A RECENT ad in this newspaper could not help but catch my eye: a half-page list of foreign and local educational institutions said to be operating unlawfully’ in Pakistan.

Placed by the Higher Education Commission, the ad is intended to warn parents that as these non-accredited colleges and universities were illegal’, the degrees they awarded might not lead to jobs for their children.

I am glad the HEC has finally woken up to its responsibility, but the question remains as to why these institutions are allowed to operate at all. After all, if they are indeed illegal’, why does not the HEC simply request the provincial governments concerned to shut them down?

In a capitalist economy, I suppose shady operators are at liberty to hawk their wares to the gullible. Buyer beware’ should be the watchword for those shopping around. But in the case of educational institutions, the government has a responsibility to monitor the quality of the education being imparted. This is especially true at the tertiary level where a degree makes a crucial difference to the individual concerned as well as the entire system.

For instance, a certain Mr Naeem Sadiq, in a letter to the editor of a Lahore daily published on November 5, informs readers that the National University of Modern Languages has approved the award of a Ph.D. to the Vice-Chancellor of Quaid-i-Azam University. Normally, one would applaud the zeal of an educationist, specially a brigadier, to improve his knowledge and his qualifications. However, in this case we are informed that the process of elevating somebody with a B.A. degree to a Ph. D. has taken less than a year. Without doubting the candidate’s brilliance, one must point out that it normally takes somebody with a master’s degree at least three years of full-time research and writing to earn a Ph.D.

I suppose I feel especially strongly about this devaluation of degrees as I was head of a private degree-awarding institution for five years. When we applied for a charter, we were hindered at every stage, despite the fact that the government had given us a construction grant of Rs 500 million, and we had our own 50- acre campus. In addition, we had half-a-dozen Ph.Ds on the faculty who had qualified abroad from well-known universities.

Nevertheless, it took us nearly four years to obtain the necessary NOC from the University Grants Commission (now subsumed into the HEC), and a charter from the Sindh government. As I struggled with endless layers of the bureaucracy, including a particularly obstructionist lady law minister, I reflected bitterly on the fact that every second street of Karachi seemed to boast a chartered’ institution.

Had the scrutiny process been equal for all applicants, I would at least have had the satisfaction of knowing that students and their parents were being protected from conmen selling worthless degrees. But as it was (and probably still is), an expensive fast-track exists for those with deep pockets. Despite my numerous government contacts, I was made to run from pillar to post, and back again. Until they reached their final year, our first batch of students were unsure whether they would receive a degree or not.

In other free market economies, too, the good institutions coexist with the bad ones. In backward countries like Pakistan, where the demand for good teaching at every level far outstrips supply, most parents and students simply do not have the information needed to make an informed decision about where to apply for admission. In the United States, there are annual catalogues available which rank colleges and universities. In the United Kingdom, national newspapers carry the ratings for different subjects taught at all universities awarded by the official watchdog body.

The criteria range from the research being carried out to the jobs secured by graduates to the library facilities available. In short, parents and students can match the grades they have obtained with the ranking of various universities, and decide where to apply. Here, the HEC has failed miserably in the task of disseminating such information to prospective admission-seekers.

Although it has woken up late to its basic responsibility of identifying non-accredited institutions, how will it ensure that graduates of these places will not get jobs on the basis of the degrees they have obtained? I understand that one particular university with a foreign name and a charter from the Sindh government awards a Ph.D. for $7,500. While expensive, this is not an outrageous price for a piece of paper which will almost certainly ensure lifetime employment.

So how does the HEC propose to inform employers to watch out for these spurious degrees? And how about those institutions that have been awarded charters by various provincial governments? Many of them do not comply with the HEC’s own criteria, but for a consideration, have been awarded degree-awarding status. Their graduates have got jobs based on the assumption that they have been imparted a minimum level of education.

The Pakistan psyche is especially gullible when it comes to foreign brands. Cashing in on this complex, a number of mostly third-rate institutions based in the UK and the US have accredited’ campuses in Pakistan that normally consist of rented houses and precious little else. There is no permanent faculty, and part-time teachers appear briefly for lectures. They have no time to spare discussing problems with students, but do very well financially.

At these shady institutions, few questions are asked if students miss classes, or indeed fail their tests. As long as they pay their fees on time, they will graduate and compete in the job market. This is not to suggest that most chartered state- run institutions are any better. Far from it. Currently, just about the only meaningful higher education available is being provided by a handful of private institutions. There are a few dedicated educationists still around in the state sector, but this is a dwindling band as qualified teachers are drawn to the higher salaries offered by the private sector.

These are only some of the issues that need to be addressed by the HEC, but unfortunately, the bureaucratic outlook it has inherited from the UGC seems to inhibit any creative initiatives. Much of its energy seems to be focused on publicity-seeking pronouncements that do not lead to any tangible results. Unless it develops a clear vision, I fear it will hinder rather than promote the cause of higher education in Pakistan.