Do private universities and colleges in Pakistan meet baseline standards for educational quality, communicate accurate information to the students and regulators and prepare students for employment in their fields?

Ask, and you will get a resounding ‘no’ most of the time.

Dawn quotes Justice Gulzar Ahmed as saying: “The private sector is simply minting money by selling degrees, while the entire generation is being spoiled, in addition to bringing a bad name to the country.”

HEC former chairman Dr Tariq Banuri writing in Narrative magazine, asks: “Is higher education a means of investing in the younger generation or is it simply a means of benefiting a few fat cats?”

A leading educator and prolific writer, Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy says, “Most universities boast lists with a PhD against every teacher’s name and award a fantastically large number of doctoral degrees. Research is thriving. A half joke is that professors are publishing so many research papers and books that they have no time to read what they write. But it’s no joke at all!”

How did we get here?

In the 50s and 60s, Pakistan had a few universities. Their UK-educated management was efficient. In the 70s, education was not a priority. Therefore, the government disregarded it. In the 80s, political, religious and ethnic student groups waged fierce conflicts on campuses, leading to a ban on student unions. In 1983, General Zia’s dictatorship chartered Aga Khan University, the first private university, followed by the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Since both universities were well-endowed and their sponsors had no business objectives, they recruited well-qualified and well-paid faculty members.

In the 90s, more private universities were granted charters by provincial assemblies without approval from the Federal University Grants Commission

Unfortunately, our legislators gave the expanding young population little attention. Pakistan has one of Asia’s poorest higher education rankings. Private universities are filling the gap. Most universities offer BBA, MBA or BS Computer Science degrees, not liberal arts or social sciences. The universities should not just award degrees but also provide a stimulating intellectual environment for the well-trained academics and the younger generation. Except for a few private universities, most exclusively hire adjunct faculty at meagre rates. Since most faculty members teach part-time at low hourly rates, they have little time for intellectual dialogue with the students outside the classroom. 

Higher Education Commission

In 2002, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was founded under the leadership of Dr Ata-ur-Rehman to govern higher education and monitor the quality of education in the public and private institutions. The HEC had its eyes closed when most government institutions were elevated to the university status. The public sector universities were formed at district headquarters without sufficient staff.

In provincial capitals and other cities, private colleges and degree-granting institutions proliferated. The private institutions were the dumping ground for the public university academics who had retired.

In the HEC’s brief existence, it’s now on its fifth chairman. First, four had problematic relationships with the higher-ups and were fired for various reasons. Their removal causes vary. Due to his strong ties with General Pervez Musharraf, the original chairman accomplished much but was compelled to leave in 2007. The second chairman was connected to the then-ruling party but lost favour when he refused to accept phony degrees from the MNAs and senators. The third chairman, who was close to the then-education and planning minister, did anything he was requested but couldn’t continue, owing to academic credibility concerns. While the fourth chairman was chastised for incompetence and ousted abruptly, his term was limited from four to two years. He believes he was fired because he didn’t follow the orders.

The continuance of HEC chairmanship seems to depend on the ruling administration. Either the recruiting procedure is flawed or succeeding governments don’t trust the HEC.

The first HEC chairman established several institutions and increased the quantity of the locally-produced PhDs. The successive chairs sought to follow the suit, but the HEC’s funding was significantly decreased throughout their tenures. However, the mushroom expansion of the public and private colleges persisted, as did the mushrooming of local PhDs. Thus, the post-graduate education quality has been affected. Since the HEC’s founding, the quantity of PhD degrees has expanded dramatically without quality control.

The HEC’s former chairman was inclined to modify the PhD system such that the students’ research is monitored by a committee of three academics, as in the US and Canada.

Higher education in Pakistan requires improvement in research and faculty development. Once a lecturer is hired, they enrol in the same department’s PhD programme and, after three or four years, are promoted to associate professor. A faculty member needs three years of post-PhD experience to be enabled to associate professor and publish 10 articles. The most important stakeholders, students, have no opportunity to provide feedback on the teaching skills. You can become a full professor with a few years of experience and five more publications. Faculty members seldom submit papers as single authors.

In most cases, three or four authors claim credit for the same publication. If a professor has three co-authored articles, they should be considered one publication.

After receiving a PhD, a faculty member is not obliged to undergo formal research or teaching methods training. There’s no sabbatical leave for overseas research. Most faculty members become department chairmen and some become registrars, deans, or vice chancellors. Still, they never take a course in administrative skills necessary for advancement among city workers and the military.

According to UNESCO, Pakistan has one of the lowest tertiary enrollment ratios (17 to 23), despite having 200 institutions. During1990/2014, it rose from 3 per cent to 10 per cent in Pakistan, 4 per cent to 14 per cent in Bangladesh, 6 per cent to 34 per cent in India, 7 per cent to 30 per cent in Malaysia, 15 to 65 per cent in Iran, and 13 to 79 per cent in Turkey. No Pakistani university is placed below 500 in the global ranking of universities based on faculty research and innovation, and just a handful are listed between 500 and 1,000. Comparably.

The fifth chairman has just stepped into his office. Let’s see if he expands the HEC objective from “overseeing, regulating and accrediting the higher education efforts in Pakistan.”

(The writer is an Edtech expert)