HYDERABAD: Sindh Higher Education Commission`s chairman Dr S.M. Tariq Rafi said on Sunday that industrial growth could only be achieved when it was linked with higher educational institutions.

He was speaking at the concluding day of the 28th convocation of Mehran University of Engineering and Technology (MUET), Jamshoro, said a press release issued by the university.

He regretted that productive and mutually beneficial liaison between educational and industrial institutions was eluding the country.

Nowhere in the world industrial entities progressed without links with universities, he said.

He urged the university`s faculty to visit industrial bodies and said engineers should become job providers.

Pakistan Engineering Council`s chairman Wasim Nazir said that students would now be enrolled in the council after conferment of degrees on them. They would no longer need to visit Islamabad for registration as it would be done in their university, he said.

He said that it was natural that one got worried about employment opportunities after receiving ones` degrees.

But, he said, those who aligned themselves with market`s needs always led a prosperous life.

He said that world was wit-nessing changes faster than ever in the era of Artificial Intelligence. The world would change even further in future, he said.

He said that engineers` laborious work must be laced with intelligence and wisdom.

Those who believed in creativity would excel and the life of professional engineers would undergo sudden change and they would even have to stay away from their parents and families due to professionalrequirements, he said.

Secretary Information and Technology Noor Ahmed Sammo said that MUET was producing quality engineers.

The university had played a great role in education and training of the youth.

The varsity`s VC Prof Dr Tauha Hussain Ali, who chaired the convocation, said that the 20th batch of the university faced pandemic driven difficulties. This day belonged to parents and students, he said.He said the students were actual ranking of the varsity andexpressedthehope thevarsity`s graduates would play their role in Pakistan`s and Sindh`s development.

Fourteen students were awarded gold and 10 silver medals. A total of 269 graduates received degrees in the first session, 268 in the second and 283 in the third session of the convocation.

A job fair inaugurated by PEC and SHEC chairmen wasalso organised on the sidelines of event where over 50 companies and organisations interviewed students and announced jobsforsuccessfulaspirants.

The inaugural session of the convocation was addressed by PPP Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardarion Saturday.

He dealt upon the key national issues of climate change, rising sea levels, unpredictable weather patterns and resultant threat of food insecurity.

He also underscored importance of the Indus civilisation saying that our ancestors lived in harmony with nature and designed the systems that respected flows of rivers. He told the students that they belonged to a legacy that was more profound than they might realise, adding that to be heirs of such a remarkable civilisation meant, you [fresh graduates] carried responsibility tohonor thelegacy,he said.

The PPP chairman stressed on harnessing renewable energy more efficiently, designing buildings or cities not just modern but environmentally sustainable and work with rural communities to introduce climate-smart agriculture practices that ensured food security without depleting resources.

Sindh Assembly Speaker Awais Qadir Shah, ministers Sharjeel Inam Memon, Sardar Shah and MPA Sohail Siyal, who are MUET graduates, attended the convocation.

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also spoke to students on the opening day.