Awantipora.: As a part of its flagship Community and Industrial Outreach initiatives,
the Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) held two extensive programs to
continue its efforts of bridging the gap between academia, industry, and community. Two
such events organized this week that include a Workshop on Modern Learning & Arabic
Speaking skills for Oriental Islamic Centres and, a special session on ‘Insights on Novel
Product Development’ under Industry-Outreach.
The main speaker on Novel Product Development was Manoj Pareek, Head R&D (Health
Food Drink Category) and R&D Lead site, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Gurugram. During
this session, he focussed on the Global trends for food in 2023, which include health and
well-being, nutrition quality, eco-friendly, and sustainability of food. While emphasizing on
the need for innovative research, Pareek noted that the quality of food and nutritional
value must be kept in consideration. As an expert food technologist, he said, one should look
for consumer needs and then create a possible nutritious innovative solution without
compromising on environmental sustainability.
Addressing the participants, Prof Lily Want (Dean Outreach IUST) said, “CSR (Corporate
Social Responsibility) holds economic as well as ethical values. IUST has made “CSR” an
integral part of academics with a focus on Community connect, Alumni connect, Career
Counselling and Industrial connect, and has ushered a new ecosystem of learning,
opportunities, and inspiration”. She applauded the varsity for its ground-breaking initiatives
in facilitating placements of its students and exposing them to in-demand technical and
professional skills for various industries and helping them to identify employment options
that match their career options.
“IUST organized joint events, workshops, seminars, conferences, and interactive sessions on
a regular basis to share the information about the focus on active research-based solutions to
community problems,”, said Dr. Amir Hussain Dar (Coordinate, Industry Connect, IUST).
The Department of Arabic Language and Literature, IUST organized a workshop for Oriental
Islamic Centres, with the aim to expose them to modern language learning and equip them
with basic Arabic speaking skills.
“Besides, Arabic language skills, our focus was also to enhance skills of participants related
to English language, personality development and time management”, said Dr. Inayat Rasool,
Head Department of Arabic Language and Literature, IUST. The program was coordinated
by Dr. Irshad A Mir, Department’s Community Outreach Coordinator.
Speaking on this occasion, Shazana Andrabi (IUST Coordinator, Community Connect)
encouraged participants to explore more opportunities to improve their language competence
and other communication skills as it can help them to communicate more efficiently.