Ahmed Khan Malik

Industrialists in Balochistan have called for fostering a robust partnership between academia and industry to bridge the skills gap and drive socioeconomic development in the province.
Balochistan lags behind other provinces in industrial production and has not seen any significant progress in this area for many years.

Industry representatives said that the lack of skill development institutes, along with outdated curricula in the province’s educational institutions, poses a major hurdle to ensuring a steady supply of manpower equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge.

The push for stronger industry-academia ties comes amid rising youth unemployment and the underutilisation of Balochistan’s natural resources. Experts believe that fostering collaboration between these sectors could unlock new economic opportunities, reduce brain drain, and uplift local communities.

Industrialists and educators stressed the urgent need to align educational curricula with market demands. They point out that Balochistan, despite its vast mineral and agricultural potential, continues to lag behind in industrial growth due to a shortage of technically skilled professionals and limited research-based innovation.

“Universities must collaborate with industries to produce graduates who are not just degree holders, but industry-ready professionals,” said Naveed Shahwani, a senior member of the Balochistan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI). “We need research that solves real-world problems and students who are trained in modern technologies and management practices,” he told WealthPK.

He said that industry stakeholders propose launching internship programmes, industrial training centres, and joint research initiatives between universities and local businesses. “They have also called on the provincial government to incentivise such collaborations through funding and policy support.”

Shahwani said that industry-academia linkage is instrumental in creating a skilled and industry-oriented workforce. He added that it helps develop a workforce with a specialised skillset tailored to relevant industries, but the linkage has still not been fully developed due to ‘our conventional educational system’.

Representatives from institutions such as the University of Balochistan and the Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) have expressed willingness to engage more deeply with the private sector. “Our students need exposure to practical challenges, and our faculty must contribute to industrial innovation.

This is only possible if we strengthen our partnerships with the industry,” said Dr Shazia Naz, a professor at BUITEMS. She called for the formation of a joint committee tasked with drafting a framework for sustained cooperation between industry and academia in Balochistan. She stressed the need for soft skills, re-skilling and up-skilling, teamwork development, technology adoption, mindset change, demand mapping, and the acceleration of technical and vocational education and training.

“The diversification of education is more important—it would not be wise to direct our students only toward the medical or engineering fields,” she said. Shazia Naz emphasised the importance of providing a platform for students to showcase their abilities and practical skills, while offering industries an opportunity to discover and recruit exceptional talent. “It will provide a productive platform for students to demonstrate their innovative projects and foster their professional development.”

Credit: INP-WealthPk