HYDERABAD: Graduates should abandon the hope of getting a job in the public sector and prepare themselves for a tough competition for jobs in open market at provincial, national and global level on the basis of merit alone.

The piece of advice was given by Sindh Agriculture University vice chancellor Dr Mujeebuddin Sahrai at a workshop on career opportunities for job marketing and merit-based scholarship program at SAU campus Tandojam on Wednesday.

The worl(shop, to be followed by a three-day job fair, was being organised by SAU in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) and funded by USAID.

Deans of different faculties, HEC officials and retired bureaucrats shared their experiences with the audience and encouraged graduates to have a firm belief in their ability to compete in the world job market.

SAU VC Dr Sahrai said in his inaugural speech that it was the only way to prove their worth and mettle and advised graduates that every single penny being spent from `our resources needs to be made purposeful`.

He said the university was conducting regular classes for masters and at the same time holdingworkshops for PhD students and seminars on different subjects related to agriculture, food security and climate change, which showed the institute was moving in the right direction and students shouldrealiseit.

`The agriculture sector is important for job market because our economy depends largely on agribusiness. Climate change and global warming is affecting food sources. These issues are important with regard to agriculture,` he said. He said that it was a wrong perception that students` first choice of enrolment was medical followed by engineering, management and business administration and in case of failure to get into these fields they got admission to agriculture as a last choice.

`I must tell youth that this institution is contributing a lot and producing more graduates, who can compete in the world job market,` he said.

He expressed the hope the job fair would create opportunities for SAU graduates to create a niche for themselves in the job market.

Ms Durr-i-Shahwar Sadozai of USAID lauded the SAU team for bringing people from diversified fields for the orientation of graduates who were able to get scholarships and jobs on merit.

She said that it was an inspiring event through which graduates could avail themselves of opportunities in job market and get exposurethrough their own talent. The HEC encouraged universities by expanding scholarship program for higher education and studies abroad, she said.

Mohammad Hashim Leghari, former secretary of education Balochistan, praised SAU for organising the job fair and said that it would help students get the much needed guidance and counseling for jobs.

He said that though there was no data on joblessness and job opportunities the national economy, which was based on agriculture, had more potential for jobs. It was a fact that the government could not give jobs to all, so it should encourage institutions to hire graduates on the basis merit, he said.

Prof Mohammad Ismail Kumbhar, director of the SAU advancement and financial assistant, said that they had invited to the job fair different organisations working on agriculture, livestock and other businesses. Some organisations showed interest in conducting interviews of graduates on the spot and provide them jobs, he added.

Imran Hanif Khan, assistant project manager of the university advancement USAID merit and need-based scholarship program, Shahid Qureshi, associate director of Center for Entrepreneurship Development, Karachi, and others also spolce at the workshop.