WHEN bureaucrats fancy themselves as scholars, universities suffer. It’s a pity this is a lesson the Sindh government has yet to learn. Its latest scheme — to allow civil servants to head universities — has produced precisely what bureaucrats least enjoy: protest and disorder. The province’s campuses have erupted in demonstrations, much to the chagrin of Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who has responded with that most bureaucratic of solutions: threats. The government’s logic is circular enough to make a geometry professor dizzy. Universities are failing, it claims, so they need bureaucrats to save them. Yet these same institutions just showcased 417 research projects at a technology expo, suggesting they are rather more alive than advertised. The real dysfunction may lie elsewhere: the current system of appointing vice chancellors involves interviews shorter than a tea break, with results seemingly predetermined. Mr Shah’s evidence for the needed change is equally puzzling. He cites cases of misconduct among current PhD-holding VCs, rather like a doctor diagnosing a broken leg by pointing at a headache. If existing leaders are failing, it rather raises questions about who appointed them — which would be Mr Shah’s administration, responsible for selecting 38 VCs.

Pakistan’s higher education challenges are real enough. The country desperately needs to reduce its dependency on foreign technology and boost innovation. But imagining that bureaucrats — whose own departments are hardly paragons of efficiency — will spark an academic renaissance is like expecting a traffic warden to conduct an orchestra. After the 18th Amendment devolved education to the provinces, Sindh had a chance to nurture world-class universities. Instead, it seems intent on creating what might be called ‘Yes, Minister U’. The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association, now in its sixth day of protests, fears that academic independence will be sacrificed on the altar of administrative convenience. The irony is rich enough for a business school case study: in trying to fix universities, Sindh risks destroying what makes them work. Bureaucrats may excel at many things, but fostering innovation is rarely among them. Mr Shah might do better to reform his selection processes than replace scholars with civil servants. As it stands, his solution risks turning centres of learning into outposts of officialdom — a transformation that would earn an F in any economics class.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025