For the first time after the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and probably the first time since the creation of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Karachi saw a unique gathering of scholars and thinking minds of Pakistan at a conference that was hosted by Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM), in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) and Success Foundation Pakistan.

Vice chancellors and directors of quality assurance of several universities, civil society members and a large number of editors and columnists attended the national conference on ‘Quality of Higher Education and the National Education Policy”. For the whole day, leading figures of the media and academia debated and discussed issues and challenges of higher education in Pakistan during the unique and interactive conference.

The Chairman Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad spoke at the Conference via a video link because he could not make to Karachi due to unavailability of flights. The Chairman HEC answered challenging questions asked by several audience regarding the role of HEC. The HEC Executive Director Prof. Dr. G. Raza Bhatti gave a detailed presentation on the quality assurance policies, strategies and framework.

Dr Muhammad Ali Sheikh, vice chancellor Sindh Madrassatul Islam University, Dr. Sadrudin Pardhan, Adviser Agha Khan University, Prof Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi, Rector Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education, Dr. Arshad Saleem, Vice Chancellor Shaheed BB University Shaheed Benazirabad, Prof. Dr. K.B. Mirbahar, Vice Chancellor SBB University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Professor Dr. Akhtar Baloch, Vice Chancellor Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University Lyari Karachi, Dr. Altaf Hussain, Vice Chancellor Nazir Hussain University Karachi and several other Vice Chancellors spoke at the conference.

The British Council Director for Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, Mr Robin Devies was another key speaker at the conference. He observed that no university in the entire South Asian region is among the top 100, 200 or even 300 top universities of the world. He offered the full support of the British Council in enhancing the quality of higher education in Pakistan.

The HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad disagreed with Mr. Devies assessment and said that the quality of education has improved significantly in the past few years. He said that the HEC strictly follows merit and it has provided a full framework of quality assurance. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad, the Chairman Higher Education Commission  said that the establishment of Provincial Higher Education Commissions can create a complex situation for the verifications and in other means too, although 18 amendment allow this but the subject need to revisit and think the impacts deeply. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad further said that the things are on positive side and quality of education is going better day by day and now we have three universities in top 100 younger (less than 50 years) universities of Asia. Earlier Executive Director HEC Prof. Dr. G. RazaBhatti gave a detailed presentation on the quality assurance policies, strategies and framework.

Shiraz Paracha, a journalist and now the Director of Quality at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan informed the audience about the security situation in Khyber Paktunkwa and how it is effecting education sector in that province. He also read a message by AWKUM Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Ihsan Ali.

Dear Zia, can you please add in your story that the AWKUM VC Professor Dr. Ihsan Ali Khan couldn’t come  to Karachi because of his court cases. Universities in KP face security threats and some are also under other pressures. 

thanks Educationist and columnist Professor Dr. Tuseef shared his concern about growing extremism in universities. He asked vice Chancellors to take concrete steps to purge extremism from higher education institutions. Columnist Muqtadda Manssor discussed his worries over the provincial independence under the light of 18th amendment that whether provinces are able enough to cope with hurdles in education sector, specifically in formation and implementation of uniform syllabus. Chairman Lyari development Abdul Raheem Moosvi talked about the ghost teachers at primary level and their adverse effects on higher education. Columnist Mubasher Mir favors establishing education commission at district level for primary and secondary level of education. He also emphasize that university should be completely free from political interference and work autonomously.

Dr Muhammad Ali Sheikh, the Vice Chancellor Sindh Madrassatul Islam University, emphasized that leadership matters, saying that quality enhancement will only be possible if leadership moves forward and takes quality as their responsibility. Prof Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi, Rector Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education, stressed on the teacher training specially for fresh PhDs because thay don’t know about class crisis. Professor Dr. Sarfraz Hussain, the Vice Chancellor, DHA SUFFA University, discussed that how we can attract fresh graduates towards teaching profession. Dr. Arshad Saleem, the Vice Chancellor Shaheed BB University Shaheed Benazirabad, stress on the concept of Total Quality Management in overall university.  Prof. Dr. K.B. Mirbahar, Vice Chancellor SBB University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, highlighted the problem of basic mentality of parents about choosing profession of their children in advance rather than consulting their child skills.  Prof. Muhammad Rais Alvi, Director KASBIT, focused on the ranking of co-curricular activities to give country their long lost intellectuals in all fields.

Dr Shehzad Memon from University of Sindh, discussed the HEC policies for Mphil and PhD and he argued that H.E.C should quantify the number of students enrolled in these research oriented programs. Prof Dr Akhtar Baloch of BB Shaheed University Lyari, Prof Sajideen from University of Karachi and Dr Arshia Samin Naqvi from Ziauddin University and many other experts also spoke at the conference.