ISLAMABAD: Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has raised questions over the performance of the country’s higher education institutions involving around Rs450 billion worth of development projects and urged the prime minister to replace the leadership of Higher Education Commission (HEC) with a fresh team having experience and bold vision to address the prevailing challenges.

The minister said that “169 projects with a total cost of Rs446bn and a throw-forward of Rs314bn” were at risk. However, despite his strong criticism of the top HEC management, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif granted one-year extension to the HEC’s incumbent chairman a couple of days ago.

In a letter, the planning minister had sensitised the PM that nearly two-thirds of Pakistan’s population was below the age of 30 that has to play a pivotal role in shaping the future trajectory of the nation. This significant youth bulge presents both an opportunity and a risk. On one hand, it offers potential for a robust workforce that can drive development, provided that these young individuals are equipped with quality education, good health, and essential skills.

On the other hand, Mr Iqbal said, if these young entrants into the labour force do not receive quality education and are poorly skilled, they will struggle to find decent employment, leading to adverse socio-economic consequences.

Institutions have failed to prepare graduates that meet expectations of employers and industry, Ahsan Iqbal tells PM

Pakistan currently faces an acute human development crisis, driven in large part by the poor quality of higher education, he added.

The minister pointed out that a 2023 study by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics revealed that 31 per cent of university graduates were unemployed.

“Research indicates that higher education institutions in Pakistan have failed to prepare their graduates to meet the expectations and demands of employers and industry,” he said.

He attributed the “poor performance” to the misalignment of university curricula with industry needs and the rapidly evolving technological landscape, weak regulatory and quality assurance mechanisms, a disconnect between performance and funding of universities, substandard research quality, and weak governance and management within the HEC itself.

HEC misses targets

The planning minister recalled that the primary mandate and responsibility for ensuring high-quality higher education lays with the HEC. “Unfortunately, the HEC has failed in achieving its objectives and has progressively worsened. This failure persists despite the generous grants it has received from the Government (excepting the years 2018-2021) and the operational autonomy it enjoys.”

Mr Iqbal went on to add that during its more than 20 years of existence, the government and international partners sponsored substantial public investments in higher education infrastructure, human resource and faculty development (scholarships, PhDs/Postdocs), accreditation, quality assurance, attestation services, and the National Research Programme for Universities. “Despite these efforts, HEC has failed to achieve its targets,” he regretted.

The minister said that after coming to power in 2022, the PML-N government “re-enhanced” funding for HEC. In 2023 alone, the development budget for HEC included 169 projects with a total cost of Rs446bn and a throw-forward of Rs314bn but the restoration of resource allocation had not resulted in any visible improvements in the state of higher education.

Therefore, given the track record of the current senior HEC team, he was seriously concerned that the public funds allocated to HEC were at risk, and the urgency of educational goals remained unmet.

FPSC’s view

Not only this, the HEC has failed to implement effective quality control measures to enhance the employability of graduates. He said the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) had also pointed out that only 393 candidates or 1.94pc could pass written examinations out of at least 20,000 candidates.

“The FPSC has been continually complaining about the falling standards of our education over several years,” he said, adding that many candidates were not even familiar with elementary mathematics and many others did not even know the direction of a simple compass, confusing north with south and east with west.

Almost all reports of the FPSC, he said, complained about the absence of analytical skills among the candidates who mostly reproduce “crammed knowledge” but there had been insufficient attention to curriculum reforms and pedagogical changes.

‘Centre-provinces disconnect’

“Investments in HR development have been random and lack targeted outcomes. Research funds have often been used by faculty members to enhance their CVs rather than solve problems and provide evidence-based public policy,” the minister claimed and complained that universities across the provinces suffered from a lack of resources, poor governance, and inadequate monitoring and evaluation. Additionally, there is a clear federal and provincial disconnect in the higher education sector and among the research community.

The planning minister deplored that there were 28,000 Pakistani citizens enrolled in higher education institutions in China but the HEC is clueless about meeting the HR and skills requirements for CPEC projects. Numerous examples of compromised HEC actions exist, such as unjust team-building processes and whimsical resource allocations.

Mr Iqbal alleged that HEC had failed to conceive and implement strategic projects like the US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor and University Performance Audits effectively and targets remain unmet.

He said the current administrative stalemate at HEC was primarily due to the incumbent senior management.

“The current chairman has held key positions since 2004, making him the longest-serving head of such an organisation. Despite repeated extensions, the promised outcomes have not materialised, and he bears significant responsibility for the sector’s. malaise.

“Moreover, the recruitments to senior positions in HEC were made on nepotism,” the minister alleged and demanded reforms in the higher education sector through the introduction of a fresh, experienced team with a bold vision and the courage to implement necessary changes.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2024