Industry-academia linkages

By Waqar Hashmi and Aida Hamdani. The Higher Education Commission has set up stringent criteria for admission to MS, MPhil and PhD programmes, in line with international standards. These criteria encourage regular students to pursue research work.
However, since the dimension of professional work experience has been completely ignored, it discourages industry professionals from participating in research activities. This is a serious flaw.
It is, therefore, imperative for the HEC to introduce separate criteria for enrollment to MS, MPhil and PhD courses in universities, that will enable them to offer research opportunities to mid-career professionals, while waiving some coursework requirements. More...