President Alvi calls for a paradigm shift in education sector to promote cutting-edge research & online mode of learning in country
ISLAMABAD, Feb 25 (SABAH): President Dr. Arif Alvi has called for a paradigm shift in the education sector to promote cutting-edge research and online mode of learning in the country. He underlined the need for preparing the nation in the field of emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Robotics and Automation to cope with the challenges of the modern era.
President Dr. Arif Alvi expressed these views during a briefing on the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Friday.
Rector NUST, Lt General (retd) Engr. Javed Mahmood Bukhari, briefed the President about the contributions of his institution in providing quality science and engineering education. He highlighted that NUST had established a first of its kind inter-disciplinary research facility in Pakistan to equip the next generation of researchers with cross-disciplinary expertise and create new knowledge and technologies. He added that NUST had developed into a multidisciplinary university and was offering education in various disciplines such as Information Technology, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Arts, Design & Architecture. He apprised that the university had planned to offer two of its programs-MS Engineering Management and MS Peace and Conflict Studies- through the online mode of education. It was further informed that the university was catering to the professional needs of the country by offering flagship courses and trainings in Cyber Security, Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Finance, Management, and Marketing.
Addressing the meeting, the President said that it was imperative to promote and encourage the online mode of education for increasing the number of graduates to meet the rising demands of the market. He urged the universities to focus on the skill development of students, particularly in the IT sector, to enhance the country’s exports besides meeting the growing demand of IT professionals in the global market. He lauded the establishment of the National Science and Technology Park at NUST, saying that such projects needed to be replicated to promote innovation-led growth as well as attract foreign investment from Hi-tech companies in the country’s IT sector.
President Dr. Arif Alvi appreciated the efforts of the University’s management to improve the quality of science education in different disciplines of IT and Engineering.