Z2C Limited, a venture accelerator that invests in and launches MarTech start-ups, has taken yet another step towards increasing the quality and quantity of advertising industry talent in Pakistan.
Through its Publicis Groupe Delivery (PGD) affiliated export-first digital agency Activ8, the accelerator has partnered with digital agency East River and the media science department of Ziauddin University to launch fast-track courses.
Pakistan’s services industry generates under $2 billion annually in aggregate export revenue, while the academic side of the equation produces roughly 10,000 graduates annually. Across the border, India’s services industry generates over $100 billion annually in aggregate exports, and the academic space produces over 500,000 graduates annually.
LinkedIn data clearly reflects that the quality of Indian engineers and marketers is so high that Fortune 500 technology companies set up back offices in the second-most populous country in the world.
According to keynotes delivered by executives of Careem and Systems Limited, the low-quality of Pakistani graduates stems from a disconnect between what the market wants and how academics choose to teach students.
This is particularly reflective in a grading system around memorization instead of on the demonstration of applicable skills and critical thinking.
To solve the disconnect between what the market wants and what universities should teach, partnerships between leading companies and institutions is the need of the hour. One such partnership has taken place this weekend at the Ziauddin University.
