Strong linkage between universities, industrial sector vital for reshaping economy: Fawad

Strong linkage between universities industrial sector vital for reshaping economy: Fawad

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Minister of Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Friday stressing the need to improve linkage between national universities and the industrial sector said education and modern technologies’ cohesion “helps reshape the economy of a country”.

Speaking at a seminar on the role of youth in reshaping the future of Pakistan here he said Stanford University alone infused massive amount in US economy by developing applications like Apple, Google and WhatsApp. Similarly Howards University developed the Facebook application which also has a significant share in the United States’ national economy.

He said that ministries of education science and technology and information technology would spell out the future dynamics of Pakistan’s economy to take it to the next level. Fawad said when Pakistan came into being it had only one University whereas now there were 217 universities but there was a need to improve the quality of education to bring them at par with the international standards.

The federal and provincial governments, he said, would have to determine how to link the educational sector with the industry to utilize these two sectors’ true potential.

He said more practical steps were needed for the development of the country and the role of the people having progressive and enlightened approach was vital to make Pakistan an Islamic Welfare State. Citing the examples of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal, he said, the nation needed to follow the footprints of these two great progressive leaders to make Pakistan a great country among the comity of nations. Prime Minister Imran Khan was following their vision to achieve this goal, he added.

The minister said Pakistan was affected by Afghan situation since many decades.When super powers invaded Afghanistan they did not consult Pakistan but it had to suffer from the consequences of those decisions.

He said that Pakistan wanted a peaceful inclusive dispensation in Kabul which should have support of all Afghan factions and the general public. Pakistan was doing its best for the success of Intra- Afghan-talks as it facilitated the meetings between their different factions, he remarked.

Fawad said the recent victories of the Taliban had raised the question that what was the outcome of the US $ 2,000 billions invested by the United States in Afghanistan. He said a vast majority of Afghanistan politicians and army officials have built their properties abroad and settled their families in different countries.

He said, “if the situation gets worse in Afghanistan, Pakistan will have to accommodate more refugees and it was already entertaining over 3.5 million Afghan refugees.”

The minister said entire Afghan cricket team comprised refugees who were brought up here. Similarly majority of Afghan women teaching staff was trained and educated by Pakistan to deliver in their homeland.

At present some 6,000 Afghan students were studying in Pakistan’s higher educational institutions on scholarships, he concluded.