Pat Moynihan, who was a longtime faculty member at Harvard, a distinguished public servant, a United States Senator said: “If you want to build a great city, first build a great university and then wait a few hundred years.”
Higher education sector in Pakistan is facing unprecedented levels of public as well as industrial mistrust and skepticism, enrollment declines, dissatisfaction of employers on the quality of graduates, sexual harassment complaints, rising unrest among faculty/staff members for a secured career, use of drugs among universities students, admissions and athletics scandals. These are some of the significant trends jeopardizing the socio-economic future of this country consistently.
In addition to this, the recent austerity drive of Government of Pakistan and IMF programme, the budgetary cuts are going to get deeper in financial fabrication of country’s higher education sector. The government despite its claims of furthering the cause of higher education in the country has planned a sweeping cut of 40 percent in the funding of Higher Education Commission (HEC) in the coming fiscal year 2019-2020. Compared to what HEC of Pakistan would like to demand, the cuts might be to the tune of 10 per cent to 15 per cent in recurrent expenditures and up to 50 per cent in development expenditures which has its own implications. 10pc to 15pc cut in recurrent expenditures for the HEC means significant cuts in ongoing university programmes across Pakistan primarily in public sector universities. And, a 50 per cent cut in development expenditure means that plans for almost all new programmes, universities, research centers including establishment of National University of Technology Islamabad, extension of Bolan University of Health Sciences Quetta, Pakistan-China National Research Centre on Earth Sciences at Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, capacity building for applied research and technology transfer at University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Lahore, uplifting of academic and infrastructure facilities at Hazara University Mansehra and establishment of sub-campuses of universities at district level, will have to be postponed or cancelled. It clearly indicates that that will be no possibility for new initiatives and academic schemes.
It is important to note that majority of public-sector universities in Pakistan subsidize educational provision. The provision is usually higher and students’ tuition fees do not cover the total cost. The grants from HEC cover the rest of the financial gap. In the current scenario, if the HEC transfers go down, can universities raise their fee to cover cost? This would have implications in terms of restricting access to higher education particularly for students hailing from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Since the news of HEC budgetary cuts was reported, it has created serious concerns and anxiety among middle class families and majority of the youth in Pakistan who already cannot afford higher education due to stringent economic conditions. Only a small percentage of Pakistanis currently enroll at university level. If the fee is increased, it will restrict numbers on the margins and the rise will, inevitably, hit the poorer students more. Moreover, another important implication can be that if universities increase fees and other charges, there is very strong possibility of agitation among universities students which can be intimidated by certain elements to air the issue and utilize students’ desperation for their personal gains. As Harvard President Bacow said in his recent interview that an increase in the real cost of an education shall stoke cynicism and public anger over the higher education sector more broadly, not only in United States but all over the world.
Adolf Hitler and W Churchill agreed that if universities in both countries remained safe during WW2 and the rest of Europe was destroyed, a new Europe could be built. But if universities were destroyed and the rest of Europe was saved, it would be hard to sustain that Europe for long
Faisal Bari, an Associate Professor of at Lahore University of Management Sciences has rightly summarized the situation that if funding cuts do come through, this is going to spell a lot of trouble for universities and for students who depend on low-fee programmes. The public universities cannot develop alternate sources quickly and will have to cut programmes and/or raise tuitions substantially. This will have a heavy cost for the higher education sector, for the youth of the country and for the party in power.
The message is very loud and clear to the current and future leadership of Pakistani universities that they must be prepared to guide their institutions through exceptionally complex pressures and unavoidable financial cuts in coming years. In the 23rd Vice Chancellors’ Committee Meeting attended by 137 Vice Chancellors and Rectors earlier this year, the university heads though appreciated the Government’s commitment towards higher education and resolved to mobilize various non-government and non-tuition fee fundraising means and also ensure initiatives aimed at efficient use of resources, the question rises that to what extent austerity measures at universities and fund raising activates can ensure sustainable future of higher education sector of Pakistan where around 1.5 million young Pakistani students are enrolled with countless hopes to create a better future of themselves and for the country? Yet, there is no answer to this question due to the atmosphere of uncertainty all over in Pakistan in almost every domain.
Pakistan’s education system is grossly under-funded. As per HEC’s extensive budgetary assessment, the estimated requirement of the higher education sector for FY 2019-20 is Rs. 103.550 billion. However, the higher education sector, as per Indicative Budgetary Ceilings, has been allocated a recurring grant of only Rs. 58.50 billion for FY 2019-20. As per previous practice, Pakistan spends hardly 2.8 percent of its GDP on education, which must be at least four percent. The Chairman HEC is of the opinion that the higher education sector must have at least one fourth of the four percent, but unfortunately the sector could only get one tenth of the allocated amount which is very low and insufficient.
In the existing moment and as per economic hardships of the government, it is certain that budgetary cuts are going to pose serious threat to quality of higher education and academic research in Pakistan. The Vice Chancellors/Rectors shall be rolling up their sleeves to combat the tough challenges. However, I have point to government of Pakistan. Nations are built by people, therefore, quality of teaching and learning must be given due importance compared to any other field in the country as far as higher education budget is concerned. Those in power should never forget the historic agreement between Adlof Hitler and W. Churchill during the WW2. The agreement stated that no matter what happens, universities and academic institutions of higher learning both in England and Germany shall not be attacked by forces of the both countries. There was a reason behind this agreement which W. Churchill explained after his victory with the help of the Soviets. He said that Adolf Hitler and I were agreed that if the universities in both countries remained safe and the rest of whole Europe was destroyed, we will build new Europe. But if universities were destroyed and the rest of Europe was saved, we would fail to save that Europe for long. Historically, the colleges and universities have enabled the dreams of many great nations all over the world. It is important that all of us work to continue to ensure that opportunity exists for future generations, just as it was created for so many of us.
The writer is deputy registrar at COMSATS University Islamabad