Knowledge surpasses job creation

Everything about education is not just reduced to job creation and this reductionist approach to view education is a fallacy. But then job creation could not be put down and new ways are needed to be explored to make our youth suitable for job market without compromising on their education.

Prof Dr Muhammad Ali, the vice chancellor of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), hence broke the discussion on linking education with job market. “There are some clichés in this debate e.g. we are producing 1.4 million graduates while we have job market for only 400,000 of them. So why not cut the production?” he said.

Looking out of the glass window at the serene Margallas that surround his cozy office, he said education is not just a means to get a job. “Education tells you how to live a better life. People come to big cities from small villages to get education and then they never return. They are consumed by big cities. I, you and we all have lived this reality. But they should put up the knowledge they learnt at universities to the benefits of people of small towns,” he said.

He added that there might be little prospects of job for a student of history. “We should explain to that student this reality. We should also tell him that he has to do something to earn a living in addition to studying history. Innovations are needed to make him productive in the society,” he said.

He said that the QAU is soon going to get a department of media and mass communication. “All through the day, I have to read dozens of emails and messages and post replies to 70 per cent of them. This is the age of media. You cannot escape it. It is like this, you like it or not,” he said. There is a need to study media and mediatisation of society, he said.

Prof Ali, during his tenure as the VC at FC College University Faisalabad, had developed a studio for the department of media there. A state-of-the-art department of media studies is badly needed in Islamabad, which is the centre of news generation in the country. Over 3000 media professionals are working in the federal capital and there is no quality institute for their professional training. It is hoped that this department will cater to their needs as well as answering to problems of media research.

He has already opened departments of law and linguistics. It is very rare that a VC opens new departments these days. Prof Ali said not only these departments, he is also going to build two new academic blocs on campus. He said that he was able to convince the decision-makers to issue funds for these projects. The QAU is among the few universities to have got funds for new projects in this budget.

He said he believes that the government will revise higher education budget. Asked if it is appropriate to mention on admission ads that QAU is the No 1 university of Pakistan, he laughed and said at least they should be granted this much liberty. “Look at our topography and higher standards of study,” he said in a lighter tone.

— Hassan Zaidi