DURING a recent interaction with the participants of the capacity-building event for faculty members at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, I got an opportunity to join an interactive session on teaching as a profession in Higher Education. The event was arranged by the HEC for the faculty members as part of its continuous professional development mandate. The discussion was made about the role and responsibilities of the faculty members in the classroom and on campus. It focused on improving the teaching & learning process. The faculty members believed that unless an enabling environment on campus is provided by the University or Government for the provision of quality higher education, they will not be able to produce the desired workforce for socio-economic development of the country. The resource person was not denying the ground realities and was insisting that although the situation is not ideal, we can still preach and push those who are interested to learn and faculty members can bring change by consistently focusing on our responsibilities of teaching with heart & soul.
The discussion identified the increasing influence of non-state actors and other political, social as well as religious groups on students, faculty members and staff of the universities. Resultantly, sometimes they deviate from their core responsibilities. They added that such distractions compel faculty members to restrict themselves to teaching assigned subjects without real spirit, just fulfilling the job requirement. Similarly, some students are engaged with different stakeholders and, in return, expect to get favour from the faculty members and university authorities without putting in any academic effort. The University management staff also create pressure from internal and external stakeholders for promotions and other favours. Resultantly, processes at the campus, including attendance and examinations, get affected and expected outcomes are not met. The pressure groups get access to the university system for spreading their narrative and their objectives. When one or a group of students in one department are given relaxation in attendance and examination results, then students in other departments also demand the same. This becomes a practice and no one challenges it.
The faculty members have the view that, in some cases, they unwillingly grant relaxation in attendance and results due to pressure from various stakeholders. Such pressure is a threat to teaching & learning processes and compels faculty members to limit their teacher-student relationship to the classroom only. They don’t discuss social, political, religious and other emerging matters with students because the overall university environment does not respect them or does not consider them an authority to independently evaluate student performance.
On the other hand, in the same city, had an opportunity to visit the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), where things are disciplined and students are engaged in academics, sports and other professional activities. The University maintains a proper entry and exit system that restricts non-state actors or other pressure groups from interacting with students or other stakeholders. The accountability and oversight system is in place; teachers maintain discipline and students follow instructions in the true letter & spirit. The Learning management system is there for assignments, quizzes and discussion. An enabling environment is there for conducting projects, social experiments, student society-based activities and other professional interactions. The University provides a Platform for innovation and invention; professionals are engaged in sharing success stories and challenges. Regular visits to strategic institutions are arranged to explore the future direction of their domain. The students are provided access to digital resources i.e. ebooks, journals, periodicals and other relevant material.
The overall comparison of the two capital universities reflects an open system where access to the university premises is available to everyone and a closed system where only invited individuals are allowed. On the other hand, there are many engagement opportunities in one university, whereas the other lacks those. Even then, there can be multiple ways of engaging students; there is a need to support faculty members to prepare a term-based schedule and execute that plan. There must be out-of-class engagements, including the use of a Learning Management System (LMS), social media platforms and sports. Creating competition in the academic, professional and research domains is always helpful for students to grow and excel in specific disciplines. The higher education system can deliver only when all those responsible for it are accountable and if there is a culture of transparency and fairness in the various processes. The student is accountable to the faculty, university management, parents and society for the responsibility of effective learning; similarly, faculty members are responsible for effective teaching. The university management is responsible for providing facilities and an enabling environment for the faculty members and students to perform their responsibilities in the desired manner. The University Board of Governors is responsible to monitor progress of all stakeholders, their activities and overall performance. The University functions can be improved if these overseeing authorities take decisions in a just and fair manner regularly.
— The writer is Director, Higher Education Commission, Islamabad.
