National Graduate Conference: Academia urged to build linkages with industry

State minister for education calls for conducting academic research which helps society

ISLAMABAD: Academic research should facilitate the social and economic development of the society, while academia must build linkages with industry.

This was stated by the State Minister for Federal Education Engineer Baligur Rehman while inaugurating the first National Graduate Conference at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) on Wednesday. The conference had been organised by the varsity’s Office of Research Innovation and Commercialisation (ORIC).

Rehman called for adopting a multidisciplinary and holistic approach in undertaking academic research which helps the society in socio-economic development.

This task should be fulfilled through collaborative efforts and teamwork, he said.

The state minister further called for developing linkages between the academia and the industry so that research can be properly used. Moreover, he said that research conducted by academicians must be effective to bring about societal reformation.

He also stressed on using new technology to achieve the stipulated targets outlined in research.

The minister further said that the government was focusing on education and health sectors. In this regard, he said there had been a tremendous increase in budgetary allocations for research which impact the public at large.

While appreciating AIOU’s academic achievements, the minister underlined the need to promote moral values, ethics and character-building for the construction of a healthy society.

AIOU Vice Chancellor Dr Shahid Siddiqui said that the conference had been arranged to provide a platform to young researchers to showcase their research work and to interact with each other.

He announced that the university would host the conference annually.

The inaugural session was also addressed by Council of Science and Technology Chairman Prof Dr Anwarul Hasan Gilani who endorsed the idea of serving the cause of education through an interdisciplinary approach.

Earlier, Social Sciences Dean and ORIC Director Dr Naghmana Rashid highlighted objectives of the conference, assuring that it would be converted into a productive platform to strengthen research-based activities.

The conference was being attended by students from 25 universities from across the country. During the two-day moot, around 175 research papers would be presented to promote the concept of an interdisciplinary approach.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2017.