The Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology (SSUET) on Sunday announced to start collaboration with the George Mason University (GMU) in the United States (US).
Dr Mehtab Karim, a senior fellow and affiliated professor from the School of Public Policy at GMU, visited SSUET and delivered a lecture on the “Role of Youth in National Development: Examples from Karachi”.
In his lecture, Dr Karim said that the youth played an important role in the socio-economic development and growth of a country. He was of the view that in the last three or four decades, the proportion of youth in the total US population had decreased, while old age population had increased. The old age population needs social security and health care which requires resources, he added.
In Islamic countries, he continued, fertility had not declined as much as in other countries, with the result that there was a bulge of population in the age group of 10-29 years. He said that the said group was productive and could contribute significantly to socio-economic development and political changes in the country. Talking about Pakistan, he said it had a sizeable proportion of youth population and if properly guided, it could become a force for socio-economic development in the country.
Dr Karim also held detailed discussions with SSUET Chancellor Z A Nizami about possible collaborations with universities in the country and abroad. Nizami said that SSUET already had such a collaboration with many US and UK universities and would like to collaborate with George Mason University.
