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The Problem with Higher Education in Pakistan

Writer: Mumtaz HussainMumtaz Hussain
Oct 9, 20198 min read

Technology, Space Tourism, and Pakistan

There are two major technologies that have shaped our world in a way we see it today. One is information technology and the other is transportation. If we remove both of them from our world then we will be living in stone age again. Regardless of a person’s profession, knowledge and a basic understanding of the latest technology is crucial to be a successful professional. For instance, if a person is not comfortable with using social media, smartphones, laptops and etc., then he won’t be able to keep up with the fast pacing development in his profession. People who are not aware of what’s going on in their respective fields will eventually become the frog in the well. People with this kind of attitude don’t see or don’t want to see the world beyond the boundaries of their well.


The global village we are living in is changing rapidly and the key to this speedy growth is information technology. Just like driving a car, swimming, taking a picture or effective communication are treated as a skill, now the developed countries are treating basic computer programming as a skill rather than a specialized field of study. China has started teaching their children from kindergarten to 12th grade about basic computer programming skills [1]. To take maximum advantage from the upcoming fourth industrial revolution, every country is trying its best to impart education about technology not only among their youth but the children as well [2].


Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, 5G Network, Big Data Analytics are the main forces that are going drastically change the landscape of the future’s job market and our way of life. Just consider the benefits of Remote Surgery using 5G Network for a minute. In simple words, just like we are able to talk and see people sitting in another corner of the world using video calling software systems, similarly 5G Network is going enable patients to get operated by any surgeons thousand miles away. Let me be very clear about this, I am not talking about science fiction or technology that is a couple of decades away from now. I am talking of the march 2019 when a Chinese doctor operated a Parkinson’s patient while sitting about 1,900 miles away [3].

Johann Zahn designed the world’s first camera in 1685 but the world’s first picture was taken by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in 1814 [4]. Back then no one would have wondered that in 2018 the global revenue of photography will be massive 79.9 billion US$ [5]. Coming back in 2019, the world is on the verge of an entirely new industry of space tourism as many US-based companies are interested in this new business opportunity [6].


After the brief portray of technological advancement in the world now it’s time to look at our beloved country Pakistan. The Federal Public Service Commission of Pakistan (FPSC) does not have a simple feature of searching for a job on their official website. Being a humble student of Computer Science, I wonder how much budget does FPSC allocate for their highly advance I.T Department and what is the job description of employees there? This is criminal negligence in my personal opinion. Coming to the Grass root level education, that is primary and some may argue secondary as well, is suffering from cancer I must say. In my humble opinion, poverty among public and corruption in the government sector are the major reasons behind 22.8 million children, who are aged 5-16, being out of school as per a UNICEF statistic [6]. On one side government of Pakistan is reducing the already low budget for education to only 2.4% of GDP & cutting the budget of HEC and on the other side, HEC itself is alleged for irregularities in past [7][8][9]. In simple words, the whole education sector in Pakistan is surviving under chaos. The rich & the elite can afford the most expensive private schools & colleges and they even do send their kids abroad for higher education while middle-class families struggle to earn enough money to manage fees of government institutes.

An article published by PakistanToday

NEDUET MS Admission Experience

My motivation behind this article is my experience of MS admission application submission on 9-Oct-2019 in a so-called renowned and reputed NED University of Engineering and Technology (NEDUET). The NEDUET open its admission for MS in the various program for the fall 2019-2020 session in late September. I intended to take admission in the Data Science program but there was no info in the prospectus available on their official website. The admission from not only requires the stereotype formality of attested copies of all the documents but also the sign and stamp from two 17th grade government officials. Applicants were also supposed to submit a photocopy of the filled application form along with bank challan of 5,500 PKR (35.12 US$ as of 9-Oct-2019). Applicants can only apply for only one program with this fee and for each additional application, there is a fee of 3500 PKR (22.35 US$ as of 9-Oct-2019) per program. After going through all this hectic and time-wasting process the real surprise was still waiting for me. When I submitted my application, their representative gave me a piece of paper with a web link and told me to register there as this is a mandatory process to finalize the registration process. To be honest at that very moment I was looking for a solid wall to break my head!


Tampere University, Finland Application Experience

Since 2016 I have been applying to various international universities in the hope of getting a fully-funded scholarship. Unfortunately, I haven’t got any and as my IELTS is going to expire in Jan-2020, I thought not to waste any more time and take admission in NEDUET as a backup plan. In my entire experience of scholarship hunting, some of the well-known universities ask very less or no processing fees at all such as the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT Thailand) asks for 20 US$ (3123 PKR as of today) as application processing fee. Finland has a centralized university admission system that means one can apply to any university in Finland using a single website. I had secured admission in the Tampere University (QS Ranking 395) and they don't asks for any processing fee. Though I couldn’t afford it so I didn’t avail the opportunity but the application process was very smooth. If you have all the documents in soft copies then form won’t take more than 20 minutes and that’s it you applied for MS admission there. They have dedicated a focal person to communicated with for any question and queries. They constantly kept sending me all the information regarding paying the fee and other processes like visa application, course registration and etc. The focal person even provided me the access to their university official android application which was full of information and fellow students all around the globe.

Role of Academia and Industry Collaboration in Promotion of Research Culture An international student at Tampere University uses to distributes the newspaper to support his educational expenses. While working for a couple of weeks, he realized that the newspapers get delivered late twice a week at the warehouse from where he picks them. He quickly discussed the issues with his professor from university and they both start working on it and their initial research suggest that the company is losing tons of money with this delay as the case was the same all around Finland with that company. The professor called the sales manager of the newspaper and discussed their findings and the manager was so impressed that he funds the rest of the student’s MS degree on a condition to find a workable solution of the given problem.


It is unfortunate to write it here that in Pakistan many cartoon professors, as termed by Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy, demotivate students for research [10]. A student of BSCS, whom I personally know told me that his professor demotivated him when he discussed his idea for a potential research topic. Hilariously when I searched that professor's own research profile on Google Scholar, I found an incomplete, inaccurate, and apparently full of fake claims on other research work. Here do Keep this in mind that quality research does not mean the number of publications, like HEC treat it, but the number of citations and H-Index. Citation reflects the worth of your research work in the researchers’ community and the higher is better. From this incident, I realized that these cartoon professors who don't have research skills themselves are suffering from inferiority complex and their ego hurts when they see a student having more research potential then themselves.

SMIU vs NED

I am a proud Computer Science graduate from the very first batch of Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU). SMIU not only taught me well but all the teachers groomed me and today I am an I.T professional, debater, researcher, poet, and writer. The minimum eligibility criteria for undergraduate admission in NEDUET is still 55% for intermediate in the Computer Science group. Unfortunately, universities all around the globe do not look at the intellectual abilities and potential of admission aspirants but the score in their previous educational qualification.


A Mentally Retarded Kid!

One day a mother received a letter from the school of her son. She starts crying when she read it and her son asked what’s wrong? To that her month replied that your school said that you’re a highly intelligent student and the school does not have qualified faculty to teach you. After many years that innocent kid becomes a young grown man but her mother was no more with her in this world. He found the same letter from his school which forces tears from her mother’s eyes. He starts reading it and that letter actually said that your son is mentally retarded so please take him to another school. That man starts carrying and said it was my mother that made me what I am today. This man has the highest number of patents to his credit and recently a Japanese cross his count in 2008 [10]. That man did not lose hope even after failing 1000 times and finally invented the bulb. That man was Thomas Edison and, in his words, “Tomorrow is my exam, but I don’t’ care because a single sheet of paper can’t decide my future.”


I do agree that university should have eligibility criteria but the question is what are options for those who did not perform well earlier but have the potential to do great things ahead? Universities should have admission criteria based on the scientific reason not mere on grades in previous degrees. Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is an exam required for admission in US Graduate School for a very long time. Recent scientific research depicts that a higher score in GRE does not reflect the actual performance of a student in research and study. After the research publication, many US Universities are slowly and gradually dropping GRE scores as a mandatory requirement for admission but it looks like Pakistani Universities and public institutions will never stop asking for ATTESTED photocopies of documents [11]. Sometimes It feels like we are living back in the 19th century.


Conclusion

I am not going to impose my point of view on my readers so instead of writing a bunch of more words I am closing with some question for you.


1 - Does our education system encourage the multidisciplinary field of study and research? 2 - Can a student with intermediate in engineering go for MBBS or vice versa easily? 3 – Isn’t education is one of the best business in Pakistan? 4 - What can we expect from Universities of Engineering and Technology when they can’t even automate their own admission system? 5 - Can we compete globally with this education system? 6 - Don’t you think a group of NED Undergraduate students can automate the admission process using the opportunity of their Final Year Project or Semester Project? 7 - Is it the lack of budget & resource or public service attitude & willingness behind the lack of automation throughout Pakistan?

8 - Does HEC have the capability to introduce a single centralize university admission system?


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