The top educationists of the world tell us that a good university should be a place of light, liberty and learning. There are 210 universities, 127 public and 83 private, in Pakistan today. How many of these meet the above criteria? And, how many are included in the international or even a regional league of top educational institutions? Leaving a few out, the rest are just surviving on the margin. They hardly meet the standard quality criteria of academic activities set for the modern universities. The public universities and degree-awarding postgraduate colleges receive huge grants from the national budget, but show little concern for the universally accepted efficiency criteria. Hence they continue working at sub-optimal level of efficiency, without any regard for accountability standards.
We believe the decline of higher education sector started in the 1970s when the authoritarian political culture took root in the country. It left an ugly scar on the universities. The authoritarian system produced culture of cronyism. Merit was openly violated and favouritism got established in the universities and the colleges, resulting in overall degeneration in all activities. This negative trend gained strength in the following decades. We are now saddled in a system which rewards mediocrity and open violation of merit in staff selection, promotions, and other teaching and research-related activities. As a result of the prevalent counter-culture of nearly half a century, the universities are operating at sub-optimal levels. They are in a state of low level quality trap, and remain quite disinterested in improvement of standards. In general, poor quality teachers are continuously producing low grade graduates. The entire educational system is caught in a vicious circle. The mainstream academic system in Pakistan is self-reinforcing, but moving on a kind of centripetal force. By comparison, the universities of the advanced countries are moving ahead on the path of progress, innovation and excellence. The scarce national resources are being misspent on unproductive activities because the key link of the system i.e, quality teaching is generally missing. How can such a system produce high quality scientists and engineers?
Left to itself, every university works as an island unto itself, without policy guidelines or the cooperation of other educational institutions. We live in an age of synergy where the good universities pool in their resources to maximize the gains at national and international levels. But we don’t see this happening in our universities. Pakistani educational institutions operate in their own poor quality world because of their weak academic programmes and substandard research output which doesn’t interest the top universities of the world.
Some of the new initiatives of the HEC slowly went into the old rut over the years. Except in one or two cases, the External Links Offices of Pakistani universities haven’t been productive. So are the HEC funded Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORIC) which are supposed to promote links between researchers and industry. The fact of the matter is that the first step for the promotion of university-industry links is the appointment of a suitably qualified and motivated person for its management. Here again, cronyism has eroded the system, wasted huge funds and failed to realize the goals of the scheme. Probably, prevalence of plagiarism has been another cause of the alarming failures of Pakistani higher education sector. It all started with monetization of research work in 2002. The HEC started funding universities liberally to promote research work. That practice is still in operation. We are the only country in the world where research guides and the students get paid for their work. In all other countries, research work is one of the three duties of teachers: the other two being teaching and institutional development. Pakistan has the distinction of rewarding research work of students and their guides at graduate and post-graduate levels and yet missing the high quality benchmark.
What needs to be done in the Pakistani universities in future?
It seems appropriate to suggest a few steps for the improvement of our universities so as to prepare them for taking on challenges like Covid-19. First, the prevalent policies and practices should be thoroughly reviewed and replaced as per the international criteria. The goal should be betterment of the universities, not of an individual or any political group. Albert Einstein said:” If you want to remain happy, try to link to a goal, not a person or something else.” In our view, Pakistani universities should focus on the “rigorous training of teachers and educational administrators” so as to make our institutions centres of genuine learning, innovation and higher productivity. This should be the goal of universities reforms plan.
We believe the decline of higher education sector started in the 1970s when the authoritarian political culture took root in the country. It left an ugly scar on the universities. The authoritarian system produced culture of cronyism
Second, the teaching system should focus on deep learning as against shallow teaching. Universities should expand with diversity and ensure quality. It always pays to expand slowly and steadily. This policy will help in maximizing gains and avoiding wastage of national resources.
Third, follow merit, and merit alone, in all appointments. Don’t reward friends and cronies. This will ensure good results by means of higher efficiency.
Fourth, adopt realistic policies which often prove sustainable. Don’t be misled by slogans and loud claims that don’t exist.
Fifth, take only rational decisions in educational matters. Avoid political decisions because they are flashy and deceptive. Judge every matter on the cost-benefit criteria.
Sixth, set up links between the Government and universities. This step will help in attracting public funds for university projects and ensure success of long term schemes.
Seventh, there are two critical inputs required in projects like development of vaccine and other equipment for Covid-19: a) scientific knowledge and b) high level skills. The leading universities have to be in the forefront of the drive for improvement of the two inputs.
Last, central to all above is the “technological change” which is a function of scientific knowledge, machines and supporting infrastructure. This core activity is conditioned by government policy, capital, human capital (learning), research for product development and innovation in special institutions, and policy support.
To sum up, product development is the end result of many processes which depend on various quality inputs made available by a variety of sources. Of all these, the role of progressive universities is crucially important for only they provide quality human capital.
The author is a former Vice Chancellor of GCU, Lahore and a Member of Punjab Higher Education Commission