ISLAMABAD: The Millennium University College (TMUC) Pakistan, in collaboration with world’s leading University of Hertfordshire, School of Computing United Kingdom, organised a symposium to forge alliances between the academia and industry professionals. The symposium served as a platform to discuss the symbiosis between education providers and industry professionals to foster research and knowledge sharing. TMUC as a leading transnational education provider is taking up the mission to create globally employable Individuals and sustaining students as global citizens. The visiting associate dean from the University of Hertfordshire United Kingdom, Dr Vito Veneziano, brought with him the aspirations that industry-academia partnerships would flourish in the South Asia region to ensure that young graduates’ skill based learning has become a leading factor for business facing universities and colleges, where employability would automatically align within the ecosystem. University of Hertfordshire has a higher employability rate even in comparison to most Russel Group Universities, including Cambridge and Oxford in the United Kingdom. He said that the real asset was information, trust and knowledge, which was indispensable. The university of Hertfordshire UK is among the top 50 best UK universities chosen by major employers for producing ready-to-work graduates in Times Higher Education’s 2017 ranking and it is one of only a few UK HEIs to have been awarded a European Commission HR Excellence in Research badge. Hertfordshire is also ranked in the top two universities in the east of England region for employability, second only to Cambridge University. TMUC CEO Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq said that TMUC was trying to build a bridge should be built for the youth through the provision of transnational education by inviting leading International Universities to Pakistan. “Today, TMUC is catering to Pakistan’s future by connecting the national professional marketplace and the International academia,” he said. “Our vision and mission is to create synergies between educationists and industry leadership, thus creating a paradigm shift in our perception and approach to imparting skills and knowledge based education,” he said. Moderated by TV anchor Rahman Azhar, the panel of speakers, included renowned names from the business world, including Salim Ghauri, founder and CEO of the largest IT service company NETSOL, and Muhammad Ali Khan, the co-chairman AMZ MAK Capital Ltd, was also present and enlivened by this initiative by TMUC. Saleem Ghauri urged graduates to try to achieve what they desired. His words were enlightened inspiration for the students. He shared his journey of taking charge of his future. The students at TMUC were inspired by remarks of Mohammad Ali Khan as they should distinguish themselves and believe in positivity, patriotism and Pakistan. Mir Mak’s words were spoken from the heart and resonated with each and every one present. Other notable speakers included, Syed Ahmad, CEO DPL; Ahsen Javed, founder and CEO Keystone IT services; Dr Ataul Aziz Ikram, professor and director research FAST University; Jibran Jamshad, Modern Workplace Lead Microsoft; and Zafar Imran, CEO ZICON Resources. Rehman Azhar kept the dialogue articulated in the most engaging way. It was heartening to see that not only is TMUC focusing on bringing international qualifications to Pakistan, it is also enabling industry partnerships, paving the way to improve employability velocity in the country and beyond. Published in Daily Times, November 3rd 2017.