President Dr Arif Alvi has urged the need for utilising online and virtual platforms to promote and market Pakistan’s fashion design, textile, and art and craft products at the international level, adding that increasing the presence of goods on virtual and online platforms could help popularise innovative Pakistani fashion products. The president expressed these views during his visit to the Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design (PIFD), here on Monday. First Lady Begum Samina Arif Alvi also accompanied the president during the visit. The president was briefed by the Institute’s administration about the role, performance, educational facilities and the future plans of the institute. During the briefing, the president said that in order to make students productive part of society in a brief period of time, they should be equipped with skills through short-term courses. He added that the world was already imparting education and skills to fulfill the market needs through short-term courses. He said that the associate degree holders and specialised certificate holders were being given employment in different sectors of the economy across the globe. The president said that universities must adopt innovative and out-of-the-box solutions to enhance the number of graduates and skilled professionals. He added that in Western countries, especially the USA, universities had already started imparting education at mass scale, using the online courses. He said that online education could help reduce the educational costs, besides training a greater number of students within a short period of time. He stressed the need to increase the number of graduates using online and virtual modes of learning. The president also appreciated the PIFD, Lahore for its academia-industry linkages and its collaboration with national and international universities and organisations for promotion of research and innovation in the field of Fashion and Design. The president also visited the theses display and appreciated different Fashion and Design products, prepared by the Institute’s students.