Ahmed Khan Malik

Industrialists have called for strong industry-academia links to cater to the needs for workforce and create jobs.

They said that the universities were not producing the required skilled workforce, which was creating difficulties for industries. Industry-academia linkage can be depicted as interactive, mutually inclusive goals and objectives-oriented relations between the industrial and the academic world.  “The pillars of the academic world stand on creativity, philosophy and theory, whereas the industry exists on prevalent commercially feasible ideas. Conversely, academia is software and industry is hardware,” Murtaza Syed, a leading industrialist in the Korangi industrial area, told WealthPK.  He noted that the problem was a demand and supply gap between the industrial and academic worlds.

“The curriculum was written decades ago, whereas industry moves forward on a daily basis. In the modern world, market trends and the pace of industry are far faster than before,” he said. Syed said that the industry-academia linkage was indispensable for commercial organisations, educational institutions, and the nation as a whole. “The industrial revolution in the West was not possible without following this concept. The interaction must be reciprocal for conducting applied research.” He said that the labs of the majority of technical institutions were outdated. “The universities don’t have in-house shops as the in-house training facilities the medical colleges have.” “The gap between technology and curriculum is longstanding,” Noor Amin, Secretary of Karachi Industrial Organisation, said.  He called for strengthening linkages between the industry and academia to boost the industrial sector’s contribution to the GDP.

Amin said that the industry and academia should take joint initiatives and research projects while sharing knowledge to boost the industrial sector’s production and improve quality. He noted that students’ training in the industrial environment for their recruitment, and access to the feedback from industry to develop curriculum were important. Mukhtar Junejo, Director of the Sindh Higher Education Commission, said that the commission sought to bridge the gap between research and industry, creating opportunities for universities’ research outcomes to be embraced and used by relevant institutions. He said that industry-academia linkage held significant potential for knowledge exchange, technology transfer and economic growth. Junejo said facilitating the connection between universities and industries could help maximise the impact of research and innovation, paving the way for practical applications and advancements.

Credit: INP-WealthPk