‘World rankings not sole criteria to assess academic standards’

Islamabad
Generally, people link rankings to academic standards at universities - the better a university ranks, the higher its academic standards are.
However, noted educationist Professor Arshad Ali Shahid thinks slightly differently.
“Few universities of the country are on world rankings but most of our university graduates make their mark in their respective fields internationally. This suggests these rankings don’t necessarily mean that the quality of education offered by those not on world rankings is of inferior quality. The fact is that universities are ranked on the basis of many things from finances to faculty to infrastructure, so quality of education is just one of them,” said Professor Arshad, who currently serves as the director of the Islamabad campus of the National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences.
During a special interview ahead of ‘The News Education Expo 2015’ scheduled for the end of the current month in the capital city, the educationist told this correspondent that better investment in education sector for infrastructure development with the government taking a leading role would help improve the local universities’ world rankings.
He said compared with the past, the students of modern age had better resources, better access to information and technology, better training and better grooming and exposure to the world and thus, enabling them to compete well with their foreign contemporaries.
Professor Arshad strongly felt that the quality of education at university level had improved a lot since the introduction of semester system.
“In my opinion, the semester system is better than the old annual system at institutions of higher education on the whole as it kept students busy with studies all through the course,” he said.
The educationist praised the Higher Education Commission for promoting quality higher education in the country by regularly reviewing curriculum, inspecting universities for quality assurance, and accrediting programmes.
He said though the number of parents forcing career choices onto their children was fast declining with changing times, there were still many who followed the parents’ ‘orders’ for career paths, an act that ruined the likely promising future of youths.
“In many failure cases I have seen at my university, pushy parents are to blame. They forced children into careers they didn’t want and thus, spoiling the future of youths, who could otherwise shine in the careers of their choice. In this light, I urge people to let children pursue career paths they want for successful professional life while limiting their role to guidance only,” he said.
Professor Arshad said he found no government sincere about promotion of education in real terms.
“Education has never been on the government’s priority list. Absence of uniform education system at school and college level is enough to prove it. There exist different education systems for different societal classes, which should be done away with at once to provide members of lower and middle classes with growth opportunities, which are currently available to those of upper class only. This will eventually contribute to national development,” he said.
The educationist said the Islamabad campus of his university established 18 years ago had become one of the country’s most vibrant, effective, and rewarding seat of higher learning in a relatively short span of time.
“We’ve progressed from a single undergraduate degree programme to multiple undergraduate and graduate programmes. At present, we are offering Ph.D in two disciplines, which are Computer Sciences and Electrical Engineering. We are also planning to start PhD in other disciplines like Management Sciences.
“The commitment of the faculty, hard work of the students, and the support and guidance of the management has helped the campus reach this enviable stature. Our graduates have earned a respectable place in both national and international arena. The feedback we have been receiving about the performance of our graduates from the industry bears testimony to it,” he said.