A delegation of the Need and Hope Foundation (NHF) and overseas alumni visited the Electrical Engineering Department of Mirpur University of Science and Technology (MUST) on Wednesday to discuss career counselling, skills development, and employment opportunities for students, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP). The delegation included former MUST Registrar Engineer Muhammad Waris, Engineer Naeem Parvaiz Raza, Engineer Aziz Akhtar Choudhry, Engineer Nadeem Raza, Engineer Sajid Ali Choudhry, Engineer Nasir Mehmood Qazi, Engineer Muhammad Ilyas Mughal, and Shahzada Iqbal. Department Head Dr Muhammad Ilyas Menhas also attended the meeting, which took place at the university in Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
The delegation proposed establishing a multipurpose skills development centre and a career counselling cell at the university. The two facilities are meant to equip students with market-oriented skills, practical experience, and professional guidance, so that graduates can compete for jobs more effectively. Engineer Naeem Parvaiz Raza stressed the importance of vocational training and practical learning alongside academic qualifications, while other alumni pledged support for initiatives aimed at improving students’ career prospects. The proposal reflects a concern that engineering degrees alone often do not prepare graduates for the workplace, and that exposure to hands-on training, mentoring, and advice on career choices can help close that gap.
Dr Menhas appreciated the alumni’s engagement and said stronger ties between graduates and the university could help expand academic and professional opportunities for students. The proposal builds on an existing relationship between NHF and the university. MUST’s own website reports that NHF, led by Waris, has funded scholarships for engineering students, including an award ceremony in which Rs2 million was distributed to 41 students, and that the foundation’s alumni came from the first four batches of the former University College of Engineering and Technology, which admitted students from 1981 to 1984. Those alumni have since worked in different parts of the world, which gives the university a network of graduates abroad who can offer advice and connections to current students.
MUST was established in 2008 by upgrading the Ali Ahmed Shah University College of Engineering and Technology, which was set up in 1980 under the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The university was created to provide higher education in science and technology to the youth of AJK, including the Kashmiri diaspora. The APP report on the visit does not say when the skills development centre and career counselling cell might open, how they would be funded, which skills they would focus on, or whether the university has formally approved the proposals. For now, the meeting shows alumni and the university moving towards a joint plan, and the next step would be a decision by the university on how the proposed centre would be set up and run.
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