakistan today and the massive youth bulge, it is time for action,” she stressed, adding that “If we are going to do something, then we have to go ahead and actually do it. That is where the gap lies. It has to go beyond lip service.”

Besides, Habib Metropolitan Bank chief executive officer (CEO) Mohsin Nathani called on the industry to share sufficient feedback with educational institutions on what they sought in aspiring professionals so that their requirements could be incorporated into curricula.

“If universities are going to operate independently or in a silo, without taking any feedback from the workforce, industry and employers then I think we are headed for a significant disaster,” he said.

Dr Ayesha K Khan, CEO of Acumen Pakistan, pointed out that Pakistan was behind the curve in how the world was moving forward and the only way to be able to compete was to develop what she termed “multi-dimensional intelligence”.

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Moreover, Nadir Salar Qureshi, the CEO of Engro Fertilisers, noted that the kind of graduates currently being produced by higher educational institutions were not functionally competent.

“Designing programmes whereby universities use technology to lower their cost to serve and have a much higher pool and then perhaps some tailoring of that pool for skillsets that particular organisations want, could be an incredibly symbiotic relationship,” he suggested.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2021.