Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU) in collaboration with the Government of Sindh, Google, Google for Education and Tech Valley Pakistan organized certificate distribution ceremony for the Google Career Certificate Program at the Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto Auditorium of SMIU here Wednesday.
Out of 300 students who had successfully completed the program, 130 students attended the ceremony and received Google Career Certificates from Paul Hutchings. Regional Head Greater Asia Google for Education and Sindh Secretary Information for Science and Technology Noor Ahmed Samo and Dr. Mujeeb Sahrai, Vice Chancellor of SMIU were present on the occasion.
Addressing the ceremony, Noor Ahmed Samo, Secretary Information, Science and Technology said that 30,000 students of total 30 public sector universities of Sindh have been provided Google scholarships with the support of Sindh government. He said future of students belongs to the digital skills, therefore they must learn skills of latest technologies.
He informed that it was the vision of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to equip youth of the province with latest technologies as they could earn from the international market through digital skills. He said Google will get content from students and that will be linked with their job portal.
The I.T Secretary further said the SMIU is most prestigious university and its students are most privileged and fortunate that founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had studies over here.
This is why it is called the university of leaders. Due to such status the Sindh government is giving priority to SMIU also in its development. He emphasized that students must get maximum benefit from this opportunity because job providers are seeking students to support them. Noor Ahmed Samo lauded services of Dr. Mujeeb Sahrai rendering for quality education and training to the students of SMIU.
Dr. Mujeeb Sahrai, Vice Chancellor of SMIU in his speech lauded the efforts of Secretary I.T. Noor Ahmed Samo for providing scholarships opportunities to the students of Sindh, which are equipping them with industry-relevant digital skills. He also appreciated commitment of Google for providing scholarships to SMIU students. Dr. Sahrai said that SMIU is equally paying heed on quality education as well as on job oriented skills of students by establishing links with industry. He further said that today we are living in the age of information technology, hence our young generations must learn about the new technologies and learn these for their future success which is based on international competition.
Dr. Sahrai said the Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah has personally taken keen interest in this project, which can easily provide knowledge and digital skills to students to enter in the global job market. Dr. Sahrai also appreciated efforts of Syed Azeem Inam, Assistant Professor of SMIU and Mr. Basit Hassan, Lecturer at SMIU, taken during the said program for benefit of SMIU students.
Paul Hutchings, Regional Head Greater Asia Google for Education, Head of APAC Google for Education talked on the importance of the scholarships and said this time 30,000 scholarships have been provided to the students in Sindh. He congratulated the students of SMIU, who participated in the Google program and completed it. He also appreciated the cooperation of Government of Sindh and Sindh Madressatul Islam University.
Umar Farooq, CEO of Tech Valley Pakistan said that there was a gap between academia and industry, which is now being filled through providing these kinds of scholarships.
Timothy Paolini, Special Initiatives Head, APAC Google for Education, Dr. Tauha Hussain, Vice Chancellor of Mehran University of Science and Technology, Jamshoro and experts of I.T., government officials, SMIU’s deans, chairpersons of different academic departments, officers, faculty and students the event.