Bridging the Industry – Academia Gap

KARACHI - Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers Pakistan, (IEEEP) Karachi Centre, has organised a discussion session titled “Bridging the Industry – Academia Gap” at the Karachi Expo Center. Senior executives from the industry and universities attended the discussion. Invited guests from industry included senior executives from Philips, Siemens, Intel, IBM, Super Technologies, Shaheen Air, PEL and many more. From the academia there were representation from leading universities including NED, Sir Syed, IBA, PNEC-NUST, Bahria University, SZABIST and others. Senior executives from IEEEP also attended the session.

The main points of this discussion were to identify the needs by the industry in terms of human resource, are the organisation able to find the right human resource for their hiring? How could these needs be addressed, how could be the universities are helpful in addressing these needs and what support is required by them to fulfil these needs and last but not least, how could IEEEP is helpful to the industry and academia, addressing these needs.



Leading experts from both academia and industry deliberated on the reasons why students are not well prepared for industry. Each side presented their problems and challenges they face, recognising the fact that students have lacking that hasn’t been addressed with the way curriculum is structured and the gap academia has with the industrial requirements. Industry representatives highlighted that along with technical skills, the need is to groom the engineering students in such a way that they develop soft skills and management skills as well. Case study method of teaching was discussed to a strong tool that can give students exposure of the industry during their study period but the need was to develop local cases. Industry representatives also promised to provide input for guiding the students to work on industry viable projects. Need of career counselling sessions and targeted workshops for specific industry trainings were also recommended also highlighted. IEEEP vowed to help bridge that gap and present opportunities to both industry and academia to interact and develop strategies to develop the students’ vision and skills up to the mark. IEEEP members committed to take the responsibility of linking the academia to the industry by holding these workshops and trainings for the students. Providing guidance about industry projects and developing local case studies. The session was huge success and was appreciated by participants. The Seminar ended well and the objectives were met.

First published in The Nation
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Business/01-Oct-2011/IEEEP-holds-seminar