QUETTA, Sept 23: The world is moving forward with such a fast speed in the fields of social and physical sciences that if we do not address the issues and impediments inhibiting our research and teaching, we are likely to fall back and loose time and pace beyond recovery.

These views were expressed by the vice-chancellor of the Balochistan University, Justice (retd) M. A. Rasheed, while speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day national conference on “Research and Higher Education” here Monday.

Renowned scholars, educationists and teachers from all over the country are attending the conference, which has been arranged by the Department of Chemistry of the university.

The vice-chancellor said the country could only progress in the field of science if national talent, consisting of students, teachers and researchers, were guided to the right path.

“We have so far lost the race in the field of scientific knowledge. If we do not train and harness our human resources, we will not be able to make up for the lost time,” he said, calling upon academics and researchers to explore ways and means for the guidance of institutions of higher learning and for training younger human resources.

Prof Dr Tariq Rehman from the Quaid-i-Azam University said in his paper that the universities in the country were functioning like colleges restricting their activities to imparting education while doing little research, which was their real domain.

Stressing the need for making the universities a real seat of research, he called for providing the public-sector universities with scientists rather than what called “simple teachers” to realize the original aims and objectives of their establishment.

Prof Rehman was of the view that comparatively, lesser salaries tempted the able teachers from the public-sector universities to leave and join private universities offering better wages. He lamented that the private universities were also restricting themselves to education rather than research.

Prof Rehman suggested that curiosity among students be encouraged, the governing bodies of the universities comprise academics alone, salaries of the teachers be increased, vice-chancellors be appointed through election by teachers and not by selection and that only those institutions be called universities which had a greater number of researchers.