Campus Conversations: Bit by Bit, Frame by Frame at Iqra University

The group shot at Iqra University

And so the Campus Conversations team was over at Iqra University earlier today to interact with students from the Media Sciences Department with a dynamic panel that had the likes of Sabeen Mahmud from T2F, Jehan Ara from P@SHA, Amyn Farooqui, co-CEO and Co-Founder of Sharp Image, Sawant Ali Shah Strategy Director at Yello.pk and Khalid Mehmood from ESPN-CricInfo.

Attended by approximately 75 students who were studying Advertising, Design, Animation and Film-Making, this was the first non-core IT group that the Campus Conversations team interacted with through the program. The result? Well, the line of questioning by the students was definitely different.

More students in the Media Sciences were interested in innovation than the other batches of students we’ve interacted with. A young man interested in game development and finding out what prospects the local industry held for him, or a young girl who was a student of Marketing and Advertising was in the process of tweaking her career path towards electronic media because of the great experience she had during her internship at a television channel, was the kind of music we were hearing.

As with all students, they seem to be constantly faced with a solid brick wall and gain little insight into the real workings of the industry. Despite the fact that Iqra has the benefit of having industry heavy weights come in and deliver lectures, students need time…. something every professional seems to have very little of.

Is the industry creating any noise? Is it worth your while to work in Pakistan?

By noise, we’re obviously referring to whether or not students find it ‘worth their while’ to work with local companies. Are the stakes high enough, is the exposure grand enough or is there enough monetary incentive in it. Worth is an interesting valuation which needs to be mixed in with a bit of empathy from both sides.

We asked a question and were jilted by the response received. We asked how many students thought that there were jobs in the market. The gloom and doom in the lack of opportunities and fewer than many ways to actually get those doors opened, was startling.

You have to understand that most of these non-traditional verticals are still in their nascent stage of their life cycle. Be it animation or film making, advertising or media in general. Even so far as IT is concerned, there are pockets of great work being done, but then they are, after all, just pockets. Amyn points out, “No, we’re not making enough noise. But then we’re also not hearing much from the other side.” And then we hold our breath as Sabeen asks the pointed question, “We never had these opportunities or platforms in our time, yet we still created innovation because we felt we needed to. Who said that an industry or a company can only grow if there is already a market for it?”

The moral of the story at the end of this discussion? If the noise isn’t there, go ahead and join like-minded people who will help you to change that.

Passing the grades – failing the attitude

You probably can’t point a finger at the students for not trying enough. If they struggle amongst their own immediate reference network, they may not get very far. But you can’t blame the industry either since the ones who are the innovators, are relatively smaller in size, which means they are already struggling with the limited resources that they generate. But as rightly put, everyone has to start somewhere.

What the academia is investing in skills and transfer of knowledge, it is severely lacking in motivation and hope. But the fact of the matter is that there is hope and a way to reach out to the professional communities. Whether its technical guidance or mentoring, there are ways that individual students can help themselves through online communities, forums and through the power of online professional and social networking.

There are countless examples and endless hours of seminars that can be conducted. However here’s a tip to all the students who think there is no hope in Pakistan: Help yourself, because unless you show initiative and interest in doing something worthwhile with yourself, nobody else will invest their time and energy with you.

On the whole, the Media Sciences students at Iqra University were a great experience to interact with. They asked questions that had nothing to do with the books and had everything to do with removing the immediate hurdles in their career path that stands between them and a successful future.

It’s all about the passion and the fire that consumes you to make an impact. To make something of yourself. That’s what each of the panelist had to offer to the students.

What’s next?

A lot of students stayed behind and exchanged cards and networked with the panelists… Let’s see where this interaction goes. As with all the other universities we’ve conducted Campus Conversations sessions in, we’ll keep writing to the Placement Office, spread the word about the Mentor Nashtas and the Internship opportunities and keep all of you posted about what the success rate through this conversation was.

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