Author Profile: Syed Aseem Ul Islam is PhD candidate at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, specializing in adaptive and model-predictive flight control systems. He received his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, and his master’s degree in flight dynamics and control from the University of Michigan.
Several Pakistani industries and universities advertise deep and fruitful industry-academia linkages in their promotional materials. However, one struggles to see the fruits of these so-called linkages in either academia or industry. Be it as either research output or innovating industries, the results are not apparent.
Of course, there are successful models followed by industries and universities all over the world that are a testament to industrial-academic collaboration. Therefore, this begs the question: what went wrong in Pakistan, and why are its universities and industries failing to support each other?
The word “industry” in this context refers to any organization whose stated purpose includes some level of research and development (R&D). This can range from large private sector manufacturing entities that undertake small-scale research for improving their manufacturing processes, to a state-owned defence organization whose primary purpose is R&D of cutting-edge military hardware.
In this article we will refer to any organization willing to collaborate with universities as a “research organization”, even if that organization’s primary goal is manufacturing or services, and not research.
Interestingly, Pakistan possesses a sizable university ecosystem with several internationally competitive universities. Especially since the higher-education boom of the early 2000’s, the number of universities in Pakistan has mushroomed, and with it, the number of graduates being produced.
However, this influx of graduates with bachelor’s and master’s degrees has not had the effect perhaps expected by the people who envisioned this policy for higher education.
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