President stresses proactive steps to develop IT sector

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday stressed for taking proactive measures to develop the Information Technology (IT) sector that could enormously contribute to the country's economic and scientific development.

“Globally, the focus of development policies is shifting from brick-and-mortar projects to the intellectual development of human resources and Pakistan needs to adopt this modern strategy to focus on the scientific and intellectual advancement of its human resources,” said President Alvi speaking at a briefing on the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES).

The briefing was given by Dr Ayub Alvi, Rector NUCES, at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

The meeting was attended by Chancellor NUCES, Wasim Sajjad, Secretary General of Foundation for Advancement of Science and Technology, Ghulam Shabbir, Member Board of Trustees, Dr UAG Isani and Members of the Board of Governors, Dr Samar Mubarakmand, Justice (r) Mian Muhammad Ajmal, Ahmad Farooq and Qiaser Ahmed Shaikh.

Rector NUCES gave a presentation about the role and achievements of the university in promoting IT education in the country. He informed that NUCES was the largest provider of human resources to the computer software industry of the country and currently, 13,000 students were enrolled in various programmers in five campuses of the university.

He said 24,000 students had graduated from NUCES, since the year 2000, in various disciplines such as Computer Science, Engineering, Management and Humanities. The Rector also highlighted that the institution provided Rs240 million each year in financial assistance and scholarships to needy and brilliant students, stating that currently 1,500 students were benefiting from financial aid provided by the university.