Earlier MUET had three directorates viz. Directorate of Research, Continuing Education and Industrial Liaison which were offering various services to the engineering community, industry, and society for example – continuous engineering and technical awareness, communication skills, confidence build measures, strategic and time management skills through organization of various workshops and seminars, arrangement of internships, keeping records of research and tracking citation record of faculty members. Despite all this, there were various bottlenecks and improvements required to achieve the best possible results out of the vested resources of the university. This was only possible through continuous reform and improvements in research policies, objective-oriented relationships with industry, and demand bases continuing education courses.
Owing to the importance of the aims and objectives of the aforementioned directorates in the improvement of the ranking of this university, a new directorate has been established namely the Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC).
Aims and objectives of the newly established Directorate of ORIC are as under:
- Supporting the university’s strategic research directions and policies
- Increasing and diversifying external research funding
- Providing the guide-lines to faculty, officials, and students of the university for acquiring the various grants
- Improving recruitment and retention of top faculty
- Improving transformation of research into the public benefit (patent development)
- Strengthening university-industry relationships
- Promoting entrepreneurship, technology-transfer and commercialization activities that energize and support the local and national economy
- Organization of continual professional development (CPD) courses
- Effective use of infrastructure, equipment, and human resources
- Enhancement in the university’s endowment fund
In pursuance of the above objectives, the directorate has developed the database of Ph.D. faculty including their impact factor, citation factor, projects funding, and other achievements/contributions, has organized various events on campus.