MOST people go for higher education after graduating from a university without going in to their respective field.

When I was doing an internship at PTV, I met an intern who had done his Masters in Communications and was trying to acquire admission to PhD. This was his first internship after completing 18 years of education. I, on the other hand, was in my sixth semester. The point I want to make is that people focus more on acquiring degrees than on getting experience in their respective field.

This is one of the reasons why so many Pakistanis are unemployed even after acquiring a higher education. The other reason and which is more important is that every university conducts its individual internal admission tests and interviews for its PhD programme.

The sad fact is that there is hardly any university that selects candidates for PhD and M Phil solely on merit. If there are five positions in a programme, one or the other would be the nominee of the dean, or the head of the department or an influential person.

The Higher Education Commission needs to introduce specific criteria for enrollment to PhDs, the foremost of which should be at least five years of field experience. Further, it should be the HEC that should conduct test and interview of candidates.

Muqarrab Hussain
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2019