ISLAMABAD : Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari has said his ministry had decided to set up career placement offices in about 25 top universities to pick up talented IT graduates for their placement in the industry.
"These youths will undergo extensive training-cum-internship at the leading IT companies for a period of three years and the ministry would provide 50 per cent of the total cost that would include a monthly stipend."
He said this in his address to the two-day Nascon 2006, all Pakistan IT, Engineering and Business Gala that concluded here at the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences Fast Islamabad. He said the objective of setting up career placement centres in the universities was to harness the talent possessed by youths in the far-flung areas.
"These career placement offices will be run and managed by Pakistan Software Export Board and the selection of candidates will be made strictly on merit and performance." he said. The program - to be funded by the National ICT Research & Development Fund will start in the next five to six weeks and it would include 5,000 to 6,000 internships at best IT companies of the country.
The minister pointed out that about 80 to 85 per cent of the human resource employed by the industry came from four to five tier-one universities, which house around 2,000 seats in the IT discipline. "Our aim is to bring up 15 to 20 tier-two universities to the tier-one level and the ministry has decided to pump resources into this crucial area along with complete support and assurance from the IT industry for 100 per cent absorption of the human resource," he added.
The minister lauded the FAST University for offering quality education in the fields of IT, telecom, and business management and announced 200 scholarships in the IT discipline.
He said the government had already taken lead in sending 65 boys and girls abroad last year to top international universities to pursue M S / Ph D programme. "The cost of these 65 scholarships was Rs 200 million, which was borne by the National ICT Research & Development Fund of the ministry," he said adding the foreign scholarship programme would continue in future as well.
Earlier, FAST Rector Dr Amir Mohammad in his address stressed the need for a greater university-industry liaison to strike linkages between academia and the industry. Later, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari gave prizes and trophies to successful participants.
A total of 100 teams comprising 540 students from all over the country participated in the Nascon 2006. Hamid Mukhtar and Majid Khan of NIIT won the first prize. Anam Ghaffar and Misbah Mubarak from Nust won the second prize. Lums and PUCIT shared the third prize.
In the category of Engineering Project (hardware) EME - Nust got the first and second prizes, while the third prize went to the University of Faisalabad. In Harvard Case Simulation CIIT Abbottabad won the first prize. MAJU Islamabad and Fast-NU Islamabad Campus shared the second position.
Courtesy www.brecorder.com
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