TIMERGARA: The chairman of Higher Education Commission, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, has said that the work of research scholars have no value if society is not benefitted from it.
Addressing the ‘Pakathon-award distribution ceremony’ at the convocation hall of University of Malakand (UoM) on Wednesday, he urged the teachers and students to work hard for competing with the rest of the world in the field of education, science and technology.
Provincial director of HEC Farmanullah Anjum, director of office of research innovation and commercialisation at UoM Dr Rashid Ahmad, UoM Vice-chancellor Dr Johar Ali and Swat University Vice-chancellor Dr Jehanzeb were also present on the occasion. The function was attended by faculty members, administrative officers and students of the university.
Dr Mukhtar said that the work of research scholars had no value if society was not benefitted from it. He said that literacy rate in the country was not satisfactory. The teachers and students of universities should work hard to increase literacy rate in the country, he added.
The HEC chairman said that universities should arrange visits of common people to varsities and the students should visit villages and towns to share their experiences with other people to know about the problems being faced by common man.
Dr Mukhtar said that once Muslims ruled the world by excelling in education, science and technology. He said that society needed decent, civilized and polite citizens rather than degree holders.
He appreciated the UoM team that bagged second position globally in Pakathon, a hackathon-style event initiated across 16 cities in North America and Pakistan.
The UoM team was led by Nagish Khan and its members were Naveed Khan, Nusrat Gul, Shabir Ahmad, Irfanullah and Roohullah Jan. In the first phase of the competition, groups of students worked to find technological solutions to the problems in Pakistan for three days in each city and then presented their business proposals, marketing strategies and projected costs of their ideas to compete with other teams at the location.
Dr Johar Ali congratulated the team and underlined the importance of entrepreneurship for national development. He said that students at University of Malakand were working on innovative ideas that could change the world. He said that he wanted to make the university a centre of research, innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Rashid Ahmad said that he was happy with the performance of the university team. “We have supported and will continue to support students and faculty in commercialising their research and entrepreneurial pursuits,” he said. He added that students of the varsity would be encouraged to participate in international competition in future too.
Dr Mukhtar and Dr Johar distributed shields among the members of UoM team. The HEC chairman also announced to remit the Rs22,000 tuition fee to each member of the team besides awarding Rs 44,000 to Dr Fazl Subhan, the head of the team.
Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2014
