Daily Times

The universities are believed to be the fountains of knowledge and wisdom where empowerment and transformation of personalities of the nascent generation occurs. They are the only places where brilliant, innovative and creative minds nurture. So, to fulfil the ever-changing national and international requirements, universities are to be equipped with state of the art educational and research technologies and facilities. But, regrettably, most of the universities in Pakistan are in a critical situation and are inept to achieve the expected objectives as they lack encouraging and helping PhD research supervisors, supportive academic environment and latest facilities needed for research studies. This is why in Pakistan the productive research output is near to nothing. It shows that the universities have failed to provide education in line with the 21st century’s requirements.

In 2002, when the University Grants Commission (UGC) was transformed into the Higher Education Commission (HEC), there were around 50 state-owned universities in the country, where about 150,000 students were enrolled, and the annual budget of UGC was approximately Rs 4 billion. In 2018, the number of universities both public sector and private has risen to 180 with more than two million students and the annual funding that HEC gets from the federal government for universities is Rs90 billion. The figure shows that though the government of Pakistan has increased funding and other facilities for universities, yet the standard of higher education has damaged to an unexpected level, instead of improving.

To provide free access to university students to research articles from hundreds of international publishers as well as thousands of international research journals, almost all of the countries in the world have established powerful digital libraries in their universities, which have revolutionised research skills and techniques. In reality, the establishment of the libraries has created convenience and easiness for research scholars, making them capable of facing challenges that emerge in their research work. Regrettably, in many of the universities in Pakistan, graduate and postgraduate students and research scholars are still forced to use old-fashioned and out-of-date research methods and tools. There is lack of equipment and facilities that are a key impediment to productive research. The fact is that the culture of reading, analytical reasoning, critical thinking and research indoctrinates skills and expertise in the youth. But shockingly, in Pakistan, the culture lacks among the university students. The universities inundate the students with reading material rather than developing their own research based opinions and arguments.

Universities in developed countries have established research culture, and the research output has contributed significantly towards their development

In response to a question that what are the essential qualities a PhD supervisor must have, I will say a good supervisor is a guide and mentor, not an encyclopaedia or a self-help book. He or she should have good qualities such as flexibility, inspiration and fascination in his or her professional and personal life both.  A good PhD supervisor, who possesses emotional intelligence to tolerate the dissents and limitations of the students, and integrity and belief in fair dealing, spends sufficient time with the students, not only in the university but also follows them in the laboratory and the field. The supervisor remains in contact with the students, helps them with appropriate journals and discusses the research topic with them regularly. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, many of the PhD supervisors do not have these qualities. On the contrary, they demonstrate vanity, rude and uncooperative behaviour. Like authoritarian rulers, they expect their students to be the most submissive and acquiescent unquestionably. The students falling short of expectations of the supervisors experience titanic adversities. However, many of the students do not accomplish their research work and ultimately decide to leave the work unfinished.

Amidst many other impediments, these are the major obstructions responsible for hampering the cultivation of research culture in Pakistan. The fact is that the productive research helps policymakers to constitute economic, social and scientific policies. Universities in developed countries have established research culture, and the research output has contributed significantly towards the development in economic, social and scientific fields of these countries.

To solve economic, social and scientific problems and to introduce reforms in the higher education system, the government of Pakistan is needed to shoulder the responsibility to create a conducive environment in all universities for healthy, meaningful and fruitful research.

The writer is an academic and can be reached on Twitter @ARShykh

Published in Daily Times, April 16^th 2018.