Daily Times

Universities occupy the driving seat in the social, political and economical evolution of a nation; decadence of them carries seeds of its degeneration as well. They are the nurseries that churn out students ranging from every sphere of a nation social scientists, doctors, engineers, journalist, and military. They are looked upon as the future because they will be an agent to wipe away the mist of crises with unending dawn. Competency and credibility of graduates is contingent upon the kind of education and skills they are equipped with.  Premium has not been placed in scaling up the standard of universities and in bringing them in par with the top hundred universities of the world.

Universities’, though with the formation of Higher Education Commission budget has ramped up from 4 crore to 96 crore, standard of education has subsided and they have become the fiefdom of administration block in Pakistan . They enjoy minimal autonomy in the recruitment of Vice Chancellors and teachers, HEC has began micro manage the affairs of the university, and significantly influence and clout of academics has abated. This is alarming. What results can be predicted when universities are functioned by the whims administrators and managers rather than academics.

Take a dive into the ascendant trajectory of China and South Korea, they allocate 7 percent of the GDP in education; however, Pakistan invests 2.3-2.7 percent of the GDP in it. This is almost three times lower than aforementioned countries. Their universities are challenging the top universities of America and Britain. China is the emerging super power and South Korea is technologically sound in cell phones and automobile industry.

Singapore is the country of 728 km^2, which is smaller than the Islamabad. GDP growth of this is around 4-5 percent and education is liberally incentivized there. This can be gauged from the fact that total budget of National University of Singapore is larger than the total educational budget of Pakistan. Independence this country got in 1965, now, GDP of it accounts for US $ 340 Billion. This reflects that nations are heading forward because their universities are producing graduates that are the engine of growth.

“Libraries are the jugular vein for the universities” maintains by Dr Sherwani.

Research culture has waned in our universities owing to the minimal interest of students and supervisors, deprived are they from the quality libraries that should be  well stocked with recent masterpieces, and financial constraints are beleaguering them.  With such challenges they cannot compete with the universities of the developed countries.

Vice Chancellors in our universities exercise minimal autonomy in university matters . At a micro level, they are supervised by the HEC. Autonomy has not been conferred to them. Instead of playing the role of facilitator, it is acting as administrator which will be further bleak the future of universities.

Till date, 12000 PHDs are produced by various institutes in Pakistan, and of them 6000 are women PHDs.  Their research is inconsistent with the needs of the society. Great chasm there is between their research and their  impacts on the society. Result oriented research should be conducted that will help our nation to sail through the crisis smoothly.

1 percent of the GDP must be earmarked for the higher education as declared by the HEC Chairman, Tariq Banuri. Through this universities will ensure quality education and will invest in bringing out productive research. Universities, in Pakistan should shift from summative approach of exams  to open book that will be lucrative in developing critical skills and will diversify their mental horizons as well.

For bringing reforms in universities necessitate the rectification of internal mechanism which entails the institutionalization of the academic practices, and meritocracy must be ensured in the recruitment of VCs and teachers.

Focus should be made on the faculty development. Institutions move to decadence because of inadequate teachings and incompetent teachers. Teaching department should be financed highly to attract the best minds. It is only possible through addressing their insecurities about pays and other privileges.

University to industry linkages should be ramped up because they will bolster  universities financially. Through the refine research of the students, industry will enhance the quality of its products which will further give pecuniary benefits to industry.

Public sector universities should offer quality teachings on the social sciences subjects that deal with challenges of the society. Entrants in social sciences are 14000; however, 64000 students are enrolled in subjects of pure sciences. Policy makers do not want the class that will question their policies and, certainly, if students of liberal arts are enlightened with quality knowledge, they will pinpoint the myopic policy making of decision makers. To avoid this policy makers encourage pure sciences.

If Pakistan wants to catch up with developed countries, it will have to scale up the standards of its universities. Otherwise, it will be a pipe dream.