Carriage before horse

This letter refers to the article ‘Move towards better policy making’ (November 20, 2024) by Dr Atta-ur-Rahman. The top-down policy of improving education has failed. So many research papers and research capabilities are of no direct relevance to the problems of our industry and economy. Universities in developed countries have grown due to work done by industry. For example, aircraft were developed by mechanics before the science of aerodynamics was known. Similarly, the steam engine was developed by mechanics and equations of power traction developed later on.

Universities carry out research on problems referred to them by industry and businesses. Often industries and institutions sponsor candidates for higher education and research in universities rather than doing aimless research first and asking industries to find work to use it. This is not practical. There is certainly a need to ‘move towards better policy making’ by changing from a top-down to a bottom-up strategy.

Abdul Majeed

Islamabad