June 25, 2005

As the projects launched by HEC focus on the uplift of higher education as a whole, they have led to improvements in education and research in physics too, claims the commission’s chairman. In this regard four projects are noteworthy.

THE WORLD today is divided by a knowledge boundary. Knowledge has become the main driving force for economies and it’s the basis for socio-economic development of countries. Recent advances in frontier technologies hold immense prospects for the well-being of mankind as a whole.

For 50 years, Pakistan continued with its short-sighted policy of low investment in education and research. Today, we do not have a single university having international standards. This has resulted in a number of problems, such as low literacy rates, unsatisfactory standards of education, slow economic growth, increasing dependence on other countries and transfer of resources to advanced nations. In addition to harming the industrialization and economic development processes, our backwardness in science and technology has affected our political independence and sovereignty.

About five years ago, the government of Pakistan, acknowledging the critical role played by S&T and higher education in economic revival, placed these sectors amongst its highest priorities. Established in 2002, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was given the required autonomy and resources to take up the challenge and to launch a comprehensive programme for overall uplift of the higher education sector.

HEC accepted the challenge and embarked upon a revolutionary programme which addresses every aspect of higher education. As the programmes and projects launched by HEC focus on the uplift of higher education as a whole, they have led to improvements in education and research in physics too. However, I would like to mention here four main projects launched by HEC which focus on physics.

These projects are: (Training of) Master Trainers in Physics; Development of and Improvements in Teaching and Research Facilities at the physics department, University of Karachi; Establishment of a 5MW Tandem Accelerator; and, Establishment of Experimental Physics Labs at the National Centre for Physics (NCP), Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

The project entitled “Master Trainers in Physics” is being implemented by the department of physics, Quaid-i-Azam University. An amount of Rs25 million will be spent to teach four basic courses of physics to non-PhDs. Physics teachers working for universities and colleges where MSc level courses are being conducted are taking part in the programme. Under this project about 40 master trainers would be trained and after training they would impart training to university and degree college faculty at their doorstep.

For this purpose, several summer training camps would be organized at the physics department of Quaid-i-Azam University where the requisite facilities are available. The services of ten national and five foreign resource persons of the highest professional calibre would be acquired to train the trainees.

This year 25 applications have so far been received. The objective is to equip the teachers with new methodologies to enhance their teaching/pedagogical skills in an effort to enable them to teach new courses as per the demands of classroom environment.

This project will help improve the quality of higher education through provision of in-service training to the teaching faculty of physics departments throughout the country.

The second major physics-related project undertaken by HEC is directed at the development of and improvement in the teaching and research facilities at the department of physics, University of Karachi. A sum of Rs34 million is being spent on upgrading teaching laboratories for BSc (Hons) and MSc programmes by providing them with modern equipment for nuclear, semi-conductor, optics, laser, spectroscopy and electronics experiments.

Under the third project, HEC has allocated Rs180 million to establish a 5MW Tandem Accelerator and an associated experimental physics laboratory for research training in low energy nuclear physics and material sciences at the NCP, Islamabad. This facility will be utilized for R&D and education and training in basic and applied sciences. It will also be useful as an analytical technique for Rutherford Back Scattering and Reaction Analysis (NRA). It will be a national facility.

The facility will accelerate the generation of competent scientific and technical manpower within the country, improve the quality of teaching at higher levels in the universities, encourage scientific collaboration on national and international levels and promote the indigenous “PhD production programme” in the field of sciences. The project is making good progress. A building has been designed, the equipment to be ordered have been finalized and approved and a project director already appointed. The project is being implemented with collaboration between Nescom, Quaid-i-Azam University and NCP.

Under the fourth physics-related project, HEC will spend Rs164 million to set up laboratories at the NCP, Quaid-i-Azam University. This is being done in an endeavour to carry out sustained basic and applied research projects which: address the needs of the country; utilize ion beam techniques for solving problems encountered in research and industry; provide consultation services on the utilization of accelerators by universities and industry; establish a strong radiation protection programme at the NCP that ensures safe operation of the accelerator facilities; and, provide training and consultation services to government organizations, hospitals, and industry.

Support will also be provided to the graduate, postgraduate and post-doctoral programmes at NCP in the area of accelerator-based experimental physics and to train scientists and engineers in the use and application of relevant techniques.

Pakistan is a founding member of Sesame, a synchrotron light source being established in Jordan. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), HEC and NCP respectively contribute $30,000, $30,000 and $15,000 annually to this project. HEC is considering supporting a project being submitted by the NCP and PAEC costing about $3 million, including the training component, for constructing a beam line for Sesame, keeping in view the kind of science Pakistani users would like to do there. This will enable Pakistani scientists to make better use of this multi-disciplinary facility — which covers physics, material sciences, chemistry, and structural biology, besides many other areas of applied science.

Until a few years ago universities and institutions of higher learning in Pakistan were facing problems in gaining access to expensive journals/databases. To overcome this impediment, HEC set up a digital library which provides access to 17,000 online journals. This is the biggest digital library of the world. Access has been provided to the following prestigious journals dealing with physics:

American Physical Society (http://publish.aps.org/) — The APS provides access to nine prestigious research publications, including the five specialist Physical Review Publications and the PROLA archive. The complete texts of all APS journal articles, all the way back to 1893, have been indexed and made available.

American Association Of Physics Teachers (http://www.aapt.org/) — With the fundamental goal of ensuring dissemination of knowledge, particularly by way of teaching, the two AAPT publications provide current information at a level comprehensible for most readers. AAPT publications assist in the learning of new and traditional teaching methodologies and the use of modern technology to attract students.

American Institute of Physics (www.journals.aip.org) — The AIP journals made available comprehensively cover developments in physics, industrial applications, and advances in scientific computing, from 1975 onwards, through a collection of 11 journals and conference proceedings dating back to 2000.

SpringerLink Physics & Astronomy Online Library (www.springerlink.com) — This resource provides access to more than 80 high-quality peer-reviewed journals in the field of physics and astronomy from the world renowned Springer and Kluwer publishing houses.

Elsevier Science Direct Physics & Astronomy Collection (www.sciencedirect.com) — Using this facility institutes in Pakistan have gained access to 95 leading titles in physics and astronomy from the prestigious ScienceDirect database of Elsevier Publishing.

HEC has also provided a large number of indigenous and foreign scholarships to produce highly qualified scholars in the areas of physics. Under the post-doctoral programme, six scholars availed fellowships in physics last year. Under the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme of HEC, so far seven physics professors have returned and are teaching/carrying out research at Pakistani universities.

HEC has launched a number of programmes to fund high quality research under the National Research programme for universities. Eleven projects in the discipline of physics have so far been approved and more than Rs20 million released to university teachers.

The steps taken by HEC represent just a beginning in a long journey. However, as a result of these steps interest in education, training and research in physics has been rekindled in the country, which was previously lacking.

The writer is chairman of the Higher Education Commission, Islamabad

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