The Higher Education Commission was established in 2002 to improve access to Higher Education, provide policies for Quality Higher Education and establish an enabling environment for higher education that is relevant to our local problems and issues. The government’s continuous support, a dedicated effort by the HEC in terms of de-vising policies, capacity building, provision of research funding, scholarships and strengthening libraries and laboratories have led the nation to be recognized as ‘shin-ing star’ in research by the Web of Science. In 2016, Thomson Reuters described it as having a better impact on research than Brazil, India and China in their article ‘Paki-stan: Another BRIC in the wall’. Pakistan became a country within the top 50 of 200 countries in research. Although HEC’s 20-year journey was smooth in the first dec-ade, the last decade remained bumpy as the higher education sector faced multiple challenges. Even then, some of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that gained momentum and have established their sustainable eco-system are still thriving on their own for excellence in their domain.
The world over, access to higher education results in productivity, prosperity and development in the country. Although our enrolment in higher education is increasing still we have to increase access to higher education for the larger group of the popula-tion. The donors have declared that the brick-and-mortar approach consumes a lot of money, time and human resources. There are also chances of financial leakages as well. The popular HEIs are shifting towards online or blended mode which not only saves accommodation costs but also other allied costs e.g. transportation are mini-mized. It is also suitable for female students who are unable to leave their homes due to different reasons like financial, social, or religious. The qualifications in the disci-pline of social sciences, ICT, arts and humanities can be offered with the use of Tech-nology.
The Higher Education Commission has launched Open Distance Learning (ODL) Policy 2024 for the HEIs which may offer various degree programs by fulfilling insti-tutional and program requirements mentioned in the policy. The Universities need to carry out a need assessment for the ODL programs first, the popular programs may be offered through Synchronous, Asynchronous and Blended mode. The synchronous mode requires live lectures as carried out face to face along with a Learning Manage-ment System (LMS) for teacher-student interaction and student-to-student interaction and it can be used to discuss formal or informal topics as well. The LMS may also be used for the submission of assignments, quizzes, discussions and online assessments. It is accessible 24/7 which allows students to read daily, weekly or monthly reading material at their convenience any time they are available. The Asynchronous mode will require, recorded lectures along with assignments, quizzes, discussion and similar activities over LMS. For recording a lecture, the Uni-versity will need a professional recording room and instructional designer to develop a lecture as per standards set for the purpose. The faculty member is required to keep in mind that his recorded session should be engaging so that students may feel that the session is being held in person. It should be a principle in all modes of learning that students are to be engaged in a meaningful way to acquire excellence in their domain. The Blended mode on the other hand will be a mix of face-to-face and other modes, it will be up to the institution to decide how much part will be face-to-face and rest through the online mode. It is beneficial in a way that some content is taught in online mode and is explained through face-to-face mode or the practical part is carried out on-site.
The ODL Policy 2024 provides a complete toolkit for institutional readiness wherein the institutional resources i.e. technical, human resource, infrastructure and approvals are assessed to offer or review the programs offered through this mode. The training of the faculty and staff is very important for offering programs through online education.
The universities can benefit from different good practices available in the developed world. Universities can develop courses by including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Open Educational Resources (OER) in their programs which will save their designing and development time. The Universities may start their ODL system with certificate courses and diplomas to confirm that their team is ready to launch programs through it. The improvement in the processes is only possible when standards set for the design, development, delivery and assessment are met. If prop-erly implemented the ODL mode is best for those who can not afford higher education in the big cities and quality institutions. This will help to equip our youth with knowl-edge and skills in a cost-effective manner.
The write is Director, Higher Education Commission,Islamabad.
