The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan was established in 2002 with the aim of raising the quality bar in higher education and for promoting educational research and development in the country. It was also given the task of implementing reforms in faculty development; promoting excellence in learning and research; developing leadership, management and governance; and development of physical and technological infrastructure.
Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, its first chairman, worked hard for six years to get Pakistani universities to be listed among 500 top ranked universities in the world. In 2008, he resigned to protest budget cuts that would affect foreign scholarship holders. Now the current government has done the same thing and cut the budgets. The federal government has allocated only Rs 58.5 billion for the HEC against a demand for Rs 103 billion. This will seriously affect teaching, research and development in the universities.
The HEC has already cut down and abolished several projects such as the Faculty Development Programme. More recently, the Startup Research Grants Programme for fresh PhD faculty appointed under Interim Placement of Fresh PhDs was also closed. Other faculty members had a chance to apply for research grants under the National Research Programme for Universities. That was also stopped. The HEC has cut the budgets and is providing minimal funds for research.
Furthermore, when the HEC appoints a PhD holder under its IPFP programme for one year it tells the universities that the IPFP appointees should be given a chance to continue by advertising the position. Universities exploit the situation and the positions are not always advertised; when they are advertised, in many universities the IPFP appointees are not given preference in appointment.
Although Punjab and Sindh have a provincial HEC set-up each, both are not playing their role for higher education
Also missing are research travel grants, thematic research grant access of faculty to scientific instruments and equipment, seminars and conference grants and grants for repair and maintenance of scientific instruments/equipment. This will further deepen the higher education crisis in Pakistan and affect Pakistan’s ability to produce scientists, scholars and intellectuals. Scientific development in Pakistan will be seriously affected.
The HEC was expected to publish research papers in high impact factor journals. But researchers lack access to journal papers for using as a reference. How are Pakistani universities, in these conditions, supposed to compete in the world?
During his election campaign Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised that he would give top priority to higher education. However, he has not so far taken any serious initiative for development of universities in Pakistan. Faculty and students are finding it hard to obtain appropriate research grants to continue their work. According to media reports, the HEC has stopped the Indigenous Scholarship Programme for MPhil leading to a PhD degree, as well as all kinds of scholarships for faculty members and students. More than 600 PhD holders are protesting for their jobs. There is mismanagement in the HEC so that faculty members find it difficult to land grants. The HEC has asked vice chancellors to run universities on charity. This is shameful coming for a government claiming to be committed to building a Naya Pakistan.
After the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, federating units were made responsible for education. However, there has never been a clear roadmap of how jurisdictions would materialise. The provincial and federal higher education regulatory commissions are working in parallel with no clear demarcation of authority and boundaries.
Two provinces, Punjab and Sindh, have set up provincial HECs. However, both are not playing their role for higher education. These commissions have not been very active and the central HEC has called them unconstitutional. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have yet to take the step.
The polarization has seriously damaged the repute, credibility and efficiency of the HEC. This issue needs to be addressed urgently. It is naïve to believe that a university can produce scientists, philosophers, doctors, engineers and artists without an adequate budget. Even the finest faculty cannot be expected to accomplish much without research grants. Most of the faculty members and students sent abroad on HEC PhD scholarships have returned to the country on completion of their studies. Many universities started a PhD program because the HEC encouraged universities to start such programs but they did not think with due care about quality.
Nowadays universities are in more crisis; some universities do not have money to pay salaries to their staff. In this situation the HEC should think and give priority to issues of universities and solve their problems so that professors can work in a good environment for the betterment of society and produce good scholars for country.
The writer is an Assistant Professor at Department of Media and Communication Studies University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan