ALTHOUGH PhD is the highest degree in the academic world, jobless PhDs are growing daily as evident from demonstrations on roads and media reports. This may be either for poor training or shortage of jobs in some fields.

Knowing that proper planning demands actual data to address the supply and demand issues the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST) secured funding for the PSDP project over a year ago. The study, now in progress in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to assess the need of highly qualified human resource will take another year to come up with areas where deficiency exists.

Meanwhile, the HEC may formulate a policy to address quality issues in higher education, which is the unintended consequence of the initial policy designed to increase the number of PhDs.

Similarly, universities may like to establish their alumni office like those of the Aga Khan University and Lahore University of Management Sciences, such a move will support universities in financial sustainability and also help assess the market for their graduates in respective fields. This will also provide a platform for career counselling for new students.

Prof Anwar H. Gilani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018