WELL, it is not new for all of us. We have seen criticisms of HEC for various reasons, which have not only continued but have expanded to the extent that it has become the so-called “word-of-mouth”! HEC is being criticized not only for its policies but also for a lack of contribution to the technological and economic growth of the country, though without any systematic technical analysis! Let us have an initial cross-section of the sectors to draw some conclusions. Historically, HEC was established to strengthen the Universities and uplift their research-based academic output.
It should not be forgotten that in the distant past (before the 1980s), though in fewer numbers, Universities in Pakistan were internationally regarded as world-class knowledge hubs and true places for intellectual growth for sciences as well as other disciplines. It would not be wrong to say that the establishment of HEC in 2002 was an honest effort to restore the intellectual legacy of Universities in Pakistan. Policies in education are termed as long span and their impact is seen almost 20 years after implementation. Therefore, if we judge the impact of HEC, then 2022 would have been the right time; but it can be done now in 2024. The best and ideal way to go would be to organize an external review of the HEC.
Anyways, HEC invested efforts and money in universities by providing them with infrastructure and manpower for research. Funding from the Government of Pakistan and other international organizations speeded up the production of local and foreign-qualified PhDs. We term this era as ‘level 1’ reforms in higher education which would have been continued to ‘level 2’ by revising and upgrading/correcting the policies but political instability in the country affects almost every matter and that’s true for HEC as well.
Later, HEC introduced an assessment system for universities that was based on the “number” of research papers published and industrial patents obtained, forgetting undergraduates and focusing on post-graduate programs only. The focus of higher education was extremely narrowed down to ‘research papers with impact factor’. Integrity in publishing research or carrying out research was overlooked. This ecosystem was perfect for hatching pseudoscience. Eventually, Universities that were supposed to be knowledge centres having intellectuals who could brainstorm to provide solutions for social to highly technical problems; became merely degree-awarding institutions. However, this is not true for all universities or departments therein and HEC should not be termed as an outright failure. HEC changed the status of knowledge at universities; however, there is a long way to reach the milestones in having a mature ecosystem for a knowledge economy.
Having talked about HEC, let’s have a look at the other players responsible for technological growth in Pakistan. It should be well understood that the growth of any sector in any country does not occur in isolation. In Pakistan, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) is responsible for the development of this sector. Another relevant stakeholder is the Ministry of Industries & Production (MoI&P) and The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT).Their role is that of a facilitator in creating an enabling environment for industrial growth in the country. The mission of the ministries is the progress of industrial development and entrepreneurship through policy development. However, there seems to be total disconnect between the above key players!
Looking at the ministries and organizations assigned to the development of science and technology, there are many players, and HEC is one of them. The mandate of HEC is to produce certified skilled manpower as human feedstock for other government S&T organizations. The current situation is that S&T organizations including HEC are producing to their optimum, based on their policies with government-provided resources. The output of each organization is oriented to its core mandates but highly fragmented in the context of S&T development of a country. New or revised inter-organizational policies for harmonizing output for all S&T organizations are needed. In our opinion, Pakistan must also work on the systematic integration of various stakeholders and integrate the fragmented outputs rather than holding HEC alone as responsible for poor productivity in S&T sector.
Najma Memon is a faculty member at the National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, Jamshoro-Sindh.
Manzoor H Soomro is the former Chairman of the Eco-Science Foundation, Islamabad.
