Country will need 80m graduates by 2030: Alvi

President says cloud computing, virtual approach take education beyond classrooms

KARACHI:

The President of Pakistan, Dr Arif Alvi, has called on Pakistani Universities to produce more graduates. He was speaking at the convocation of Iqra University (IU), where he was the guest speaker.

He cited the growth of artificial intelligence and cloud computing as a factor that can drive more significant graduate numbers.

“Sixty-four per cent of our population is under the age of thirty. The world is changing. People who are educated today are among those who will mark their presence in the world. By the year 2030, eighty million graduates will be needed. Knowledge is necessary, being imparted in the classrooms but knowledge available in the cloud also plays significant role for professions,” the president said.

He praised Iqra University as an outstanding and pioneering educational institution for its approach to blended learning. He congratulated the graduating students and their parents for investing in their their children’s education and for their better future.

However, he stated that the world was moving fast, and policy decision-makers are needed to catch up and not just think and plan in a linear progression.

“I was educated as a dentist in a brick-and-mortar institution, but 80 per cent of dentistry knowledge has virtual possibilities. Iqra University, with this virtual approach, you can increase your numbers. Our country needs to increase the number of graduates. We need millions of graduates. I appreciate what you are doing.”

Dr Wasim Qazi, the Vice-Chancellor of Iqra University delivered the welcome address. He informed the audience about major achievements Iqra University has made.

“This year, we mark the 21st anniversary of Iqra University. Now, that makes us relatively young compared to Oxford, Harvard or the Muslim world’s older universities, such as Al-Azhar. But consider all that we have achieved a lot in that short time. None is greater than the fact that today we have the honour to have more than 31,000 graduates. What’s more, we have more than 13,000 female graduates. We have educated 30,000 leaders. Transformed 30,000 lives,” said Dr Wasim Qazi.

In the past two decades, Iqra University has achieved significant milestones. It has been ranked the number one business university in Pakistan by the Higher Education Commission. It has also been included in the global ranking agency, QS, and Times Higher Education ranking of world universities.

“According to the QS, we ranked in the top 250 universities in Asia in terms of academic reputation, employer reputation, student-teacher ratio, studio-PhD ratio and PhD citation ratio. Furthermore, after the pandemic, we were the first university to invest millions of dollars in acquiring a seamless learning management system,’ said Dr Wasim Qazi.

The Vice-Chancellor also highlighted Iqra’s co-curricular and sports activities, citing the University’s achievement in winning over 364 medals, of which 227 were won by female students. He also pointed out that Iqra had looked after the interests of under-privileged students, granting merit scholarships and Qarz-e-Hasna to 36 per cent of its students, amounting to Rs120 million during the last two years.

In addition to the President of Pakistan, the Consul General of Iran, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan, the Honourary Consul General of Finland, Iqra’s founding Chancellor and current Chairman, Hunaid Lakhani, and its Chancellor and co-founder, Erum Lakhani, were in attendance.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2022.