LAHORE: (Friday, March 1, 2024): The government should not establish new general universities because Pakistan needs specialized universities where education and research based on social needs should be promoted. These views were expressed by the speakers while addressing the conference session ‘Media, Industry and Universities linkage for social impact research and practice’ as part of the 9th Invention to Innovation Summit organized by Punjab University Office of Research Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC). On this occasion, Former Chairperson PHEC Dr Nizamuddin, Associate Professor Dr Shabbir Sarwar, Director ORIC Prof Dr Shakil Ahmed, Columnist Daily Jang Dr Mujahid Mansoori, Dr Shafiq Jalandhry, Chairperson PU Department of Elementary Education Prof Dr Abdul Qayyum, Dean Lahore Garrison University Dr Amir Bajwa, Dr Mian Javed, Dr Farasat Rasool, Director Coordination PHEC Rana Tanveer Qasim, Atif Butt, Saber Subhani, Mohsin Ali Turk, Mian Habib Ullah, Dr Sardar Asghar Iqbal, Tayyab Bhatti and others were present. The heads of mass communication departments of all universities and journalists were present as panelists. The speakers said that instead of building new universities, we have to improve the system of existing universities and at the same time promote technical education. The increase in the number of universities and students has created a wave of unemployment because students are still getting the same traditional education which is neither needed by the market nor society. Countries around the world are turning their universities into centers of technical education and skill development. The speakers also expressed their views on the role of the media and universities in the betterment of society. The speakers highlighted the importance of strengthening the relationship between the media industry and academia so that instead of wasting the talent of the students, it leads to their development and the problems of the society can also be solved with it. They also proposed measures to raise the quality of research in Pakistani universities, to meet the needs of the market and society, as well as the accountability of the researchers who received funds of billions of rupees from HEC.