Agreement inked with PITB: National Freelance Training Centre to be set up at IIUI

ISLAMABAD: International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI) and the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) signed an agreement for establishment of the National Freelance Training Centre (NFTC) at the university.

In the centre, freelancing training will be provided to youth to empower them for employment. It will be focused on producing skilled and digitally aware human resource. The agreement is aimed at promoting technology and entrepreneurship across the country.

Both the university and the board have agreed to jointly work for mainstreaming the digital skills. The MoU signing ceremony was held at the Faisal Masjid Campus of the university which was joined by IIU President Dr Hathal Homoud Alotaibi who also signed the document. Representatives of the PITB Project Management Unit Qumbar Ali and Naila Mehmood were also present on the occasion.

It was also attended by the vice president administration, Finance Planning, IIU, Prof Dr NB Jumani along with the Incharge IT, IIU Qazi Shehzad Saleem. The IIU President called upon universities that they must contribute in the construction of the society and they must work as per needs of the hour.

He expressed that youth were the agents of change. He added that investing in the nation’s youth would open new avenues of economic stability through digital transformation. He opined that the partnership would prove to be a stepping stone towards a new era of digitally equipped youth.

He also apprised the PITB officials that the IIU was already focusing on E-Governance and soon it would adopt the paperless E–Governance based system. Dr Hathal furthered that the prevailing situation had doubled the importance of Online Distance Learning and the IIU was keen to promote it by producing the online and distance learning based courses and degrees with the utilisation of latest sources of technology.

He opined that both IIU and PITB had shared goals and the MoU would be a milestone to work for the cause of provision of quality education with the usage of technology. He also said the university was also keen to open its branches in the provinces.

The representatives of the PITB said on the occasion that the Board’s other initiatives such as incubation centres at universities, course of various fields and promotion of E–Governance could be jointly worked with positive results by both sides. They apprised that the board had already graduated 1,500 students in the online batches and it was striving to promote digitisation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021