ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday called for a paradigm shift in the education sector to promote cutting-edge research and online mode of learning.

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.

The president expressed these views during a briefing on the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) at the Aiwan-i-Sadr.

Nust Rector Lt Gen 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 said that Nust, which had been developed into a multidisciplinary university, was offering education in various disciplines such as information technology, social sciences and humanities, and arts, design and architecture.

He apprised that the university had planned to offer two of its programmes - 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 training’s in cyber security, data analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, finance, management and marketing.

Addressing the meeting, the president said it was imperative to promote and encourage the online mode of education for increasing the number of graduates to meet the rising market demands.

He urged the universities to focus on 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 National Science and Technology Park at Nust, saying that such projects needed to be replicated to promote innovation-led growth and attract foreign investment from hi-tech companies in the country’s IT sector.

The president appreciated the efforts of the university’s management to improve the quality of science education in different disciplines of IT and engineering.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2022