‘Students of today need to grow intellectually’

The Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Department of Management, held the 9th Management Discussion (MD) Forum at the main campus in Karachi on Wednesday.

The event was organised for the purpose of sharing knowledge, networking, faculty development and industry outreach. IBA Assistant Professor Usman Nazir introduced the audience to the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) and talked about the issues related to the online courses.

Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, professor emeritus at the University of Karachi, was the chief guest speaker, who delivered a presentation on MOOCS and the importance of learning blended courses, some of which he supervises at different organisations under different roles.

He also talked about the MOOCS application which uses an integrated approach to arranging courses according to the student’s education level. Commenting on the future of MOOCS, Dr Rahman said, “Students of today need to grow intellectually in their life. There are emerging fields such as genomics and artificial intelligence that are coming in 20 years’ time and so many exciting happenings coming our way.

“Knowledge has become fascinating and MOOCS enrolment has grown enormously, demonstrating that there is a higher demand for webinar sessions and high quality research journals.”

The session was attended by Executive Director IBA Dr Farrukh Iqbal, Associate Dean Dr Huma Baqai, Associate Dean Faculty of Computer Science Dr Sayeed Ghani, Director Talent Hunt Programs Dr Zeenat Ismail and Associate Professor Jami Moiz, Professor of Practice Leon Menezes along with IBA students and other faculty members.

The forum provided a platform to discuss pertinent issues facing the education industry and the profession of an academician. Towards the end of the forum, a question-answer session ensued between the speaker and students. One of the students discussed the possibility of an “equivalent exemption” and the lack of incentive for university-going students who are preoccupied with their university course-load.

Dr Rahman responded by saying that the MOOCs provide flexibility to accommodate different academic needs and that students will not feel overburdened if they enjoy the process of learning. Concluding the event, Dr Iqbal presented Dr Rahman with a token of appreciation.