National conference : ‘Research is useless if it doesn’t positively impact people’

HEC chairman urges businesses, educational institutions to uphold basic ethics and moral values

ISLAMABAD: There is a need for the academia and entrepreneurs need to work together to derive benefits from the fast-changing economic sector, while researches being carried out should have a positive impact on the public.

This was stated by speakers at a national conference on business dynamics which opened at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) on Monday.

Held by AIOUs’ Department of Business Administration in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC), it focused on the ‘Managerial Role in Contemporary era: Opportunities and Challenges’ during its day-long working sessions.



HEC Chairman Prof Dr Mukhtar Ahmed called for deriving practical societal applications of research.

“Research is of no use if it does not have a positive impact on the living conditions of the people,” Dr Ahmed said.

He emphasised that academia and the business entrepreneurs should work together and take advantage of the fast-changing developments in the economic sector and work as partners to improve the quality of industrial products.

Dr Ahmed also called for upholding basic ethics and moral values in educational and business practices.

“Educational institutions need to focus more on quality and good governance,” he added.



AIOU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Siddiqui, while addressing the inaugural session of the conference, hoped that the conference would serve as a platform to promote effective collaboration between researchers and the businesses to take advantage of new innovations in economic pursuits.

Dr Siddiqui announced that the varsity would also hold a similar conference at the international level next year and expand the scope of knowledge-sharing for the benefit of the society.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2017.