There is an unfortuante practice in the education sector to make dishonest and exaggerated claims about rankings of institutions of higher education and their degree programmes. Many parents fall for these claims and throw good money for the education of their children in some of these institutions.
Which is not to say that ranking is not a reality. It is. A number of very reputable organisations monitor and analyze university programmes and facilities and rank them according to objective criteria. The rankings are known to encourage competition, which at the end of the day, results in improvement of quality standards. The rankings are accessible world over and can be easily verified by approaching the evaluating bodies. However, the word ‘ranking’ is now being used in our part of the world to lure potential students for easy money. The good news is that the Competition Commission of Pakistan has started taking action against the higher education institutions misleading students and their parents with false claims about rankings. This week the CCP has fined a university Rs 5 million for making false claims regarding its rankings. The order was passed after the university was found in violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010.
An inquiry by the CCP concluded that the university had indeed made many false claims in its prospectus and other promotional material regarding its ranking and accreditation apparently to persuade the gullible to seek admission in its programmes.
The university claimed to be among the top 10 in South Asia and the best accredited in Pakistan. Nor has it been alone in the dirty business.
The Commission found that such practices allow these institutions to undercut the business interests of their competitors. Some of those not coming up with false rankings claims are also not doing so well. Only five Pakistani universities have made it to QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2019 has no Pakistani university in its list of top 500 institutions of higher education. Scroll down and you find only nine Pakistani universities in the top 1,000 universities in the Times Higher Education Emerging Economies University Rankings 2019 list.
Taken seriously, the rankings can be used to improve education standards. These rankings are done on 13 performance indicators including teaching, research, knowledge transfer, university-industry links and international outlook.
It is time to take the word ‘ranking’ seriously. The CCP has done its job. The Higher Education Commission has its job cut out for it. *