VC points out universities’ key role in research

By EREBIRI ZURENUOC
Universities are not there only to teach students to have a degree, says University of Technology (Unitech) acting vice-chancellor Dr Ora Renagi.
He said universities like Unitech were supposed to be pinnacle institutions that were driving research and development to contribute effectively and positively to the needs and demands of industry.
“The industries will not support research that is irrelevant to their business,” Renagi said.
“We have to redirect our research to engage in industry effectively, so that they will become people who will support our research and development.
“In doing that, the students are also taking up courses that are expressed by national demand.
“This means we also have to review our curriculum to meet the demands of industry.”
Renagi said if lecturers were doing research that was directed towards industry, then the teaching trickled down to the students so that they were trained to become qualifying engineers.
He said that these were some of the challenges that Unitech was currently facing.
“We may not be able to invent new things, but we can critically evaluate and apply science and technology to build industry within our nation,” Renagi said.
“When we talk about industry, it talks about technology.”