“Passport to the future”
By Anis-ud-din Anwar
anisanwar@gmail.com
Malcolm X once said, “Education is a passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
Few years ago, while I was digging out information about the universities my son may be going to for his undergrad studies I came across interesting historical facts about some of the top ranked US universities. Cornell University is ranked amongst top 1% of universities in the world. It was co-founded and funded by Ezra Cornell with a initial sum of 400,000 USD on land granted by federal govt, a person driven by the desire “to do the greatest good”. Stanford, another top ranked university in the world, was founded by Mr. & Mrs. Leland Stanford as the most befitting memorial to the memory of their late son and donated their own land and a substantial part of their wealth to it. Foundation of Harvard University, the oldest higher education institution in the United States, was facilitated by donation of personal library and half of his estate by John Harvard after whom the university is named to recognize his great contribution. This is how foundations for the spread and dominance of western civilization were laid. Continuous spread of institutions of higher learning and education throughout Europe and America under their respective governments, with generous philanthropic contribution by private persons has been the main catalyst for the progress and domination of western civilization. No nation in today’s world can imagine achieving status of a developed country without having a vast network of institutions providing quality higher education to its people.
Compare this to what is happening in our country. A road has been built right through the middle of Punjab University in Lahore on its land. It is only a matter of time before the lucrative university land along this road falls prey to land mafia. Granting of residential plots to political elite, bureaucrats and employees on the land owned by Quaid e Azam university by none other than the govt itself is a matter of national shame and construction of palatial houses on these plots stands in sharp contrast to examples from the civilized world mentioned before. Unfortunately in Pakistan education has not been the main focus of its successive leaders and governments. How much do we spend on education as a percentage of our GDP? Out of whatever we spend in total on education, what is the amount allocated to higher education? It turns out to be among the lowest expenditures by any country in the world. Situation has only worsened over the years through mismanagement, lack of well defined policies, weak rules and regulations, corruption and nepotism.
Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy in some of his recent articles has very aptly dissected the status of our higher education system. Skewed focus of HEC since 2002 on research instead of teaching without putting in place associated checks and balances has resulted in professor mafias, whose sole objective is to churn out PhD and M. Phil scholars without any regard for the quality, whose only motivation is to get hold of the generous allowance, promotion and other perks they get entitled to by receiving these degrees. No wonder students are rushing in hordes, either to local universities or to universities in China, Central Asia or Eastern Europe to get hold of such degrees. However, how much genuine contribution these scholars have been able to make to cause of progress and development of Pakistan through these degrees is wide open to discussion.
At the policy level, our higher education sector faces many problems. In the eyes of many experts, devolution of higher education to provinces through 18th amendment is a short sighted, ill planned move. While it may have helped to serve the self interest of a few in the bureaucratic and political circles, it certainly would not help the cause of development of higher education in the country. “With the devolution of higher education, Sindh and Punjab have established their respective provincial higher education commissions, while the Central HEC and Federal Law Ministry terms them as “unconstitutional” observes UNDP Pakistan in its analysis of five years of the 18th constitutional amendment. With this level of apprehensions among federal and provincial regulatory bodies, expectations of a high level of synergy and coordination required for the cause of higher education are highly limited. Another aspect yet to be addressed in the process of devolution is standardization of higher education. There is need to put in place, through adequate legislation at federal level a framework for development, delivery and evaluation of higher education and research. This is of extreme importance to ensure uniformity and quality of higher education throughout the country.
Our higher education sector like other sectors is plagued by policy, administrative and management issues. Turf war between federal and provincial higher education commissions is just one of the many such issues. University syndicates instead of being comprised of members with relevant experience and knowledge include politicians as it members many of whom even don’t know why they are there in the first place. The incident in Abdul Wali Khan University has laid naked the way our institutions of higher learning are being managed and the standard of staff and faculty that is being hired to run them.
With such lack of focus and seriousness on education, we as a nation have failed to produce innovative minds that drive a nation forward. Rankings for the 2016 Global Innovation Index have put Pakistan at the bottom of the table, a reflection on the state of affairs in our education sector. What this means is that fourfold increase in research publications and more than tenfold increase in highly cited papers (HCPs) as reported by some international media is either wrong or has inadvertently highlighted the lack of quality in these publications. No wonder our education system has failed to produce bright and innovative minds that can stimulate progress and take Pakistan ahead in today’s fiercely competitive world. While it is a good initiative on the part of HEC to develop HEC Vision 2025 which has set forth 8 key strategic priorities for sustainable progress in this sector, most important and challenging to accomplish would be “Excellence in Leadership, Governance and Management”, an objective we have failed to achieve so far in almost all of the sectors including higher education. A lot needs to be done, by the government, HEC, public and private sector higher education institutions collectively to ensure that our nation, especially its youth has a valid passport to the future. Work for a brighter tomorrow needs to begin today.