The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) and the National University of Science & Technology (NUST) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote research initiatives for the benefit of the industrial sector. Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan President ICCI and Lt. Gen. Javed Mahmood Bukhari, Rector NUST signed the MoU during a ceremony held at NUST University. Fatma Azim Senior Vice President, Abdul Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI, Ms. Arooba Gillani GM Placement NUST, Umar Hussain, Omais Khattak and others were also present at the occasion.
By signing the MoU, both sides agreed to work together on joint research projects that would help in resolving the key issues of industry and improving industrial efficiency. Both sides would offer testing facilities/labs to each other, hold workshops, seminars and business competitions, arrange professional development courses for ICCI member companies at NUST. ICCI would facilitate the job placement of NUST students in its member companies besides providing them internship opportunities in local industries. NUST would invite ICCI member companies to its job fairs, seminars, workshops, training programs and other important events that would help them in business promotion.
Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan also inaugurated the NUST job fair as Chief Guest. A large number of organizations including HBL, NLC, Dawlance, Ibex, Astera, Intech and others participated in the NUST job fair and showed great interest in job placement of its students.
Speaking at the occasion, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President ICCI said that strong industry-academia linkages were very important to conduct research projects for enabling the industrial units in the development of value added and quality products in order to improve exports. He said that universities should focus on applied research with a focus on resolving the key issues of the industrial sector and enhance industrial efficiency that would make our industry more competitive for exports promotion. He hoped that the MoU signed between ICCI and NUST would be a right step in promoting sustainable industry-academia linkages. He assured that ICCI would cooperate with NUST in providing internships to its students and their job placement in the local industry.
Lt. Gen. Javed Mahmood Bukhari, Rector NUST said that NUST was grooming its students with prime focus to prepare them as the premium choice for the employers. He said that NUST graduating class of 2020 was placed in some leading national and multinational organizations including KcKinsey & Company, Brain & Company, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, L’Oreal, Philip Morris International, Mitsubishi Corporation, Nestle, Reckitt Banckiser, PepsiCo, Jazz, Ufone etc. He said that the purpose of organizing job fairs at NUST was to provide top-notch national and international organizations from various sectors a platform to pick the best talent from NUST that should add value to hiring organizations. He hoped that MoU signed between ICCI and NUST would bridge the gap between industry and academia and produce beneficial outcomes for both sides.