[Reader-list] [arkitectindia] Mail From Pakistan - II

[arkitect95]

          REFORMING PAKISTAN'S UNIVERSITIES -- II
                         by 
                    Pervez Hoodbhoy


For three decades Pakistani education planners toyed with grand plans 
to build MITs and Harvards in the country. Nothing materialized. But 
three  years ago the first serious effort to deal with Pakistan's 
chronically ill universities was finally initiated. Unfortunately, 
this effort by the Higher Education Commission has now become mired 
in an intense, growing controversy.

The immediate cause centres on the award of fake degrees and the
flourishing of substandard higher education institutions, as well as 
on the HEC's head, Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, having personally punished the
whistle-blower who brought this important issue to his (and the 
public's) notice. While unpleasant, this controversy is important 
because it addresses the deeper underlying question of the quality 
and credibility- rather than just the quantity – of higher education.

In the previous article, I explained how badly the existing university
system has been broken and how the current university reform strategy 
is compounding the problem by concentrating on glitzy things like 
internet access, digital libraries, virtual learning, etc., while 
ignoring basic problems.

Allowing these "reforms" to continue will destroy what little there is
today. On the other hand, it will be a tragedy for Pakistan if the 
current HEC attempts collapse in a heap of dust. So, how to proceed 
if we are serious in trying to improve our universities?

The policy don'ts are clear. Some have already been discussed earlier:
stop the creation of worthless new universities; stop funding and
rewarding research that really isn't research; stop dishing out 
useless PhDs; stop playing the numbers game; and stop feeding 
academic corruption.

The do's are far more than can be discussed here. Broadly speaking, 
they can be divided into two mutually distinct sets. One set must 
deal with raising the level of general competence of teachers and 
students by ensuring that they actually have an understanding of the 
subject they teach or study, and with increasing the amount of 
research in specific disciplines. Universities everywhere prepare 
engineers, doctors, economists, business managers, and other 
professionals needed to fulfil the stringent demands of a modern 
society. Pakistani universities obviously need to do the same.

The second set relates to the broader function of universities - to 
create thinking minds, pursue research in subjects that are important 
but are not of immediate economic utility, to create and organize 
discourses on social and political issues, and to raise the cultural 
and aesthetic level of society. Whereas the Soviet and Chinese models 
concentrated exclusively on the first set of goals, western 
universities - or at least the good ones among them - successfully 
synthesized both sets and were far superior.

It is a mistake to believe that inadequate financial resources have
prevented Pakistani universities from achieving the goals of the first
set. In fact, the real need is for deep administrative and 
organizational reforms, together with the strong political will 
needed to handle the counter-reaction they would inevitably provoke.

First, there must be university entrance examinations at the national
level to separate individuals who can benefit from higher education 
from those who cannot. No such system exists in Pakistan. Only local 
board examinations - where rote memorization and massive cheating are 
rampant - are used to select students.

But, on our borders, both Iran and India have centralized university
admissions systems that work very well. Although corruption in India 
is perhaps as pervasive as in Pakistan, admissions to the IITs have
nevertheless retained their integrity and intensely competitive nature
over several decades. Honest examinations are presumably also 
possible in Pakistan, provided extreme care is taken.

Having such university entrance examinations would be important for
another reason as well - they would set the goal posts for colleges 
and high schools all over Pakistan. In the US, the Scholastic 
Aptitude Tests, centrally administered by Princeton, are extremely 
useful for deciding student aptitude for university education. 
The "A" level examinations in Britain have similar importance.

At the PhD level, if the HEC is at all serious about standards, it 
should make it mandatory for every Pakistani university to require 
that a PhD candidate achieve a certain minimum in an international 
examination such as the GRE. These exams are used by US universities 
for admission into PhD programmes.

Given the state of student and teacher knowledge, and the quantity and
quality of research in Pakistani universities, selection through GRE
subject tests would have the welcome consequence of cutting down the
number enrolled in HEC indigenous PhD programmes from 1,000 per year 
to  a few dozen. The present safeguard of having "foreign experts" 
evaluate theses is insufficient for a variety of reasons, including 
the manipulations commonly made in the process of referee selection.

Second, we need to test those who would be university teachers. The 
system has remained broken for so long that written entrance tests 
for junior faculty, standardized at a central facility, are 
essential. Without them, universities will continue to hire teachers 
who freely convey their confusion and ignorance to students. Most 
teachers today never consult a textbook, choosing to dictate from 
notes they saved from the time when they were students in the same 
department. No teacher has ever been fired for demonstrating 
incompetence in his/her subject.

Third, the recruitment of non-permanent foreign faculty, whether of
Pakistani origin or otherwise, is essential. Although this country is 
home to 150 million people, there are perhaps fewer than 20 computer 
scientists  of sufficient calibre who could possibly get tenure-track 
positions at some B-grade US university. In physics, even if one 
roped in every competent physicist in the country, it would not be 
possible to staff even one single good department of physics. As for 
mathematics: it is impossible to find even five real mathematicians 
in Pakistan. The social sciences are no better.

In this grim situation, it is fortunate that the Higher Education
Commission has initiated a programme for hiring foreign faculty with
attractive salaries. But the success of this programme is uncertain.
Jealousy at salary differentials, and a fear that local incompetence 
will be exposed, have led local teachers and university 
administrations to block the hiring of faculty from abroad.

There is another problem: Pakistan's image as a violent country deters
most foreigners from wanting to come and live in Pakistan for any
considerable period of time. Therefore, westerners are almost totally
absent from the list of those who have applied under the foreign 
faculty hiring programme. Apart from Pakistani expatriates in the 
Middle East, the bulk of applicants are Russian speakers from the 
former Soviet Union countries.

One wishes it could be otherwise. It would be a major breakthrough if
Indian and Iranian teachers could be brought to Pakistan. Indians, in
particular, would find it much easier to adapt to local ways and 
customs than others and also have smaller salary expectations. The 
huge pool of strong Indian candidates could be used to Pakistan's 
advantage - it could pick the best teachers and researchers, and 
those most likely to make a  positive impact on the system. In the 
present mood of rapprochement, it is hard to think of a more 
meaningful confidence building measure.

Fourth, we need better, more transparent, and accountable ways to 
recruit vice-chancellors and senior administrators. What we have now 
is a patronage system that appoints unqualified and unsuitable 
bureaucrats or generals as vice-chancellors, and that staffs 
universities with corrupt and incompetent administrators.

While a tenure-track system for faculty is currently under discussion 
and may allow for breaking with the system of life-long jobs 
independent of performance, there is no corresponding system being 
contemplated for the top leadership. But without good leadership, and 
people who can set an example, no institution can be reformed.

Finally, it is crucial to bring back on to the campuses meaningful
discussions on social, cultural and political issues. To create the
culture of civilized debate, student unions must be restored, with
elections for student representatives. They will be the next 
generation  of political leaders.

Such a step will not be free from problems - religious vigilantes rule
many Pakistani campuses although all unions are banned. Extremists 
would surely try to take advantage of the new opportunities offered 
once the ban is lifted. Political parties have also been less than 
responsible.

But the reinstatement of unions - subject to their elected leaders 
making a pledge to abjure violence and the disruption of academic 
activity - is the only way forward towards creating a university 
culture on campus. Ultimately, reasonable voices, too, will become 
heard.

To condemn Pakistani students as fundamentally incapable of 
responsible behaviour amounts to a condemnation of the Pakistani 
nation itself. If students in our neighbouring countries can 
successfully study, as well as unionize and engage in larger issues, 
then surely Pakistan's can do so as well.

The task of university reform has not yet seriously begun. Nor can it 
do so until issues of the purpose and philosophy of higher education 
and of the goal of the reforms are squarely confronted. It is time to 
decide whether we are serious about education being something more 
than merely giving out certificates. Do we want to build institutions 
for creating knowledge and helping students to be informed, critical, 
active citizens? Or not?

Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy is
Professor of Physics
Quaid-e-Azam University
Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.

--- In arkitectindia at yahoogroups.com, "arkitect95" <arkitect95 at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> 
>              REFORMING PAKISTAN'S UNIVERSITIES -- I
>                         by 
>                   Pervez Hoodbhoy
> 
> 
> 
> There is a severe and long-standing crisis in higher education. 
But, 
> until the present military government took the initiative, there 
was 
> no rehabilitation plan. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, appointed as chairman 
of 
> the Higher Education Commission, was the wonder-man charged by 
General
> Musharraf with turning the situation around. He was quick to make a
> powerful pitch for vast increases in funding.
> 
> Foreign donors, worried about the implications of Pakistan's sinking
> educational system, obliged. The higher education budget zoomed by 
> twelve times (1,200 per cent) over three years, a world record. A 
> number of new and innovative utilization schemes were announced.
> 
> Some solid achievements did emerge. Internet connectivity in 
> universities has been substantially expanded; distance education is 
> being seriously pursued through the newly established Virtual 
> University; a digital library is in operation; some foreign faculty 
> has been hired; students  are being sent abroad for PhD training 
> (albeit largely to second rate institutions); some links with 
foreign 
> institutions now exist; and money for scientific equipment is no 
> longer a problem. No previous Pakistani government can boast of 
> comparable accomplishments, and the HEC chairman deserves 
> congratulations.
> 
> But the HEC is also setting into motion very dangerous, potentially
> catastrophic, systemic changes. In this article I will look at the
> problems in our higher education system and why the HEC reforms are 
> set to make a bad situation worse rather than better. In a 
subsequent 
> article, I will suggest some modest steps that may offer a way 
> forward. 
> 
> Pakistan has almost a hundred universities now. Not one of them is 
> world class. Truth be told, not even one of them is a real 
> university, if by a university one means a community of scholars 
> engaged in free inquiry and the creation of knowledge.
> 
> Take for example the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, reputed 
to 
> be Pakistan's best. Academic activities common in good universities 
> around the world are noticeably absent. Seminars and colloquia, 
where 
> faculty present for peer review the results of their on-going 
> research, are few and far between. Public lectures, debates, or 
> discussions of contemporary scientific, cultural, or political 
issues 
> are almost non-existent.
> 
> The teaching at QAU is no better. Rote learning is common, students 
> are not encouraged to ask questions in class, and courses are 
rarely 
> completed by the end of the semester. This university has three 
> mosques but no bookstore. It is becoming more like a madressah in 
> other ways too.
> 
> It was not always this way. The global intellectual ferment of the 
> late 1960's and 70's had a stimulating impact on Pakistani campuses.
> Intellectual, scientific, cultural and literary activity 
flourished. 
> Young Pakistani scholars gave up potential careers in the West to 
> come to Pakistani universities. But in November of 1981, just days 
> after three QAU teachers had been caught with anti-martial law and 
> pro-democracy pamphlets, General Ziaul Haq thundered on television 
> that he would "purge the country's universities of the cancer of 
> politics". He succeeded.
> 
> A quarter century later, the faculty are more concerned with money 
and
> promotions than research, teaching, or bringing their knowledge to 
> bear  on the myriad issues facing our society. Among the students 
> there are many burqas and beards, but minuscule intellectual or 
> creative activity. All student unions are gone, and ideological 
> disputes have evaporated into the thin air. Instead of left vs 
right 
> politics there is simple tribalism.Now Punjabi students gang 
together 
> against Pakhtoon students, Muhajirs versus Sindhis, Shias versus 
> Sunnis, etc.
> 
> Some campuses are run by gangs of hoodlums and harbour known 
> criminals, while others have Rangers with machine guns on 
continuous 
> patrol. On occasion, student wolf packs attack each other with 
> sticks, stones, pistols, and automatic weapons. There are many 
campus 
> murders.  Most students have not learned how to think; they cannot 
> speak or write any language well, rarely read newspapers, and 
cannot 
> formulate a coherent argument or manage any significant creative 
> expression.
> 
> Dumbed down, this generation of Pakistanis is intellectually 
> handicapped. Like overgrown children, students of my university now 
> kill time by making colourful birthday posters for friends, 
> do "istikhara" (fortune telling), and wander aimlessly in 
Islamabad's 
> bazaars.
> 
> Understanding the scale of the failure is important. Compare 
> Pakistan's premier university with those in its neighbours' 
capitals. 
> First to the east: Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the Indian 
> Institute of  Technology, in Delhi.
> 
> Their facilities are simple and functional, nothing like the
> air-conditioned and carpeted offices of most professors at QAU. 
And, 
> more important, every notice board is crammed with notices for 
> seminars and colloquia, visitors from the very best foreign 
> universities lecture there, research laboratories hum with 
activity, 
> and pride and satisfaction are written all around.
> 
> Conflict on campuses does exist - communist and socialist students 
> battle with Hindutva students over the Gujrat carnage, Iraq, 
Kashmir, 
> and the BJP doctoring of history. Angry words are exchanged and 
> polemics are issued against the other, but no heads are bashed. 
While 
> lecturing at these institutions during a recent visit, I was 
> impressed by the fearlessness and the informed, critical 
intelligence 
> of the students who questioned and challenged me. I cannot imagine 
an 
> Indian professor having a similar reception in Pakistan.
> 
> Now to the west: Teheran's Sharif University of Technology, and the
> Institute for Theoretical Physics and Mathematics, are impressive
> institutions filled with professional activity, workshops, and 
> seminars. Even as they maintain good academic standards, Iranian 
> university students are heavily political and today are 
spearheading 
> the movement for freedom and democracy. Iranian students make it to 
> the best US graduate schools. Although it is an Islamic republic, 
> bookshops are more common than mosques in Tehran. Translations into 
> Farsi appear in just weeks or months after a book is published in 
the 
> western world.
> 
> Driven by the unfavourable comparison with neighbours, the need for
> university reform finally became an issue. The first big idea was 
that
> Pakistan needed more universities.  So today all it takes is a 
piece 
> of paper from the HEC and some paint. Some colleges have literally 
> had their signboards taken down for repainting, and been put back 
up 
> changed into "universities" the next day.
> 
> By such sleight of hand the current tally of public universities,
> according to the HEC website, is now officially 47, up from the 23
> officially listed in 1996. In addition, there are eight degree 
> awarding public sector institutes. Unfortunately, this is merely a 
> numbers game. All new public sector universities lack 
infrastructure, 
> libraries, laboratories, adequate faculty, or even a pool of 
students 
> academically prepared to study at the university level.
> 
> The HEC's "generosity" extends even into largely illiterate tribal 
> areas. There are so-called universities now in Malakand, Bannu, 
> Kohat, Khuzdar, Gujrat, Haripur, and in many other places where it 
is 
> difficult to detect the slightest potential for successfully 
> establishing modern universities.
> 
> Another poorly thought-out, and dangerous, HEC scheme involves 
giving
> massive cash awards to university teachers for publishing research 
> papers - Rs 60,000 per paper published in a foreign journal. 
Although 
> these stimulants are said to have increased the number of papers 
> published in international journals by a whopping 44 per cent, 
there 
> is little evidence that this increase in volume is the result of an 
> increase in genuine research activity.
> 
> The fact is only a slim minority of Pakistani academics possesses 
the
> ethics, motivation, and capability needed for genuine scientific 
> discovery and research. For the majority, the HEC incentives are a 
> powerful reason to discover the art of publishing in research 
> journals without doing research, to find loopholes, and to learn 
how 
> to cover up one's tracks.
> 
> Established practices of plagiarizing papers, multiple publications 
of
> slightly different versions of the same paper in different research
> journals, fabricating scientific data, and seeking out third-rate 
> foreign journals with only token referees are now even more common. 
> The HEC has broadcast the message: corruption pays.
> 
> The casual disregard for quality is most obvious in the HEC's 
massive 
> PhD production programme. This involves enrolling 1,000 students in 
> Pakistani universities every year for PhD degrees. Thereby 
> Pakistan's "PhD deficit" (it produces less than 50 PhDs per annum 
at 
> present) will supposedly be solved and it will soon be at par with 
> India. In consequence, an army of largely incapable and ignorant 
> students, armed with hefty HEC  fellowships, has sallied forth to 
> write PhD theses.
> 
> Although the HEC claims that it has checked the students through 
> a "GRE type test" (the American graduate school admission test), a 
> glance at the question papers reveals it to be only a shoddy 
literacy 
> and numeric test. In my department, advertised as the best physics 
> department in the country, the average PhD student now has trouble 
> with high-school level physics and even with reading English. 
> Nevertheless there are as many as 18 PhD students registered with 
one 
> supervisor! In the QAU biology department, that number rises to 37 
> for one supervisor. HEC incentives have helped dilute PhD 
qualifying 
> exams to the point where it is difficult for any student not to 
pass.
> 
> The implications of this mass-production of PhDs are dire. Very soon
> hundreds and, in time, thousands of worthless PhDs will be cranked 
> out. They will train even less competent students. Eventually they 
> will become heads of departments and institutions. When appointed 
> gatekeepers, they will regard more competent individuals as threats 
> to be kept locked out. The degenerative spiral, long evident in any 
> number of Pakistani institutions, will worsen rapidly, and become 
> infinitely more difficult to break.
> 
> 
> Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy is 
> Professor of Physics
> Quaid-e-Azam University
> Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.








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