"How Can Universities Improve Their Competitiveness in Today's Educational Landscape?"

Dr Nasir Rasheed Commenting on Dr Ishrat  Article in Dawn, https://www.dawn.com/news/1899555

The proposed alternative solution to new universities underscores the urgent need for technological advancement in Pakistan. While there are numerous universities in each province, only a few are renowned for their exceptional outcomes. This is primarily because most universities are general institutions established for political reasons, lacking clear vision and mission, and focusing on acquiring extensive resources and land while having 30-35 departments each.

Each university has an Office of Research, Innovation, and Commercialization (ORIC) unit, yet their effectiveness in fostering genuine research culture with significant industrial collaboration remains questionable. Currently, they tend to sign Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with minimal tangible results. Additionally, many universities have business incubation centres aimed at promoting startup proposals; however, their success rate has also been disappointing. Both these units receive funding from the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

It is important to note that HEC policies are often unrealistic, emphasizing the production of a large volume of research papers without providing practical industrial solutions, and creating a surplus of PhD and MPhil degree holders without contributing to socio-economic and technological growth. The current leadership of universities must realign their focus to match global technological competition and highlight their unique specializations.

Pakistani universities now boast a substantial number of PhD faculty members in each department, predominantly educated in Europe and funded by the Pakistani government. However, these faculty members are often preoccupied with producing numerous research papers to boost university rankings, with little real-world impact.

In such circumstances, I concur with the author of the article that we possess experts across various fields. We need to effectively categorize their areas of expertise, assign them projects after thorough expert scrutiny, provide appropriate remuneration, and follow up with audits. Furthermore, every third university should establish Science and Technology Parks (STPs) using available funds to support technology students in developing their ideas.

Dr. Nasir Rashid.

Professor, computer science

Universities of Malakand