May 20, 2007

To compete successfully in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, Pakistan needs enough universities that can support sophisticated research, writes
Noorudin S.Bhamani

AS market relations change with the advent of globalisation, where does that leave universities, which are, traditionally, an important part of the economic empowerment?

Pakistan is moving headlong toward economic success and modernisation, counting on high-tech industries such as information technology and biotechnology to propel the nation’s prosperity. Unfortunately, the higher education sector has yet to take a start. Its systematic investment in higher education in recent years has yielded neither world-class research, nor very highly trained scholars, scientists nor managers to sustain high-tech development.

India, China, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea are investing in large and differentiated higher education systems. They are providing access to large numbers of students at the bottom of the academic system while at the same time building some research-based universities that are able to compete with the world's best institutions. The London Times Higher Education Supplement ranking of the world's top 200 universities included three in China, three in Hong Kong, three in South Korea, one in Taiwan and one in India.

There was a time when countries could achieve economic success with cheap labour and low-tech manufacturing. Low wages still help but contemporary large-scale development requires a sophisticated and at least partly knowledge-based economy. Pakistan has chosen that path, but will find a major stumbling block in its university system.

Pakistan can take significant advantages in the 21st century knowledge race. It has a substantial higher education sector. It uses English as a primary language of higher education and research. There are a small number of high-quality institutions, departments and centres that can provide quality in higher education. The fact that the provincial, rather than the Federal Government, exercise major responsibility for higher education

Yet the weaknesses far outweigh the strengths. Pakistan educates approximately a small per cent of its young people in higher education as compared to more than half in the major industrialised countries.

Almost all of the world's academic systems resemble a pyramid with a small high-quality tier at the top and a massive sector at the bottom. Pakistan is nowhere in the scene. None of its universities occupies a solid position at the pyramid. A few of the best universities in Pakistan have some excellent departments and centres and there are a small number of outstanding undergraduate colleges, but that is all.

Universities should be given a boost to build on their recognised strength which is a step toward recognising a differentiated academic system and fostering excellence.

Pakistan's colleges and universities, with just a few exceptions, have become large, underfunded and ungovernable institutions. In many of them, politics has intruded into campus life, influencing academic appointments and decisions across levels. Under-investment in libraries, information technology, laboratories and classrooms makes it very difficult to provide top-quality instruction or engage in cutting-edge research.

The rise in the number of visiting faculty and the freeze on new, full-time appointments in many places has affected morale in the academic profession. The lack of accountability means that teaching and research performance is seldom measured. The system provides few incentives to perform. Bureaucratic disinterest hampers change. Student unrest and occasional faculty agitation disrupt operations. Nevertheless, with an appearance of normality, faculty administrators are able to provide teaching, coordinate examinations and award degrees.

Even the small, top-tier of higher education in Pakistan faces serious problems. Many graduates, well-trained in technology, have chosen not to contribute their skills to the mushrooming technology sector in Pakistan. Perhaps half leave the country immediately upon graduation to pursue advanced study abroad and most do not return. A stunning 86 per cent of students in science and technology fields from Pakistan who obtain degrees in the United States do not return home immediately following their study. Another significant group of about 30 per cent decides to get MBAs in Pakistan because local salaries are higher and are lost to science and technology. A corps of dedicated and able teachers work at some of the top universities in Pakistan but the lure of jobs abroad and in the private sector makes it increasingly difficult to lure the best and brightest to the academic profession.

Few in Pakistan think about higher education. There is no field of higher education research. Those in government as well as academic leaders seem content to do the "same old thing." Academic institutions and systems have become large and complex. They need good data, careful analysis and original ideas. In China, more than two-dozen higher education research centres and several government agencies are involved in higher education policy.

Now as Pakistan strives to compete in a globalised economy in areas that require highly trained professionals, the quality of higher education becomes increasingly important. So far, Pakistan's educated population base and its reservoir of at least moderately well-trained university graduates have permitted the country to move ahead. But competition is fierce. China in particular, is heavily investing in improving its best universities with the aim of making a small group of them world class in the coming decade and making a larger number internationally competitive research universities. Other Asian countries are also upgrading higher education with the aim of building world class universities. Taiwan, which is a major designer and producer of IT hardware, is considering merging several of its top technological universities to create an "Asian Elite."

To compete successfully in the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, Pakistan needs enough universities that not only produce bright graduates for export but can also support sophisticated research in a number of scientific and scholarly fields and produce at least some of the knowledge and technology needed for an expanding economy.

How can Pakistan build a higher education system that will permit it to join developed economies? The newly emerging private sector in higher education cannot spearhead academic growth. Several of the well-endowed and effectively managed private institutions maintain reasonably high standards, although it is not clear that these institutions will be able to sustain themselves in the long run. They can help produce well-qualified graduates in such fields as management, but they cannot form the basis for comprehensive research universities. This sector lacks the resources to build the facilities required for quality instruction and research in the sciences. Nor can enough money be earned by providing instruction in the mainstream arts and sciences disciplines. Most of the private institutions do not focus on advanced training in the sciences.

Only public universities have the potential to be truly world class institutions. Institutions and programs of national prominence have already been identified by the Government. But these institutions have not been adequately or consistently supported. The top institutions require sustained funding from public sources. Academic salaries must be high enough to attract excellent scientists and scholars. Fellowships and other grants should be available for bright students. An academic culture that is based on merit-based norms and competition for advancement and research funds is a necessary component, as is a judicious mix of autonomy to do creative research and accountability to ensure productivity. World class universities require world class professors and students and a culture to sustain and stimulate them.

A clearly differentiated academic system has not been created in Pakistan. A system where there are some clearly identified institutions that receive significantly greater resources than other universities. One of the main reasons that the University of California at Berkeley is so good is that other California universities receive much less support. Pakistan's best universities require sustained government support and the recognition that they are indeed top institutions, and deserve commensurate support. But they also require effective management and a philosophy of an academic meritocracy. At present, the structures are not in place to permit building and sustaining top-quality programs even if resources are provided. A combination of specific conditions and resources are needed to create outstanding universities. The development of a clearly differentiated academic system including private institutions in which academic institutions have different missions, resources, and purposes is needed. Also required are managerial reforms, and the introduction of effective administration.

Pakistan cannot build internationally recognised research-oriented universities overnight but the country has the key elements in place to begin and sustain the process. Pakistan will need to create a dozen or more universities that can compete internationally to fully participate in the new world economy. Without these universities, Pakistan is destined to remain a scientific backwater.

The writer is a disabled people’s activist