KARACHI: Pakistan hardly figures on the global IT map even though its universities churn out approximately 30,000 graduates a year in computer-related fields. Why?

One possible explanation is the widening gap between university education and the skillset that the globalised IT industry looks for in fresh graduates, according to Dr Sohail Naqvi, former vice-chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences, who’s recently set up KnowlEDGE Streams, a startup to train IT graduates for the global IT industry.

The industry-academia gap is reflected in the performance of the dollar-earning IT industry. IT exports stayed flat on a year-on-year basis at $1.94 billion in the first nine months of 2022-23, according to data compiled by Topline Securities.

Dr Naqvi said his venture will help graduates upgrade their technical skillsets with respect to computer languages that are in high demand globally. But more importantly, it’ll help them learn soft skills like effective communications, teamwork and ethics.

In the beginning, he plans to hold 12-week boot camps in Lahore. Even though the objective is to create a social impact, he said the company will charge a fee to ensure that it can scale up operations in a sustainable manner.

The training fee is Rs90,000, payable in two instalments. Upon completion of the programme and successful employment, an additional Rs90,000 will become payable in three instalments over the next six months.

In other words, IT graduates are expected to cough up about 20pc of the total sum that they’ve already spent on getting their four-year bachelor’s degrees from second- and third-tier private universities to upskill themselves for the job market. What does it say about our university education system?

“The technical world is changing rapidly. Uni­versi­­ties focus on fundamentals while the boot camp is kind of a superstructure. A lot of universities don’t want to incorporate (in their curricula) many things that we teach in our boot camp,” he said.

Moreover, these boot camps will help science graduates pivot from one field to another, a more promising field. For example, they’ll help an electrical engineering graduate switch to cyber security or a math major transition into data sciences.

“As for the fee, we’ll sign income-sharing agree­ments to help graduates pay us from their future incomes in easy instalments.”

Dr Naqvi said a majority of Pakistan’s IT graduates are underemployed, not unemployable. “Their starting average salary is $2 an hour versus $70 an hour in advanced economies. Our IT graduates suffer because they lack confidence. They don’t know how to market themselves. They end up underselling themselves,” he said, adding that IT exports can jump 10 times in five years with the right kind of training.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2023