Experts were unanimous on redesigning the higher education syllabus in accordance with the latest market demands to absorb the entire educated labour force.
The two-day conference on 'Higher Education for Development' was jointly organised by Higher Education Commission (HEC), University of Engineering and Technology (UET) and Campus Consultancy Service (CCS) UK, here on Monday.
ICI Pakistan former General Manager Malik Mohammad Akram said that according to the labour force survey data, 20 per cent of the postgraduate and 35 per cent of the graduate degree holders were out of the labour force, as they were neither working nor looking for work. "The education experts were unanimous that situation can be reversed if we update our syllabus according to the market demands", he maintained.
But, it could be made only possible if we impart latest information technology education to our students in line with the current demands, he opined.
He said that partnership between business community and educational institutions was imperative, so that the existing mismatch might be minimised and employability of the educated youth could be reasonably enhanced.
He said that to produce competent and skilled manpower, it needed to critically look at all the stages of human resource development against the models having been adopted in the developed world.
Akram suggested that the universities should work closely with the industry associations, such as Pakistan Banks Association, Aptma, and Engineering Development Board etc.
HEC Chairman Dr Atta-ur-Rehman said the commission was focusing on three areas to achieve its long-term goals, first - access to higher education, second - improving its quality and third - to make relevance the higher education in an effort to meet the national and international demands.
Javed Hussain of the University of Birmingham observed that Pakistan needed to respond to the growing demands at national and international levels through research, acknowledging changing economic conditions and focus on research output of the academia, he said.