Building bridges between academia and industry

Education continues to be one of those sectors in the country that need a lot to be desired. No wonder the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) has identified academia-industry linkages as one of the primary reasons for the low competitiveness of Pakistan.
While recent times have noticed an unprecedented focus on business education, the CSF identifies agriculture and engineering as fields requiring substantial linkages with the industries they serve.
Adding to the ado is the reduced focus on innovation-based research as part of a higher-education curriculum, hence depriving the country of practical and innovative solutions to the problems it currently faces.
Even the best of local universities have not come up with any sweeping research or study that could have aided industrial growth in the recent past.
Similarly, a look at the scholarships supported by the HEC as announced currently on its website shows a lack of focused, priority-based selection. With the exception of a handful, most of the local scholarships for undergrad and postgrad studies do not indicate a stark preference for a particular field or profession that the country needs direly.
Take the case of energy, Pakistans most-troubled sector. Out of the 3,000 scholars sent abroad for postgrad studies (Masters and PhD included) in the last 5 years under the sponsorship of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), only 209 were writing power-related theses.
Another instance is provided by the textile industry, where, despite cries of focusing on value-added products for increases in value-based exports, no research or study has been funded by the government for the revival of the sector through innovative technological development.
Industries and private companies are also to blame for a laid-back attitude, as not many fund higher education for Pakistani students for further research in their fields.
Any local textile company, for example, can fund a research project related to the problems the industry is encountering. This will yield a win-win situation for the company, the funded scholar, and the industry at large.
LOreal, the renowned international cosmetics chain, in association with UNESCO funds research fellowships for women scientists from all over the world.
Setting an example for other companies, this initiative not only helps LOreal shine out in the CSR (corporate social responsibility) arena, but also provides an innovative knowledge base for the generation of further ideas to develop its product portfolio.
The CSF has stressed for a strong engagement of the academia in cluster and industrial development strategies of Pakistan.
"Policy-makers alone cannot address structural bottlenecks impeding growth and competitiveness. Academia also has a role in tackling impediments to growth and competitiveness as they are a source of new knowledge and evaluating past experiences through their empirical work," the CSF report says. Its about time industry and academia join hands in building a more competitive Pakistan.

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                           Knowledge

                            Economy     Knowledge

Rank  Country                Index        Index     Innovation  Education

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1     Denmark                 9.52        9.49         9.49          9.78

45    United Arab Emirates    6.73        6.72         6.69           4.9

54    Brazil                  5.66        6.11         6.19          6.02

98    Iran                    3.75        4.67         4.56           3.8

118   Pakistan                2.34        2.48         2.88          1.17

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