The Higher Education Commission (HEC) stands on death row. Appeals for reprieve have been rejected by the commission responsible for implementation of the Eighteenth Amendment. That commission’s chairman, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, declared that “the HEC act will be revisited and reframed to shed its role as a centralised funding authority.”
His logic is that this constitutional amendment requires devolution of several powers to the four provinces. Since education is among them, universities cannot be federally administered. Instead, a brand new commission is to be created under the cabinet division. Other HEC functions would be turned over to various ministries and provincial administrations.
At first glance, disbanding the HEC appears to be a good idea. Its record is less than stellar. From 2002 to 2008, its budget rose by an astounding seven times — a world record. But a good chunk was squandered on various delusional mega-projects that failed spectacularly. Then, although it led to serious degradation of quality, the HEC encouraged the number of universities to double, and then triple. The number of PhD students registered at various universities was also made to explode. When confronted by students and teachers who were unwilling to meet international standards, the HEC backtracked on its quality guidelines.
The maladministration of universities by the HEC makes for a long list. Hyper-inflated salaries, recommended by the HEC, have made higher education more expensive. A full tenure-track professor nowadays can make up to Rs325,000 per month, about 30 to 35 times a schoolteacher’s maximum salary. Many produce only junk research and have poor teaching ability. Even today, the HEC puts out spurious data that mislead the public into believing that there has been some sort of educational revolution.
One might also wish to support the government’s decision from a second angle. After all, self-administration by the provinces is to be welcomed as a general principle. It could be argued, for example, that if a province is now to be in charge of its mineral wealth then it should also run its own universities. But caution should take precedence over legalism and a desire for sweeping changes. The steps to be taken, of which dispensing with the HEC is one part, will have huge consequences for Pakistan’s universities. Therefore, instead of jumping to conclusions, one must take a sober look and discuss the pros and cons.
First, the HEC’s record is not entirely bleak. It sent students to overseas universities, attracted foreign faculty to teach in local universities, created digital library access and took some positive initiatives to encourage research. Although programme implementation was flawed, these represented some progress in a country where good news is preciously short. Moreover, a full balance sheet of the HEC’s good and bad deeds is not essential for answering the question posed in the title. Rather, one must ask: What will be the consequences of the proposed devolution? Will it improve or degrade Pakistan’s higher education system?
Although I have been strongly critical of the shenanigans of the former HEC leadership, in my opinion, the government is headed in the wrong direction.
Instant dismemberment or serious disempowerment of the HEC is a recipe for producing chaos. Creating another bureaucracy or handing over the reins to existing provincial education bureaucracies, which are even more myopic and less competent than those at the federal centre, will negatively impact the quality of university education in Pakistan. This quality is already much lower compared to India, China or Iran.
The few checks and balances that currently exist, and which are actually enforced by the HEC, would disappear. Academic decisions would be made by those who have little understanding of how universities should function. This would push the system towards free fall. A wild policy zigzag is the last thing that Pakistan needs.
Instead, a responsible and nuanced approach is needed.
This means devolving surely, but slowly and carefully. Provincial administrations should be helped to build technical capacity so that they can be properly entrusted with key decisions, such as granting charters to new universities, university admission policies, etc. And while the HEC ought to be slowly downsized, some of its essential functions — such as quality control, foreign scholarships, and donor programmes — must be kept intact under federal control.
(This article was also published in The Express Tribune)
it is a moot point whether einstein punlished his work on special theory before getting his doctorate. afaik, both events happened in 1905, his ph.d completion coming earlier in the same year as the publication of his papers on the special theory and the explanation of the photoelectric effect.
no one is claiming that people without a ph.d cannot do outstanding work; there are many counter-examples. however, in the recent decades it has become a widely accepted practice in all international academia and research organizations. whether we agree with it or not, pakistan has to conform to the norm in order for their institutions to be internationally recognized.
in view of the neglect in the past, pakistan will have to maintain a more than strong push for establishing a culture of scientific progress if it ever wishes to enter the ranks of developed nations. higher education is too important an area to be entrusted to the largely inept provincial governments that exist in pakistan at the present time.
how much gov paid you for this article?
When you’ll start from the bottom? It has become our habit to destroy every institution that proves to deliver. Why don’t we investigate the pros and cons of HEC and attempt to make it more fruitful. Here in UK, people in Universities respect HEC and our degrees, just imagine what will be your graduate’s position after its devolution. Those who (Provinces) cannot handle schools and colleges, how come they’ll be able to handle higher education. No doubt our nation has become a chaos in the hands of stupid politicians and generals.
It is fake idea that a Ph.D. degree holder becomes a Research Scientist. Einstein developed his Theory of Relativity before his Ph.D.
Increasing the number of Ph. D. is not a guarantee of an increase of quality or quantity of research.
The Ph.D. production does not upgrade the level of education of the nation of Pakistan. Because while running after the Ph.D., the basic education (of the people) has been completely ignored.
The HEC idea making the nation educated starting from the top is a blunder.
Let us start from the bottom without forgetting the top.
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “I THINK THIS IS VERY UN FAIR ……………………….”
– “i agree with u irfan……it should be live…..HEC should not be finshed.”
– “Devolution of HEC is yet another ploy to introduce corruption to fizzle out millions of $ being donated by the international community to HEC. Devolution will take away both….quality and funds.”
– “politicions r doing dis bec they want to hv ezzy access n procedure for having fack degrees n their aproval for their ferocious n crul aims so that they can ezzzly dig the foundation of pakistan in the name of democracy……”
– ” it will directly be under the chief menisterof province like police so after that any thing can be happend so plzz be aggressive against this thing for ur better future…”
– “at least someone has shown us the other side of the picture; excellent analysis. i agree that HEC should be carefully develouted to the provinces. the provinces!”