The role of universities in Higher Education has been the single crucial factor in changing the fate of the nations which has transformed the societies in various ways. We have seen the revolution in West where we have seen higher seats of learning such as Cambridge and Harvard who are not only playing a pivotal role in the growth and development of their nations along with number of other top-ranking Universities. Therefore, the real role of university in national building is to provide a platform for knowledge synthesis, innovation & technology, and enriching their students with diverse sets of skills and personality attributes to make them not only employable, but the one who has potential to create opportunities for other fellow citizens in competitive job market. The mission of the KUM is to develop approaches to address the main challenges local communities in particular & the country in general is facing currently and convert them into opportunities by creating and co-creating through new knowledge generation, innovation, technology and refinement of new approaches/techniques. The importance of empowering communities and imparting necessary training to adopt to new technologies/disruptive technologies using integrated approaches can-not be overemphasized and Kohsar University Murree is optimistic in developing such Ecosystem intrinsic to maintain the high level of trainings to prepare skilled workforce to meet not only the local challenges but becoming globally relevant institute of higher learning in the light of SGDs.
R&D is imperative to enhance the country’s competitiveness in the global market through product and process innovation. Most of all there has to be a complete Ecosystem in place giving the overall campus life experience to the student with the traits of leadership, ccharacter bbuilding, discouraging the inclination towards drugs & narcotics, addressing psychological stresses in addition to providing them best pedagogical approaches for active learning and equipping them with 21 century’s range of skills during their stay at campuses. The modern world is based on a strong scientific knowledge-based economy, derived from innovation and there are various ways we can foster such Ecosystem on our campus to promote R & D culture around self-sustaining & knowledge coupled with skill-based Education-Ecosystem. We have witnessed the tremendous growth of emerging Biotech Industry, AI based Digital platforms to real life challenge solution providers in all walks of lives including environmental ecofriendly solutions to renewable energy solutions to resilient crops & businesses surviving challenges in the wake of Climate change and COVID-19 Pandemic. In this regard, Promoting Entrepreneurship at Campuses, inspiring youth and monitoring their Journey from Degree to Employment or rather becoming employment provider is key to carefully monitor the growth and direction of the Universities so to continuously review their policies to improve the outcome-based learning environment. The recent VCs conference Punjab Universities, organized by Kohsar University Murree, was a great success in terms of bringing all stakeholders on one platform with one mission of establishing linkage to solve real-life challenges Pakistan is currently facing and preparedness for future.
Kohsar University Murree in its almost 2 years life span has been able to establish Ecosystem, with the limited available funding, equipped with the necessary skill-based 5 laboratories including smart classrooms and establishing its ORIC office and incubation center is on the way to be established next to enhance students-teachers-communities & industry interactions for not only Innovation to happen but also implemented. We strongly believe that with the passage of time and strengthening of university infrastructure and availability of more space it will be one of the leading Universities of its type in the Region solving problems of the real world through real people.
Prof. Dr. Habib Ali Bokhari is leading Kohsar University Murree as it’s first Vice Chancellor. He is ambitious to benefit the community by transforming the existing challenges into opportunities during the infancy period of this institute. His commitment to provide students conducive resourceful environment equipped with the state of the art experimental laboratories and extensive hands on training by highly professional faculty for the accomplishment of world class professionals will make the difference for quality of education.
It’s worth mentioning here that the Honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Imran Khan inaugurated at Punjab House on April 23, 2021. The university have been fortunate to receive generous funding for developing Infrastructure, attracting dedicated pluralistic research community to provide distinctive learning experience. Hiring of highly foreign qualified and experienced PhD’s is in plan before the start of five new programs of fall semester along with previous BS-programs. In the meanwhile, many young PhDs have joined us and in the years ahead I hope and see KUM:
• Encouraging young brains to think vividly and independently in application of scientific knowledge to solve the complex issues of poverty and health exposed after the pandemic.
• Promotion of great inter-disciplinary research center with high social and economic impact.
• Active contributor in global knowledge of ecological protection and climate change.
• Establishing and sustaining partnerships with national and international universities.
• A forum for dialogue and engagement on critical local national or international issues.
• Stands for integration and coherence, innovation, solution-oriented research and development, first-class infrastructure and high teaching quality integrating well the state-of-the-art knowledge relevant to both business and society.
In the end, VC Dr Habib Bukhari sincerely hopes that the serene and highly conducive environment provided by the highly skilled and qualified faculty will certainly encourage our students to become part of a dynamic and thriving community of innovators, originators, and leaders. Students are welcome to experience the beauty of education in a beautiful campus.
