Universities need paradigm shift towards online education: president

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday urged the universities to broaden the scope of their education systems by promoting virtual dissemination of knowledge to increase the number of graduates in the country.

“Besides the conventional brick-and-mortar system, our higher education system needs a paradigm shift to focus on online education as well to match the growing needs of the contemporary world,” the president said in his address here at the 14th convocation of Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology Peshawar.

President Alvi said by 2030, the world would be needing 800 million graduates in the field of information technology. In this regard, he said, Pakistan must produce graduates capable of exploiting global opportunities.

“For Pakistan, making education common for all is the key to development. Virtual education is the only rapid way to achieve this goal,” he said.

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Terming Pakistan’s youth bulge as a valuable resource for the country, he asked the graduates to explore the world by acquiring quality knowledge and the latest skills.

The president said the world was reaching out to Pakistan in view of its human resource and emphasized the need to tap the opportunities as per the growing demand of the international market.

Recalling Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent visit to China as a win-win situation in terms of growth and development, he said the areas of agriculture, pharmaceutical, automotive, textile, and information technology offered vast scope for Pakistani students and professionals.

Earlier, President Alvi awarded medals to the distinguished students of Ph.D., MS, Phil, Masters, Bachelors, and other associate degrees.