Staff Reporter
National Universtiy of Technology (NUTECH) is a federally chartered Higher Education Commission recognized Islamabad based university, administratively under Ministry of Science & Technology (MoST). NUTECH is envisioned to be an internationally acclaimed university destined to produce national and international industry future leaders of character. The National University of Technology is established as a pioneer ‘University for Industry’ to create, develop and promote emerging technologies for the country. The University’s curricula and academic systems are based on the best international practices of world’s leading technology universities of USA and EU. Its learning systems are designed to promote technology based knowledge eco-system to inspire the youth as promising entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The undergraduate applied engineering programs of NUTECH satisfy Washington accord, ABET and Bologna Process. NUTECH is in the process of planning its main campus to house 40,000 – 50,000 students in future.
Vision: Become Internationally acclaimed technology driven research university for producing industry focused leaders of character, solution providers, challenging technologies innovators and developers to revolutionize technology sector by introducing higher education in the engineering and technology streams along with high end technical/ vocational skills to strengthen national economy for real self-reliance.
Mission: Produce creative and technically sound engineers and technologists augmented by well-trained skilled workforce based on knowledge and technologies creation in a vibrant, innovative and entrepreneurial environment, through modern academic systems and best learning practices, research collaborations and strengthened academia-industrial linkages so as to grow knowledge economy.
Curriculum Design: Following are the salient aspects:-
a. Innovative Learning Cycle. The design covers theoretical foundation (class lectures/ tutorials), proof of concepts (University technology labs work), real world applications of concepts (field/ industrial work), study of best industrial practices in the application of concepts (own time study/ assignments) and students’ group seminars.
b. NUTECH Research System. It has departmental technology research groups for applied industrial research based projects and inter-departmental composite technology research groups for multi-disciplinary technology based research projects.
c. Students Competence Index (SCI). Students’ competence is gauged beyond academics and encompasses CGPA, industry projects/research score, technology for society projects score, sports score and creative societies participation score.
d. NUTECH Technology Laboratories. The objectives are to design & develop technology driven experimentation, instrumentation & gadgetry, establish strong applied research based links with scientific labs, research centers, institutes & professional corporate relations with industry, manage research & knowledge exchange with technology organizations, scientific labs and R&D setups through active collaborations, labs development as knowledge hubs/ technology incubation centers and develop innovative & creative minds through research experiments & industry based technology development projects.
e. NUTECH Learning Outside Class Programs. At the undergraduate level the Multi-Disciplinary Communities Program in Freshmen Year, Career Accelerator Program in Sophomore Year, Technology Leadership Program in Junior Year and 2-year Research Opportunities Program in Junior & Senior Years, Technology Public Service Program and NUTECH Teaching Learning System for faculty.
f. Future Academic Programs. NUTECH plans to offer academic and research programs in Bio Engineering, Bio-Medical Engineering, Nano Science & Engineering, Earth Sciences & Mining, Mechatronics & Robotics, Automation, Instrumentation & Process Control, Renewable Energy Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Aeronautical Engineering, Railways Engineering, Media Technologies, Textile Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, Architecture and Town Planning.
g. Priority Industrial Sectors for Research. Construction & Allied Industry, Automotive Industry (Aviation, Automobiles, Railways), Textile Industry, Electronics, Communication & Information Technology and Biomedical Technology Industry.
International Collaborations: NUTECH has engaged University of Utah, USA, Southeast University, Nanjing China, University of Rome, Tor Vergata Italy, Simon Fraser University, Canada , Changzhou Institute of Technology, China, Sichuan Institute of Industrial Technology, China and Beijing PIESAT Technology Company Ltd, China.
Vocational Education and Skills Development: To cater for technology-based needs of industry, a comprehensive NUTECH Vocational Qualification Framework (NVQF) has been developed and Skills Development Department (NSDD) is established at NUTECH. NUTECH will standardize vocational education at the technical institutes and bring the skills education training at par with the best international practices in partnership with NAVTTC, TEVTAs and foreign collaborations.
Recent Developments: NUTECH has signed MoUs with University of Utah (UU), USA and has completed phase-1 of 8-year plan of collaboration covering faculty trainings. NUTECH is launching ‘Life Long Learning’ skills program covering Outreach plan for placement of semiskilled workforce in Japan and Germany. NUTECH has plans to establish Disruptive Technologies and Skills Park to address challenges of future technologies and high end skills. NUTECH has planned Indus Water Center to address challenges of water issues through technology solutions in future. NUTECH is planning to launch undergraduate programs in artificial intelligence, bio-medical and railway engineering in near future. Government has approved PC-1 to acquire land for future main campus of NUTECH.
Conclusion: NUTECH is conceived to maximize need driven industrial output and productivity. By revolutionizing the engineering and technology education sector in Pakistan, NUTECH will transform raw human resource into invaluable capital and produce qualified workforce to meet the needs of national, regional and international industry and speed up Pakistan’s socio-economic development.
