'Upskilling in tech, managerial leadership key to landing modern jobs'

Students should enhance their managerial and leadership skills as well as knowledge of various forms of technology, including artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and quantum computing in order to keep up with changing business paradigms, teachers and technology experts have suggested.

Students also need to improve in teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving and interpersonal skills so that communication does not become a wall in their future lives, they said at a session on "Employability and Skills Summit" at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST) in the capital on Thursday.

The main objective of the day-long summit, jointly organised by the School of Business of AUST and Thriving Skills Ltd, was to accelerate skills-focused recruitment.

More than 500 students, 19 different organisations, and 30 speakers joined the summit, which covered seminars, masterclasses, industry-academia dialogue, and job fairs.

The summit was organised to bring industry and academia together with the goal of lessening the gap between demand for and supply of skills and to enhance job seekers' skills to ensure employability.

As chief guest, Professor Muhammad Fazli Ilahi, vice-chancellor of AUST, said, "Soft skills are the most important skill to develop management and leadership. Students should put prime emphasis on teamwork, critical thinking, networking, problem-solving, and communication skills so that they can improve their ability to work with others and can have a positive influence on their future careers."

The guest of honour, Professor Mohammed Mahbubur Rahman, pro-vice-chancellor of AUST, said that students should emphasise co-curricular activities that will help to develop their holistic development and assist them in developing critical skills and abilities to be successful and happy in 21st-century life and workplaces.

The special guest, Syed Nuruddin Ahmed, founder chairman of Thriving Skills Limited and managing director of Maxwell Stamp Limited, said, "We believe in nourishing a culture of innovative and entrepreneurial mindsets among students and faculties of participating universities so that they can transform society with impactful innovations, especially in tackling some of the pressing challenges before and harnessing available opportunities for Bangladesh."

He reminded of Bangladesh's goal of achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030 and being a developed country by 2041.

Special guest Masud Khan, chairman of Unilever Consumer Care Ltd, said, "The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is a technological shift affecting cultures and economies all over the globe. It reflects the creation and advancement of a wide range of modern technologies that are stirring breakthrough innovations and inventions across sectors."

"Students should enhance their knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, augmented reality (AR), Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing, genetic engineering, quantum computing, and other technologies so that they can keep up with changing business paradigms," he said.

Another special guest, Shibbir Mahmud, chairman of Swiss Tex Group, said that presentation of skills is one of the essential skill sets for students in institutions of higher learning. 

"The main purpose of emphasising presentation skills in higher education is to help develop professionalism in the learning environment. In this era of technological advancement, students can enhance their presentation skills by using high-tech equipment, thus improving their ability to present information professionally," he said.

Professor Saleh Mohammed Mashehdul Islam, dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at AUST, delivered the welcome speech, while Professor SM Shafiul Alam, head of the School of Business at AUST, presided over the session.

The Business Standard (TBS) and Deepto TV were media partners of the summit supported by Akij Venture Ltd. Maxwell Stamp Limited was the strategic partner of the event.