Daily Times

Higher education in Pakistan has been in dire straits for the longest time. This very important sector of the country is one of the worst examples of leadership deficit. Universities do not have funds to pay salaries and are seeking help from government. Vice chancellors are engaged in hectic meetings to work out ways to keep universities running. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has failed in pleading its case before the government to secure required funds. Its chairman has admitted in media talks and interviews that the higher education sector has at least 45 percent less than needed funds. MS and PhD scholars are the real essence of higher education but these two degrees have been shifted off the priority list of HEC. If this body is not for high-end research in modern disciplines, what is it for? Complaints are rife that this body has morphed into a sort of police station with multiple directors.

Similarly, political intervention in appointments of key officials and even deans and professors in universities is yet another indicator of decay in higher education. Due to this intervention, many universities fail to achieve a rotation mechanism for deans. As a result, politically influential deans are calling the shots at the cost of quality in research. There has to be a system to ensure quality of research, not least at higher levels. Government efforts to establish a link between industry and academia are laudable. This is the way to dig us out of the hole in which we are at present.

People with market experience in the subjects they teach are the need of the hour and their experiences should be utilised to secure our future. It is time that our universities started dispensing practical knowledge, both in social and basic sciences, in addition to theory. Unfortunately, we have only theory teachers who, often enough, do not have the remotest idea about national and international markets for their subjects. Above all, the leadership deficit is taking its toll on this sector. The country needs fresh blood in leadership role instead of people with influence, under whom the rot begins at the top. We need indigenous wisdom to solve our problems and it is hoped that the government would fix this problem so that the paralysis in higher education is finally addressed. *