Innovation in Teaching Pedagogies can initiate Change
Superior University is an exalted university due to its innovative approach to ensuring student success and driving excellence in learning, innovation, and research. Chaudhary Muhammad Akram Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CMACED) is an ebullient unit of this university and is all about transmuting the students’ lives to ultimate success. It has always been leading the entrepreneurship drive from the front so that we may set an example for others on how mindsets evolve for a more significant cause of making Pakistan economically Superior. We are firm believers in collaborating to accomplish social and economic improvement.
CMACED pioneered and advanced the teaching methods for the entrepreneurial revolution. To teach entrepreneurship, our seven phased pedagogies include Entrepreneurial mindset in action, Idea Generation, Prototyping, Poster Exhibition, Entrepreneurial Forum, Business Model, and Art of the pitch. Initial Screening Round (ISR) is a fantastic example of an innovative teaching method promoted by CMACED’s Entrepreneurial Teaching and Training Program (ETTP). It’s the best way to find the most innovative startup ideas. In addition to professional displaying each particular idea, ISR encourages students to develop prototypes for proposed business/startup ideas.
It is an ultimate way to filter the astonishing student startup ideas presented at Superior Entrepreneurial Expo. The main objectives of this Assessment are to screen the best entrepreneurial ideas for Superior Entrepreneurial Expo and connect the startup teams with the entrepreneurial community. Developing an entrepreneurial mindset in Pakistan to foster the growth of small and medium businesses can be a key indicator of economic and social development.
ISR is basically an initial screening round of the startups in the Entrepreneurial Teaching & Training Program cycle. CMACED organized ISR 2022 from 16th May – to 24th May. The students from the diversified departments of Superior University, i.e., MS, Aviation Management, Mass Communication, Architecture, Interior Designing, Textile Designing, Pharmacy, Electrical Engineering, CS, IT, Software Engineering, Hospitality & Management, Bio-Technology, Bio-Chemistry, Micro Biology, Optometry, Human Nutrition & Dietetics, Medical Imaging Technology, Human Nutrition & Dietetics, and Medical Lab Sciences presented their innovative startup ideas. In total, 19 departments and ten faculties participated in it. There was a total of 318 Projects which got evaluated by esteemed judges. 2200+ students participated in ISR, and a total of 113 coaches and 21 remarkable instructors prepared them for this round. The Initial Screening Round Projects were divided into four categories, e.g., Social, Economic, Environmental, and Health.
Sixty-seven venerated evaluators, 39 evaluators came from the industry and they were market experts and 28 evaluators from within the university shared their valuable insights and feedback to strengthen student business ideas and make them successful future entrepreneurs. This is a fantastic example for students to establish their identity and nurture their innovative ideas into a viable business and is being promoted under the umbrella of CMACED, Superior University Lahore.
In a mere four years, the CMACED- ETTP has incubated many startups that generated numbers of jobs. Entrepreneurship for the students and faculty is not the only thing CMACED is doing; it is also putting efforts nationwide through its different projects to bring entrepreneurial revolution. Despite promising trends, Pakistan still has a long way to go before it can call itself a mature startup market. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) 2021, Pakistan ranks 109 out of 137 countries.
The mission of Superior University is to make Pakistan economically and socially superior with the help of unique and exceptional ideas which become prodigiously beneficial for our country. The ecosystem is now thriving, more youth is considering entrepreneurship as a viable career option, and the investment landscape is structuring in the country. Youth is the asset of our country, and a majority of our youngsters are jobless because passed graduates and job ratio per year are not even nearly equal, so there is a dire need for entrepreneurs and the youngsters who can innovate, and only then we can think of making Pakistan progressive.