UNIVERSITIES in Pakistan are again in the news — once again for the wrong reasons. The issue this time is that the federal government has decided to stop giving annual recurring grants to provincially chartered universities, ending a practice that had been in vogue since independence.

Accordingly, the federal government asked the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on May 24, 2024, to resubmit the budget proposal, reducing the demand to less than one-fifth of the original amount asked — from Rs126 billion to Rs25bn — catering for only the federally chartered universities.

The cited logic behind the federal government’s decision is that, as education has been devolved to the provinces under the 18th Amendment, it is now the responsibility of the provincial governments to foot the bill of universities established and chartered by them.

This decision sent shockwaves across the country, particularly among students and academia of some 160 affected universities. On their part, the Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations sprang into action and held their executive council’s meeting in which they rejected the government’s decision and decided to launch a national protest movement and observe May 30 as a ‘black day’.

Stopping federal annual grants to provincially chartered universities is an ill-advised move.

It is an irony that 85 years ago on that day, on May 30, 1939, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah wrote his final will, in which he bequeathed his entire personal wealth to educational institutions, showcasing his commitment to the cause of education. But with him were gone his ideals and aspirations.

Coming back to the present, let’s examine the issue and suggest a way out. First of all, the most striking aspect of the government’s decision is its abruptness. The practice of federal funding to all chartered universities, both federal and provincial, has been going on for a very long time. Even the 18th Amendment was passed 14 years ago.

If the federal government had been serious about the matter, it could have gradually eased itself out in a phased manner, after the passage of the 18th Amendment. Now, expecting universities, which are fully dependent on federal grants, to create alternative financial resources on such short notice — just a month before the start of the next financial year in July — is not understandable.

Another aspect is the federal government’s legal competence to take unilateral decisions in such matters. Constitutionally speaking, the forum for resolving issues that involve the interests of the federation and the provinces is the Council of Common Interests. Before taking any action, the federal government would be well advised to raise this issue in the CCI and have it resolved there.

It is also very important to involve the other stakeholders in the decision-making process. In the present case, these stakeholders are students, their parents, universities, representative faculty bodies and staff associations as well as the general public.

Here, it is pertinent to see what is happening across our borders, particularly in India and Bangladesh, because the three of us share the same roots in connection with our higher education systems.

In the case of India, its union (federal) government allocated an amount equal to $5.6bn for the higher education sector in fiscal year 2023-24, in addition to the state governments’ grants to their respective universities. Following this example, Pakistan, about one-fifth of India in terms of population, should have allocated at least $1bn in federal grants for its higher education sector.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh, which has a population of about 171 million, allocated over $1bn for its 53 public universities during the same year.

In contrast, Pakistan has frozen its federal outlay for higher education to Rs65bn since 2018. In dollar terms, this amount in June 2018 was equal to $537m (at the exchange rate of 121 rupees to a dollar), which has now shrunk in its dollar value to $232m (at the exchange rate of 280 rupees a dollar).

Despite repeated demands from academia and students, the government did not increase allocations for higher education during the last six years. This year, it is altogether ending it, except for an amount of $89m for federally chartered universities.

This move has already given rise to various conspiracy theories and interpretations. One such exposition states that the move is intended to benefit the already rich universities run and operated by the armed forces as almost all of them are federally chartered institutes, at the expense of poor public universities spread across the four provinces. This impression is not good for national coherence and harmony.

In these circumstances, the best course of action for the federal government would be to not only continue with federal grants to all universities until the matter is discussed and decided by the CCI, but to also consider enhancing the allocation to a level that matches at least the figures for Bangladesh — the rupee equivalent of $1bn.

On their part, the provinces should also shoulder their responsibilities towards higher education and contribute their bit, following the pattern in India. In the current context, Sindh is the only province that has provided grants amounting to Rs26bn to its universities, an action that needs to be followed by the rest of the provinces.

The universities should also find ways to boost their own resources, on the pattern of countries like China, Turkey, Malaysia, etc. One good way to do this is to rationalise their fee structures on the basis of the real incurred cost on various programmes, and then subsidise it for poor students only.

Last but not least, there is an urgent need to bring extreme prudence and transparency to university spending processes and enforce a mechanism of accountability to eradicate funds misuse and corruption. That is how we shall be able to develop our universities and help them play their due role in national development and prosperity.

The writer is a development professional and a former vice chancellor.

drshaikhma@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2024