‘Very few universities in Pakistan are producing globally competitive graduates’

KARACHI: Professor Dr Wasim Qazi has been in academia for over 25 years. Currently he is serving as the vice chancellor of Iqra University, a private varsity. Here he talks to Bol News on a variety of topics concerning the education sector in Pakistan.

Why do you think the reading habit is so poor amongst young people nowadays?

Well, I think that there are multiple factors contributing to the decline in reading habit among our youth. Primarily it’s the falling culture of reading. Just 20 years ago, reading was a part of our life. You could find many libraries in the city where you could spend weekends engrossed in your favourite book. People used to discuss about the recent bestsellers over a cup of tea at home or even at work and get-togethers.

Today, it is a sad reality that reading has been replaced by TV programmes, movies, games, and social media among all age groups. When young people see their parents and elders spending their time in watching TV rather than reading, they are more likely to follow suit. Remember, reading is infectious. Only those who read can give it to others.

Another factor is the number of distractions brought forth by technology for young people, which include social media, mobile apps, video games, streaming platforms, and movies. These have diverted the attention of young people from books. The average human attention span has already shrunk from 12 seconds to eight seconds as reported by a Microsoft-research study. Such low span also poses a challenge for sustained reading among the youth.

We often hear from experts that the level of education in Pakistan has dropped. What is your experience; do you think the problem lies in poor schooling at the primary and secondary levels?

If we look at the international indicators of education, the deteriorating quality of education in Pakistan is a matter of serious concern. For instance, according to the World Bank and UNESCO learning poverty rate in Pakistan is 75 per cent, which is significantly higher than the average learning poverty rate of low and middle-income countries (52pc). The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) and Net Enrollment Ratio (NER) also indicate limited access to education for children across the primary and secondary school levels in Pakistan.

Our primary and secondary schooling suffers from a multitude of problems. With an overwhelming majority of students enrolled in government sector schools, the quality of teaching, curriculum, textbooks, assessment and infrastructure need a drastic reformation. I also believe that Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the problems of our ailing education system.

I think that we must also understand that education is a complex, multilayered ‘problem’ for which solutions need to be designed in iterative cycles. It is much more than a crisis driven by poor schooling. We also know that learning is not confined to schools. The whole social fabric needs to be conducive for learning to happen. Therefore, poor schooling is only the tip of the iceberg.

At Iqra University, we move with a mindfulness about such socioeconomic deficits. We have students entering the university with limited academic skills from diverse socio-economic, cultural, geographical, and linguistic backgrounds. Where many other institutions refuse to admit students because of their poor schooling, we choose to take responsibility. We choose to extend the opportunity of university education to all students who show the promise of making an honest effort to change their situation. We are bold enough to accept the challenge to ensure that students effected by poor schooling are not excluded from the tertiary level learning experience.

Simultaneously, I have always felt that reformation of our schooling system is critical for ensuring quality of our higher education system. We have taken the initiative by launching IU School System in Karachi with more than 8,000 students currently enrolled in 14 campuses across primary and secondary levels for an effective transition towards a holistic learning experience at the university level.

Plagiarism amongst faculty members is a major problem in nearly all higher education institutions. What is your university doing to stamp out this menace?

We have a zero-tolerance policy for plagiarism at Iqra University. We expect the highest level of integrity from faculty and students. Our university-wide ‘Code of Conduct’ strictly prohibits all forms of academic dishonesty, including cheating, fabricating results, facilitating academic dishonesty, and plagiarism. If any faculty member is suspected of such offences, as per Code of Conduct violation cases are forwarded to the disciplinary committee for strict action.

We regularly use software such as Scribbr, Turnitin, Grammarly, and UniCheck to detect plagiarism in the work submitted by faculty and students. Also, training workshops are regularly conducted for both faculty and students to provide awareness about different forms of plagiarism and ways to avoid them. Moreover, faculty members are incentivized for publishing original research in quality journals.

Following the Covid-19 lockdowns, online education was the only option to educate students. Do you think this is where the future of education lies?

Although the pandemic brought our life to a halt, it provided flourishing prospects for online education which was long considered a pariah in the education sector. Befitting the situation is Benjamin Franklin’s quote: ‘Out of adversity, comes opportunity’.

Luckily, the pandemic came as an opportunity to accelerate digitization we were already implementing at Iqra University. We were the first university in Pakistan to introduce Blackboard, one of the best learning management systems globally, to our students.

Online education holds a lot of potential in our country, provided the medium is used effectively and efficiently. The virtual mode of education, be it online, blended or hybrid, is here to stay. Efforts, therefore, must be geared towards its effective implementation in our education system.

There has been a mushroom growth of private sector educational institutions in the country. However, in most instances the output has been poor or average quality human resources graduating from these institutions. What is the cause?

I believe the institutional ethos is the key to producing competent human resource. Unfortunately, some private institutions enter the education sector with commercial motives. They priorities their profits over the learning and skill-building of their students by compromising on the quality of the overall learning experience which results in poor human resources graduating from these institutions.

Non-profit institutions like Iqra University see quality education as their ultimate goal. We, therefore, invest heavily on our faculty recruitment and development and learning infrastructure to ensure that our students have an enriching educational experience that can transform their lives. We also provide merit and need-based scholarships to support our students’ educational journey.

What are the new trends in higher education that you foresee in Pakistan?

I see the Pakistani higher education sector taking a lead in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics to respond to local problems, for instance Iqra University is spearheading a highly influential Rs10 million collaborative research grant funded by the HEC where we are looking into AI solutions for food security in order to strengthen the Pakistani agricultural sector.

I also feel that the global trend of micro-credentialing (skill-focused certifications) and stackable qualifications (sequential short courses rather than a longer 2-4 years’ degree) may also arrive in the Pakistani higher education sector.

Do you think Pakistan is producing graduates that can compete in the international market?

I believe very few universities in Pakistan are producing globally competitive graduates. A university must have cutting-edge curricula, well-groomed and intellectually charged international faculty, state of the art academic facilities, efficient resources, well-equipped libraries and digital materials, and most importantly an inviting culture to raise the academic bar and prepare students to compete in the international market.

Alhamdulillah, at Iqra University, we are meeting all the above criteria of a globally competitive university to be included in the QS world ranking. We are launching Pakistan’s first Global MBA programme which takes learning beyond borders and allows students to experience and tackle real-world industry challenges in an international environment. The programme seeks to equip students with essential business management skills while giving them excellent networking opportunities in Asia, Europe and North America.

What are the key fields in your opinion that students will be opting for in the near future where higher education is concerned?

We are living in the times of 4th industrial revolution (4IR). Our lives are going to be changed drastically because of the integration of technology into every aspect of how we experience the world. I think Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain, Cryptography, and Cyber Security are going to be some of the key fields in the near future which students should opt to study at university.

In my opinion, with all the technological advancement, there will be some form of interdisciplinary convergence across what we broadly categorize as the arts and sciences. We are seeing this convergence in the fields of Business and Development where the best practices of arts, engineering, and business are combined to advance a focus on entrepreneurship, human development, and sustainability goals.

I also feel that social sciences are going to have a renewed importance in the technology-driven future. As most aspects of our living become automated, there will be a growing need in the fields which need the human touch. It is encouraging to see that the subjects such as sociology, psychology, philosophy, literature, environmental education, disaster management, linguistics, law and politics are also gaining traction as well among the students.

Also Read

Those responsible for Murree tragedy should be punished: Hasaan Khawar

LAHORE: Punjab Government Spokesperson Hasaan Khawar on Saturday said those who were...