FAPUASA plans to resist HEC’s move to do away with MS/MPhil programmes

ISLAMABAD: Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations (FAPUASA) has announced to resist unilateral policies of Higher Education Commission (HEC) to do away with the Masters and PhD programmes in Pakistani universities with full zeal and decided to launch countrywide protest against HEC if its reservations are not addressed immediately.

FAPUASA expressed serious reservations and rejected the revised policy of PhD admissions being recommended by HEC.

The commission, according to FAPUASA, recommended allowing direct admission to PhD after passing undergraduate 16-Year BS programme without undertaking an MS or MPhil programmes which hitherto had been a policy and international norm also.

In a statement by Dr Sohail Yousaf, President, FAPUASA, issued after consultation with FAPUASA Executive Council said that the recommendation was made without taking higher education institutions and academia on board. This will have great impinging affect on the postgraduate programmes of the universities in Pakistan. It said that the 2-year MPhil programme will become outrightly redundant which will be a great loss for the universities of Pakistan. Research productivity will decline considerably since the students after having acquired MPhil degree are well privy to the research requirements and prerequisites.

Masters and MPhil students are trained to undertake quality research work, reflected through their international research publications. Based on this experience, they succeed securing PhD admissions in top ranking world universities. Pakistani BS programmes are not internationally recognised and virtually no student will be admitted/funded for research programmes in foreign universities, Dr Yousaf continued.

With the undermining of Masters/MPhil programmes, the number of Pakistani students in foreign universities will decrease drastically. This will put Pakistan at least 10 years behind compared with where it is today, which is not best either, he said.

The need of the hour is to evoke prudent policies congenial to the ground realities of Pakistan which could steer the academic prosperity of the postgraduate programmes in the universities of Pakistan.