President Dr Arif Alvi has said that promotion of the information technology (IT) sector will help in the development of the country. Addressing an event at the University of Engineering and Technology on Friday, the president said that the rapidly groing IT industry has outclassed the world all over. He also stressed on the need of cyber defence in the country. He asked Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shah Farman to devise a proper strategy to increase the number of IT graduates in the universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He called for taking proactive measures to develop the IT sector that can contribute enormously to the economic and scientific development of the country. The president said that globally, the focus of development policies is shifting from Brick-and-Mortar development projects to the intellectual development of human resources and Pakistan needs to adopt this modern strategy. He said academia-industry linkages are essential for the progress of the country. He also urged the need to increase the number of students with a special focus on the provision of hybrid and online education.