SARGODHA:Higher Education Commission Pakistan (HECP) Chairman Prof Dr Mukhtar Ahmad and Vice-Chancellor University of Sargodha (UoS) Prof Dr Qaisar Abbas held a meeting on Friday and agreed that providing skill-based knowledge to students could better help accelerate economic growth of the country.
According to a press release, issued by Sargodha University here on Friday, the two sides discussed the issues and challenges related to higher education.
Dr Mukhtar said, “Education, skills, and technical training are at the heart of economic growth that is sustainable, inclusive, and adds value. Both the latent and active workforces need to be built up for future investment and self-employment.”
He said effective industrial participation was one of the most important parts of the skill development system that was missing in Pakistan. He said that was making it harder for graduates to get skills that employers wanted and making businesses less competitive.
Dr Qaisar Abbas said that there was dire need to focus on training as an investment to produce technically equipped students who could better compete in the market, adding that an unequivocal and clearly articulated national agenda for skill development should be introduced as a policy at higher education institutions.
He said that liaison between industry and academia was essential for transforming higher education sector into industry and enabling it to compete on a global scale. By strengthening ties between academia and industry, Pakistan could also achieve economic prosperity, he added.
Moreover, he said, “We must focus on human resource development and equip our youth with the skills necessary to fully explore domestic and international markets.”
The VC also invited the HECP chairman on upcoming event of the university celebrating 20 years of academic excellence, research productivity, knowledge sharing and global outlook.