Building Strong Academia — Industry Linkages

Key challenges in academia–industry collaboration

1. Skills mismatch: Graduates often do not meet the industry’s evolving needs because academic programs lack up-to-date expertise, tools and practical exposure.
2. Expectation mismatch: Academia expects industry to provide internships and training for growing graduate numbers, while industry expects academia to produce work-ready graduates trained on current tools and technologies.
3. One-way relationship: Academia typically only supplies graduates for industry consumption. A one-way flow makes it difficult to form a mutually rewarding partnership.
4. Funding limitations (Pakistan): Many institutions rely mainly on student fees (or government grants for public sector), limiting their ability to invest in labs, equipment and long-term industry collaborations.

Why academia should act proactively

Academia has three key assets — manpower, time and space — which can be converted into opportunities if used strategically. By leveraging these assets, institutions can offer practical training, incubation space and collaborative research that directly addresses industry gaps.

How ETS helps

• Hands-on industry-oriented training and workshops (Electronics, IT, Telecom, Management)
• Internship and upskilling programs aligned with current industry tools and practices
• Support for entrepreneurship and technology commercialization
• Custom collaboration models: short courses, joint labs, curriculum advisory, placement linkages