News Desk
KARACHI: Habib University has achieved a milestone in higher education with the launch of the Institute of Design Thinking, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership (IDEAL), a pioneering initiative aimed at promoting agile problem-solving, entrepreneurial thinking, and collaborative leadership.
The inauguration ceremony, held at the university’s campus, featured a keynote address by its President Professor Wasif Rizvi, followed by a talk from Susan Giesecke, Director of Engagements at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET) at UC Berkeley, and Susan Giesecke, Director of Engagements at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology (SCET) at UC Berkeley, and Sarah Stein Greenberg, Executive Director of Stanford University’s d.school and a member of Habib University’s Board of Governors.
IDEAL builds on the University’s commitment to innovation, adding to its history of academic spaces like The Playground: Centre for Transdisciplinarity, Design, and Innovation, and The Horizon, a classroom that promotes collaboration and critical thinking. This initiative further strengthens Habib University’s role as a leader in higher education, bringing together academia and industry in a space where students and professionals can co-create solutions to real-world challenges. It also makes Habib University the first institution in Pakistan to incorporate design thinking into its curriculum.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, Wasif Rizvi said: “How do we continuously inspire and cultivate engagement and community building around learning, innovation, entrepreneurship, and collaboration among our students, faculty, and the industry? IDEAL is the next step in creating this new reality in higher education that is eager and willing to continue to reinvent itself.”
Susan Giesecke, who has extensive expertise in corporate innovation and global partnerships. highlighted the importance of design thinking in promoting creativity, adaptability, and cross-sector collaboration.
Sarah Stein Greenberg said: “When we teach in traditional boxes, that’s how we start to think. That’s how we start to be acculturated. Having a physical environment that reflects flexibility, innovation, and experimentation is key to unlocking that behavior in both faculty and students.”
The launch also included the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marking strategic partnerships with industry leaders. These collaborations will integrate real-world challenges into academic experience, equipping the students with the skills they need to succeed in an unpredictable future.
IDEAL’s vision is to redefine the learning experience by integrating executive education, collaborative innovation labs, and design leadership programs. This approach allows both students and industry professionals to develop future-proof strategies, ensuring they remain adaptable in an ever-changing world. Attendees of the event expressed their excitement about the transformative potential of IDEAL, anticipating that it will reshape the relationship between education and industry and help produce the next generation of proactive, empathetic, and innovative leaders.
With the launch of IDEAL, Habib University reaffirms its mission to lead the way in reimagining higher education, ensuring that its students are not just prepared for the future, but are actively shaping it.
rafiq@biztoday.news
