ONCE heralded as a beacon of progress for the nation’s higher education sector, the Tenure Track System (TTS) now stands as a testament to the flagrant neglect, gross mismanagement, and sheer ineptitude on the part of both the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the universities.

Designed to entice more qualified faculty and incentivise exemplary performance, the TTS, in theory, was to provide enticing remuneration packages and incentives, culminating in a single, high-calibre, competitive system for faculty recruitment, retention, promotion and tenure. Alas, despite its initial allure, the TTS now embodies the disintegration of higher education system. Far from fostering academic excellence, the TTS has birthed a toxic milieu that has decimated the dignity, morale and zeal of faculty members.

The HEC, the supposed shepherd of the TTS, has emerged as a butcher, chopping away the pillars of the TTS with reckless abandon. Bereft of consistent pay revisions as initially pledged, devoid of a coherent TTS policy, and allowing universities to adopt the system based on their own capricious standards, the HEC has demonstrated its woeful ineptitude in managing the TTS effectively.

University administrations have all the signs of the infamous bureaucratic bloat, corruption and cronyism. The focal point has pivoted from cultivating an environment conducive to learning and growth to amassing power and quashing dissent. This has engendered an ‘us-versus-them’ dynamic between TTS faculty members and university administrations, fostering a climate of antagonism and rancour.

The disintegrating TTS system has precipitated a significant brain drain in Pakistan. As TTS faculty members increasingly seek opportunities abroad, the nation keeps losing its brightest academic minds to a system that stubbornly refuses to acknowledge their value. This exodus of intellectual capital portends a grave crisis imperilling the future of Pakistan’s higher education sector.

TTS faculty members have voiced concerns over the erosion of incentives, exclusion of non-salary benefits, such as pension and health insurance, and unwarranted delays in promotion case approvals. Moreover, the TTS has failed to deliver on its original promise of recognising and rewarding superior performance. The absence of incentives for high-achieving TTS faculty members and equal treatment of non-performers have cultivated a demoralising atmosphere for those striving for excellence.

The calibre of approved journals in which TTS faculty members have published their research papers has also been compromised. Besides, the complete omission of teaching quality from the assessment framework has resulted in an inexorable decline in educational quality. The HEC must re-evaluate criteria for promotions, salaries and research funding, and should institute a transparent grievance redressal mechanism for TTS faculty to express concerns without fear of reprisal.

Additionally, it is vital to confront the bureaucratic morass that has infiltrated Pakistani universities. This necessitates dismantling the self-serving structures granting university administrations undue power and influence.

The HEC and universities must collaborate to reinstate the superiority of TTS salaries over the routine salaries, and firmly index them with a 35 per cent TTS bonus, ensuring financial superiority. Furthermore, promotion criteria should be revised to provide a more pragmatic, objective and comprehensive evaluation of all performance indicators rather than exclusively emphasising on the number of publications that merely fuel the predatory journal industry. Teaching quality must also be explicitly incorporated as part of the promotion requirements to bridge the gap between TTS and the rest.

More importantly, proper pension and health insurance programmes must be approved for TTS faculty on a contributory basis. Finally, a concerted effort must be made to transform the prevailing ‘us-versus-them’ mentality that has poisoned the overall relationship.

Dr Imran Sabir
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023