Rock bottom

What we have suspected for a long time has been confirmed. Pakistan’s higher education system, despite the claims of improvements made in recent years, is among the very worst in the world. Rated on the basis of the overall strength of the system, the access of people to international ranked universities, the performance of a country’s best universities and global factors including GDP per capita, Pakistan – according to the first assessment by the reputed Quacquarelli Symonds – finishes with a dismal score 9.2 points in the Higher Education System Strength Ranking for 2016. This puts the country at last place on the table. India, with 60.9 points, finishes at 24th place. Even the UAE comes in ahead of Pakistan as do Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Estonia. This is not much different from other surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016. The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitive Report for 2015-16 puts Pakistan at 124th out of 140 countries in the category of higher education and training. In another study comparing research from countries including Pakistan, we again finish at the bottom of the list.

This red report card is truly a source of dismay. It essentially suggests that, despite the enormous funds poured in to fund higher education, our educational institutions are still at the very bottom. The question then arises of what the Higher Education Commission has achieved in the years since it was set up. There is also the question of why the structure and quality of higher learning in the country stands at such a disastrous low and why a bigger effort has not been put in to improving it through the decades. Indeed, standards seem to have slumped markedly. This is an extremely damaging indictment of all we have done wrong. It also shows why we have such little hope of improving unless drastic measures are taken to correct the educational pyramid and inject in it some much needed quality and commitment.