NUST Professional Development Centre in collaboration with Graana held a grand networking event called STIR – Socialise, Transform, Ignite and Reskill, at the university’s Islamabad campus on Friday.
The event brought together an overwhelming number of industry partners to interact, exchange ideas and experiences, and create a more conducive environment for inclusive growth.
Chairman IMARAT Group and CEO of Graana.com, Shafiq Akbar, graced the occasion as chief guest. Prominent amongst others present were NUST Pro-Rector Research, Innovation & Commercialisation, Dr. Rizwan Riaz; Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer of Jazz, Sarwat Salahuddin; Executive Director of SECP, Musarat Jabeen; Executive Director of PAGE, Fajer Rabia Pasha; and Chief Digital Officer of Askari Bank, Shehryar Ali Shah.
Muhammad Ali, Manager NUST PDC, moderated the discussion on the “future of work and workplace” with the esteemed panelists.
While speaking at the occasion, Shafiq Akbar shared the model for success his company had adopted. He said, “Every organization runs on the PPP formula, which stands for the personality of every individual, and the policies and processes, which aid the overall productivity of an organization.”
He asserted that in order to assess and reward every individual in their team, they have unveiled a Growth Index (GI) system, which maps their responsibilities, potential, personality, and career growth plan to help them steer and achieve their goals.
In his address, Dr. Rizwan Riaz apprised the audience that drawing upon the Penta Helix model for sustainable socio-economic growth, NUST provides an ideal platform where academia, government, business leaders, and service providers connect for exploring and tapping business opportunities.
Emphasizing that organizations need trained and diverse human resources, he said that NUST is committed to providing advanced professional training opportunities to transform and inspire the future workforce. He urged the industry partners to further reinforce mutually beneficial collaborations for the greater good of society at large.
He informed the audience that analogous to its regime of offering sublime higher education experience, NUST planned to expand its services portfolio by extending its HR capacity-building training to the length and breadth of the country.
Sarwat Salahuddin stressed the need for adopting a hybrid working model, adding employers need to trust employees working remotely and develop a framework for performance evaluation and management. Rabia highlighted the importance of life and work balance while working from home, especially for working women.
Shehyar talked about the global perspective of the digital future and how technology could be leveraged as an enabler for organizational success. He shared some success stories with the audience on change and human resource management.
NUST Professional Development Centre was established in 2007 under an initiative of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to provide continued education and professional development services to the industry, besides offering training and courses for skill development of its own faculty and staff.