Daily Times

The point is not whether or
not the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif is more popular than Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif. The point is this: what is the performance of the government run by Nawaz Sharif who landed in the hot seat of the premiership when the media was independent and vibrant? The eyes of the decriers are on his every move. Every drop and every inch of the performance of this government is being monitored. In this age of mass awareness, there are few chances left with the incumbent government to hide its performance under any lame excuse. This time around the government is omnipotent and hence is fully responsible for its deeds.
The youth is hardly paying any attention to the laptop scheme initiated by the government and is looking more at the performance of the higher education institutes where they are currently enrolled. One of the reasons for the lingering on popularity of General Pervez Musharraf in the youth is that he gifted them the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan in 2002 by passing an ordinance backed by substantial funding. Consequently, the sector was upgraded and this, in turn, offered numerous and diverse opportunities to the middle class and lower class youth to seek better quality higher education in the country instead of going abroad. Research was focused upon and foreign faculty was hired to make Pakistani post-graduate students learn research. By such acts of public utility, a military dictator such as General Musharraf engendered his followers and apologisers simultaneously.
Two weeks ago, a list of regional and international rankings of Pakistani universities was issued and the same was reported in the press. According to Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), on the Asia level, in the top 250 slots, only three Pakistani universities could secure their places. These universities were Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Lahore University of Management and Sciences (LUMS). In fact, this was a dismal performance of the higher education sector in contrast to the past when, during the four years’ (2009-2013) tenure of Dr Javaid Laghari, the former chairperson of the HEC, 10 Pakistani universities (including the aforementioned three universities) were counted amongst the top 250 Asian universities. Interestingly, before 2009, no Pakistani universities were amongst the top 250 Asian universities.
Another dimension to the seriousness of this matter is that though these three universities were able to remain within these 250 slots on an Asian level, they have lost their positions compared to the past in the international rankings’ system where almost each one of them has gone down 100 notches since 2012. For instance, NUST, which was stood at the 401 ranking position in 2012 dropped down to the 501 spot in 2015. Similarly, LUMS, which was at 601 in 2012, plummeted to 701 in 2015. The downward trend is not confined only to these three universities but is also evident in other universities. For instance, the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), which was at the 601 rankings’ position in 2012 has shed 100 places to perch itself at 701 in 2015. As per the QS, the standing of UET in the current Asian university rankings is at 251 but it was one of the 10 Pakistani universities that were in the top 250 Asian universities on the QS rankings during the tenure of Dr Laghari. In short, in 2015, Pakistani universities lost their positions both regionally and internationally.
Just to recap, Dr Laghari put all his attention on Quality Enhancement Cells (QECs) to be introduced in every university. These were 45 in 2009 when he took charge of the HEC but rose to 146 in 2012 despite financial constraints. Dr Laghari also introduced an Institutional Performance Evaluation as per international standards, comprising of 11 standards. The number of people in the PhD faculty was increased from 4,200 in 2010 to 6,000 in 2012. Similarly, PhD enrollment was simultaneously increased from 6,300 in 2010 to 10,000 in 2012. These steps resulted in an increased number of research publications that helped enhance the regional and international rankings of Pakistani universities.
In principle, after 2013, under the incumbent chairperson of the HEC, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, the number of universities achieving high rankings targets should have increased, even if the dream target of making the number double was dropped. Unfortunately, instead of scaling up, the rankings of Pakistani universities are spiralling downwards in a sharp and alarming manner. If the trend adduces the probability that in 2016 no Pakistani universities stand the chance of being included in top 250 Asian university rankings and none will cross the notch of top 600 universities internationally. This point brings the discussion back to square one: the incumbent government is responsible for this turn around in the performance of higher education and the consequent travails of Pakistani students. The sufferer is the majority of youth who are disgruntled. If another tenure of four years to work as the chairperson of the HEC had been offered to Dr Laghari (and it was permissible under the HEC Ordinance 2002), the standing strength of Pakistani universities could have been better today.
In fact, the sin of Dr Laghari was that he refused to testify for the fake degrees of parliamentarians in 2010 when he was the HEC’s chairperson. During his tenure, not a single incident of recognising fake degrees as genuine could be found. However, now, as reported in the press in March this year, money and relations matter to get a fake degree testified as being genuine by the HEC. Both parliamentarians and bureaucrats, especially those serving under provincial governments, have gotten the benefit of that. Apparently, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been probing the matter but the real story may never be revealed.
A person who constructed the superstructure of Pakistan’s higher sector has gone perhaps to serve some other country. If this is not the case then what otherwise is brain drain? The talent lying in the person of Dr Laghari remained under-utilised. Nevertheless, the revenge of the youth is impending.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at qaisarrashid@yahoo.com