Dr.
Tariq Rahman
The Higher Education Commission was established on 11 September 2002 on the recommendation of the Government’s Task Force on Higher Education. Its first report, entitled The First Annual Progress Report of the Higher Education Commission was ready in October 2003 and is now being printed. This report carries the details of what the HEC has done in the first year of its existence. It also tells us about the ongoing projects and what is planned for the future the HEC website also gives some of this information.
To begin with Dr. Attaur Rahman, the chairman of the HEC, tells us that Pakistan’s GDP is $ 67 billion at present. If we are to increase it to 200 billion by 2020 then we must invest in higher education. New ideas are created by researchers and, while researchers may function in the corporate sector and government, they perform best in autonomous universities. Thus, if we are to progress we must develop the universities. These ideas are music to the ears of those of us, including myself, who have been harping on this note (the development of the universities) for quite some time.
Accordingly the HEC has launched a number of innovative schemes. This is hardly the place to examine all of them in detail but some remarks about them may be in order.
First, the HEC intends to improve the faculty of the universities. A number of schemes have been approved for this. First, since only 25 per cent academics have Ph. D degrees, the HEC will finance those without them to complete their doctorates in Pakistan and abroad. About 5000 Ph. D scholars will be supported. The scholars themselves will get a stipend and the universities they enroll in will also get money to buy research facilities. Other students will also be sent to China, Germany, Austria and Thailand to enroll in Ph. D programmes. Moreover, there is also a post-doctoral programme for those who already have doctorate but need to do further research.
Another aspect of faculty development pertains to the retention of competent academics in the public universities. As we have seen, because of the priority of administration and business, our best brains would go into those fields. Then there is the continual brain drain to affluent foreign countries. To overcome these problems the HEC has proposed that (a) the salaries of all university teachers be increased (b) there should be a tenure-track system ensuring that those who want a higher salary should submit themselves to periodic evaluation (c) retired academics who are still productive may be hired for a fixed period on a fixed salary (Rs 25,000 per month) (d) really outstanding academics may be given the title of National Distinguished Professors and given a higher total income than other professors (e) outstanding academics from abroad may be hired at high salaries to work in Pakistani universities.
Most of these proposals have been welcomed by the faculty but there are some about which reservations have been expressed. Let us look at them one by one. As for a general increase in salary, this is welcomed by everybody. The idea which was floated was that the salary would go up by one grade. I think this should attract better qualified people than at present.
The tenure-track system is a good idea to retain academics who, because of financial pressures, may be forced to go into the private sector. However, the criteria for evaluating their academic credentials should be quantifiable and transparent. Moreover, those evaluating them should be committees of peers. Above all, they should not have to resign form their present positions so that they can come back to them if they have to or wish to.
All other proposals are welcome except hiring academics from abroad. Pakistanis working abroad might wish to come back for private reasons and will not be committed to our universities as they do not have a stake in the system. Even worse, Pakistani academics with similar qualifications will get lower salaries than their counterparts from abroad. These arguments go against the proposal. On the other hand, talented people working abroad should be encouraged to come back to Pakistan. This being so it might be a good idea to offer the tenure-track system on exactly the same terms to all academics whether in Pakistan or abroad. In short, there should be no difference between Pakistanis and foreigners either in qualifications, publications or income when offering the two-year but extendable tenure track system. This will allay the misgivings of the Pakistani faculty about this proposal.
Apart form the faculty, the universities must have good laboratories, libraries and other research facilities. The HEC has increased the budgets of universities and released money for special projects. Six focus libraries and a digital library programme has been launched. To improve infrastructure, 149 development projects amounting to Rs. 456.463 million have been approved. As communications are at the heart of all research, a research network using fiber optics has been planned. This will allow a distinguished lecturer to be seen and heard in places other than he is lecturing in. At the moment 15 public and private sector institutions have been connected and 56 should be connected soon.
The HEC is also trying to modernize the curricula of the universities, create industrial linkages, establish technology parks and create an ongoing system of monitoring performance and quality both of institutions and departments within institutions. As the government wants more students in the higher education sector, it is also encouraging private universities. One of the functions of the HEC is to ensure that new universities should be accredited only when they fulfill some basic criteria of excellence. These have been outlined in a pamphlet which is available at HEC. Personally I feel that the HEC must invest enough money in public universities to make them competitive with the best private universities in the country. Moreover, single subject institutions, whether in the private or the public sector, should not be given the status of universities. Above all it must be kept in mind that low income groups should not be excluded from quality higher education which will happen if public universities are not brought to the level of the top private universities.
There are a number of other schemes worth mentioning in passing. Among them are giving research funds to academics for projects; supporting them for travel to attend conferences or courses; short courses; recognition of outstanding academics and supporting young scholars etc.
On the whole, the HEC is trying to bring about what is intended to be a revolutionary change in the field of higher education in Pakistan. It efforts are meeting with both enthusiastic acceptance and resistance among the academic community. Some of this resistance can be overcome by discussing all proposals with academics first before they are finalized. Some resistance, unfortunately, is out of fear of novelty or being found out. The latter fear is natural for those who are neither published scholars nor good teachers.
In my view the HEC should first ensure that there are enough funds for the continuation of these changes. It should not happen that the funds available now should be contingent upon the personality of Dr. Attaur Rahman. Instead, the funds should become part of the institution and the projects started now should continue. Once that is done it is best to focus on new entrants in the universities while offering inducements (tenure-track, national professorship etc) to competent senior academics. Evaluation, which is always difficult, should be as quantified, transparent and administered by panels of peers and not mere administrators. Above all, no scheme should involve resignation or different pay scales to equally competent people (i.e. tenure track should offer the same salaries to expatriates and Pakistanis alike).
Above all, and this is crucial, the institutions called ‘universities’ should be very few. Other institutions of higher learning should be called institutes, university-colleges etc but not universities. The term university should be reserved for a place offering almost all subjects at the highest level. In short a university must have the faculties of social sciences and humanities, pure sciences, applied sciences, medicine, engineering, law and education. The present trend of creating one-subject universities, or elevating colleges into universities, simply creates more highly paid administrators without improving quality. Moreover, all the plans of HEC to improve universities will come to nothing if there are far too many universities to spend on. There cannot be more than five public sector and possibly two private universities in the whole country which can be called universities are have the potential of becoming standard universities on the lines I have suggested above. Perhaps these five institutions can be given high salaries, state-of-the art libraries, laboratories, and other facilities. The other institutions should be under a unified board of higher education which should conduct examinations and allow them to give degrees to students. These institutions should remain teaching institutions without facilities for cutting edge research which the major seven universities should have. To spread out money over many institutions will not create the high quality the HEC hopes to create.
On the whole, however, the HEC has created a ferment in the field of higher education in the country. Let us hope for the best because, after a long period of stagnation, someone has woken up to the fact that the universities are in need of improvement and this means more investment and new initiatives.
Dr.
Tariq Rahman