Knocking-Out The Invalid?

Trailblazing through 10 university campuses, picking up students on the way for personalized mentoring sessions with the industry figureheads, Campus Conversations managed to catalyze an ongoing process of conversations between the industry and the academia. Post conversing, the immediate step to follow is connecting, bringing the industry and the academia across each other on a much larger scale with each walking out with a set of responsibilities towards the other. Connecting both ends of a burgeoning workforce is exactly what Campus Connexions did!

Trailblazing through 10 university campuses, picking up students on the way for personalized mentoring sessions with the industry figureheads, Campus Conversations managed to catalyze an ongoing process of conversations between the industry and the academia. Post conversing, the immediate step to follow is connecting, bringing the industry and the academia across each other on a much larger scale with each walking out with a set of responsibilities towards the other. Connecting both ends of a burgeoning workforce is exactly what Campus Connexions did!

Structured in a way to promote a smooth flow of conversations between the academia, the student body and the faculty, Campus Connexions started with a mentor train with both the academia and the industry on-board followed by a Knockout Round and a Board of Fame.

Where the Mentor Train rotated mentors across tables with each mentor allotted a time limit for each table and a topic educating students on the common-most concerns, it was the Knockout Round that opened many of these issues to the floor. Fighting the Knockout round with all their might, the most convincing representative from the students, the faculty and the industry was declared the winner.

Do you agree?

Breaking the glass wall between the industry and the academia when the role play of faculty is often underestimated, the Knockout opened to the floor preconceived notions or misconceptions of each, held by the other that constrain fruitful communication and a healthy networking between the two.

In a crossfire that followed, the range of topics debated amongst the three stakeholders included:

• Companies do not want innovators. They want team leads.
• Comfort zone: Branded university, English accent, High salary, job in a
• Multi-national. Why does the society only reward the comfort zone?
• The Industry doesn’t care to teach and the academia burdens the students without any experience.
• Students graduate every year. How many jobs are there in the market?
• There is no scope for IT in Pakistan and no eco system for entrepreneurship.
• Your expectations are unrealistic. You can’t get a managerial position job in the beginning. The students have no idea of what is going on.  Job Security v/s nationalism. Give us an incentive to stay in Pakistan.

Judged on grounds of addressing the other sides’ misconception strategically, understanding both sides of the debate, using empirical evidence to address the questions raised, using a final statement to summarize the arguments in a persuasive way, using the allotted time effectively, and having inspired the audience, the Knock-Out Round came to wrap with Tehmina Lodhi (Faculty), Shoaib Nizami (Industry), and Arifa Batool (Student) declared winners.

Coming to a close, the Knockout Round managed to raise an even discussion on issues that become excuses, blocking all communication efforts between the industry and the academia.

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