KARACHI: Raising serious concerns over “flawed” policies of the Higher Education Commission, speakers at a seminar held at Karachi University on Tuesday demanded that the HEC withdraw its proposed associate degree programme and re-evaluate its policies that have largely been formulated without the consent of stakeholders.

They also vowed to launch a struggle for the restoration of educational institutions’ autonomy.

Titled ‘Associate Degree — Challenges to University Degree Programme and Future of College/External Education’, the event was attended by a large number of college and university teachers, examination experts and representatives of unions, human rights and student organisations and staff associations. It was organised by KU’s Forum for Policy Debate (FPD).

Call to take all stakeholders on board before formulation of policies

Starting off the discussion, Prof Syed Jaffar Ahmed, former director of the Pakistan Study Centre at KU, called for defining “the constitutional limits of HEC” and said its policies should be based on the consent of stakeholders concerned as it’s only through consultation and critical evaluation process that policies could be fairly implemented.

HEC blamed for facilitating private varsities

“It seems the commission is deliberately ignoring public sector universities and facilitating private sector institutions. Its associate degree programme targets poor segments of the society,” he said.

Dr Ahmed emphasized upon the need to make decisions that impact society based on our local ground realities rather under pressure from any foreign agency or force.

Institutions such as the World Bank (WB), the World Trade Organisation and International Monetary Fund, he said, had now taken control of even the agricultural output of countries and their markets.

Acting KU Vice Chancellor Prof Khalid M. Iraqi, who presided over the event, also endorsed the need to take stakeholders on board before formulation of policies and said this approach would not only ensure sustainability of policies but their effective implementation.

“[Administrative] decentralisation is the way to go. All over the world universities are free to prepare their own academic policies and, therefore, they formulate policies that respond to local problems and conditions,” he said, adding that Pakistan should adopt any decentralised academic system.

Karachi University Teachers’ Society (Kuts) president Prof Dr Shah Aliul Qadar recalled that around 28 vice chancellors of public sector universities had categorically rejected the HEC’s associate degree programme in 2018, expressing surprise over HEC’s insistence on the same programme despite resistance across Pakistan.

He paid tributes to KU’s academic council that deliberated upon the associate degree programme in 2017 and presented a comprehensive report that outlined its impact on the diversity of education and students, especially on those belonging to the lower middle class that would have to unnecessarily go through a four-year programme instead of two years under the old programme.

Dr Riaz Ahmed, a senior KU teacher, in his presentation discussed the WB reports of 2017 and 2019 that lay the basis of the $400 million funding for higher education in Pakistan and noted that HEC’s associate degree programme was actually the agenda of the World Bank.

Citing a WB-funded project, he said it provided a detailed plan for eliminating degree programmes in Pakistan and replacing it “with a non-scientific approach to education that would deprive the graduates to acquire jobs or relate to the social conditions”.

Universities to lose income

“The associate degree programme is unacceptable as it will close the doors for higher education for the middle and lower middle classes. The universities will also lose a major source of income that [they] currently generate through the old programme,” he said, pointing out that if the new programme was implemented it would eliminate undergraduate programme at universities and also deprive students of the option to pursue a degree programme privately.

Prof S.M. Taha, the convenor of FPD and a member of the KU syndicate, said the Constitution and the University Act 1973 did not allow any other institution including the HEC to float a degree programme which was not approved by the academic council of a university.

“The KU academic council has always unanimously rejected this programme whenever it was placed for debate. This dialogue is the beginning of a debate that will turn into a national dialogue where all stakeholders will be free to express their views,” he said.

Dr Asghar Dashti, a member of the syndicate of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Fuuast), in his paper alleged that the WB created the HEC and since its formation in 2003 “the HEC had been attacking higher education in Pakistan”.

Dr Yaqoob Chandio, the president of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA), demanded investigation against the HEC on charges of damaging the higher education sector and hoped that college and university teachers, staff and students would join hands to launch a movement to end the “hegemony” of HEC.

SPLA-Karachi president Dr Munawwar Abbas criticised what he described as the step-motherly treatment by universities towards their affiliated colleges that were considered as a source of income. He demanded greater autonomy for provincial colleges and pledged to resist attempts to undermine higher education.

Dr Intikhab Ulfat, a senior KU professor, observed that the examination system of universities handled a large number of colleges while the proposed associate degree programme entailed a semester system without considering the limited capacity of colleges.

Dr Osama Shafiq of KU criticised the WB-led policies of the HEC and demanded a commission to investigate billions of rupees “wasted by HEC in the past 17 years”.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2020