ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has urged the need for utilizing online and virtual platforms to promote and market Pakistan’s Arts and Crafts, Fashion, Designs, and Textile products at the international level, adding that increasing the presence of goods on virtual and online platforms could help popularize innovative Pakistani fashion products.
The President expressed these views during his visit to the Pakistan Institute of Fashion Design (PIFD), Lahore, on Monday. First Lady Begum Samina Arif Alvi also accompanied the President during the visit.
During the visit, the President was briefed by the Institute’s administration about the role, performance, educational facilities, and the future plans of the institute. During the briefing, the President said that in order to make students a productive part of society in a short time, they should be equipped with skills through short term courses.
He said the world was already imparting education and skills to fulfill market’s needs through short term courses. He said associate degree holders and specialized certificate holders were being given employment in different sectors of the economy in different parts of the globe.
The President said that universities must adopt innovative and out of the box solutions to enhance the number of graduates and skilled professionals. He added that in western countries, especially the USA, universities had already started imparting education at a massive scale using online courses.
He further said that online education could help reduce the educational costs, besides training a greater number of students within a short time. He urged the need to increase the number of graduates using online and virtual modes of learning.
The President appreciated PIFD, Lahore for its academia-industry linkages and its collaboration with national and international universities and organizations for the promotion of research and innovation in the field of Fashion and Design. He also visited the thesis display and appreciated different Fashion and Design products prepared by the Institute’s students.