The ‘Stinging Behaviour’ in Pakistani Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is becoming a major concern because it affects all stakeholders, including administration, faculty members and students. The toxic culture is becoming part of the daily operations of the University, and, as a result, every stakeholder tries to settle their score whenever they are in a position to act against the other stakeholder. This unprofessional and undesired behaviour creates rifts among them, and the teaching, learning and research environment is disturbed. Hence, academic and research activities suffer for the long term.
Students face first bureaucratic hurdles during the admission process, as they check their name in the admission list with a series of issues like a misspelling of name or father’s name, wrong choice of the program, fee submission and document verification, etc. The similar treatment students often receive from scholarship or financial aid offices, where in some cases, they will be compelled to surrender some amount to get the rest of the amount. If someone is not ready to cooperate with the terms and conditions of the financial aid office, then a list of verification will be handed over to them. It will be quite difficult for female folk to collect such verifications from the Union Council or gazetted officer.
On the other hand, junior faculty members face a set of challenges from the University Administration, like probation termination, contract renewal, promotion and research-related opportunities. All these are manipulated and their commitments are sought for different favours in future elections and selections of syndicate members. Another major threat to faculty members is the ‘publish or perish’ demand of Administration which is mostly made without providing a congenial and desired supporting environment. The faculty members are compelled to follow shortcuts and fall prey to those faculty members who have experience in managing publications or gift authorship. In Universities, complex administrative power dynamics exist that sometimes discourage genuine researchers from carrying out research activities of their choice in an independent manner.
In practice, students who are deprived of their due position and rights will resultantly behave arrogantly with junior students on campus, on university transport, and at university hostel. Their reaction to mistreatment faced by the University administration and faculty members is conveyed to newcomers in the form of ragging and the chain reaction continues. The overall teaching and learning are affected due to this. The seniors who were supposed to be an inspiration and motivation to the juniors became a major hurdle to achieving core and new knowledge. Most of their time is spent to settle various issues through different means. The students’ energies are wasted in non-academic matters, although they were expected to be members of some student societies along with all seniors and juniors for carrying out curricular and co-curricular activities.
To improve the above-mentioned toxic environment in the Universities, first, there is a need to automate all admission, teaching, learning, and assessment systems for transparency and fairness purposes. It will be accessible the whole day & night during the whole year without any human interference which creates bureaucratic hurdles in various processes. Second, the need for a robust grievance redressal mechanism is the need of the hour, the faculty and students may report any grievance without fear and any potential backlash. The redressal system should be time-bound, free from the influence of any stakeholder, and members with good repute should be members. The members should be accountable for cases they decide during their tenure. The utmost effort may be made to safeguard the interests of those who feel aggrieved and some mechanism of peer mentoring should be there to counsel the complainant.
Third, there should be a continuous professional development program for faculty and administration which may help them to focus on stress and time management. Personal and professional development through exposure to other institutions for similar institutional practices are to be made. A culture of mutual respect for all stakeholders be introduced at all levels, events, and activities. Fourth, there is a need to have an effective student counselling mechanism, the undergraduate education policy of HEC desires that students should be supervised in all i.e. academics, sports, internships, and other co-curricular activities. The objective is to keep them engaged in positive activities which may help them to achieve their career objectives and also become responsible citizens of the country. In conclusion, the stinging behaviour in Higher Education Institutions can be addressed through a multifaceted approach involving all stakeholders through policy provisions, mutual self-respect, and cultural transformation. The enabling environment will help the Higher Education Sector to achieve objective of producing quality higher education in the country.
Note: The opinion shared by the author is his own and does not reflect institutional policy. The objective is to create awareness about issues or challenges faced by different stakeholders and possible ways & means to address them.
The writer is the Director of the Higher Education Commission, Islamabad.
(muneermirjat@gmail.com)
