By Bilal Zuberi and Salal Humair
Boston: The ferment about the crisis faced by Pakistan’s higher education system has crystallized into action and definite hope. The civic and political will of the Pakistani diaspora, philanthropists and policy makers to reform higher education in the country was immeasurably strengthened this weekend in Boston. The Pak-Millennium Conference 2002 (www.pak2000.org), organized by The Boston Group (www.thebostongroup.org), brought together policy-makers, educationists and intellectuals from Pakistan and the US to agree on the immediate and long-term steps needed for transforming Pakistan’s universities and colleges into world-class seats of learning.
The message from the conference was clear. At the end of two days - a full day of policy dialogue and a day of public panels - the consensus of the house was that for building a vibrant Pakistan in the next decades it is vital that we ourselves produce the leaders, thinkers and problem solvers, who will lay the foundations of a progressive, tolerant society and revive the confidence of the nation.
The conference took a long time in the making. Disparate and independently motivated people serendipitously came together to recommend to the government concrete actions needed for reform, as well as the urgency of the situation. The Boston Group is an exemplar, a group of expatriate Pakistanis, meeting both formally and informally over the past two years, and now fully engaged in the higher education reform process in Pakistan. The group is an instance of how civic will can be an agent of change. What started out as discussions over dinners at local restaurants in Boston, has turned into an informal think tank. Over the last year, the group has informed the work of a task force on higher education through a 57-page report as well as through direct and indirect discussions.
The conference makes public a process of reform that has gone on quietly over the last year both within and outside of the government, through a Task Force on Improvement of Higher Education in Pakistan and a Study Group on Higher Education. The former was constituted by the Minister for Education, Ms. Zobaida Jalal, and co-chaired by Syed Babar Ali, Pro-Chancellor LUMS, and Dr. Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, President Aga Khan University. The latter was constituted by the Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman. President Musharraf has now acted on the recommendations of these committees. The decision to abolish the UGC has been taken in principle and the Steering Committee on Higher Education has been established for short-term reform, and the Higher Education Commission for long-term reform.
At the conference itself, the signal from the policy-makers was clear. Five members of the Steering Committee as well as Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, stated unambiguously their commitment to higher education reform, as well as the support they need to make the vision real. The need is to mobilize groups such as The Boston Group, and more generally the civil society and the Pakistani diaspora in debate on the issues; and most importantly to provide the expertise to bootstrap the system and fully engage in the process with them. The engagement of civil society in this process is crucial, and one hopes that the openness of the discussions at the conference has set the stage for future discourse. Dr. Shamsh Kassim-Lakha and Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman demonstrated a rather unusual ability to listen intently to the suggestions and comments, as well as rather strong criticisms on how to execute, implement and manage reforms.
The participant list at the conference was impressive. Many of the major stakeholders who will have a decisive impact on the future of higher education were present. For instance, Dr. Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, Minister of State, Chair of the Steering Committee and President Aga Khan Universities; Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, Minister of Science and Technology and head designate of the Higher Education Commission; Syed Babar Ali, Pro-Chancellor LUMS; Dr. Ishrat Hussain, Governor State Bank of Pakistan; Dr. S.T.K. Naim, Chairperson, Pakistan Council on Science and Technology; Dr. Pervez Hoodboy; Dr. Hamid Kizilbash; Dr. Sohail Naqvi; the Vice-Chancellors of the universities of Karachi and Peshawar, Dr. Zafar Saied Saify and Dr. Zulfiqar Gilani, participated in the deliberations of both days. International experts were equally impressive and included Dr. Henry Rosovsky, Dean Emeritus Harvard University; Dr. Robert Edwards, President Emeritus, Bowdoin College; Dr. Lou Wells, Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management, Harvard Business School, and Dr. Richard Larson, Director of the Center for Advanced Educational Studies, MIT.
On key issues confronting higher education, there was remarkable consensus between the participants. The strait-jacket role of the government in higher education, the lack of quality faculty, the lack of fiscal resources, outdated curricula, and the total absence of research were agreed first-order problems that need to be addressed. The problem of quality faculty was a recurring theme in the deliberations of the group, and one of the most important causes was felt to be the lack of academic freedom and intellectual stimulation. In addition, the group strongly felt that the focus of any reform effort needs to be the university, otherwise it is bound to be rejected as an imposed process.
In addition, it was the sense of the house that policies cannot, and should not, be designed and implemented in the dark. It is crucial that we build a priori mechanism and metrics for monitoring reform. In fact, a continual system of reform evaluation needs to be in place even as reforms are being implemented, to maximize the effectiveness of the resources.
There was also a clear acknowledgement by the participants that all wisdom cannot possibly reside with the small group assembled in Boston. This was stated repeatedly by Dr. Shamsh Kassim-Lakha and underscored by Professor Hamid Kizilbash. The need to immediately widen the net and directly engage the faculty and the universities in the process of reform was termed a high priority item. The urgency of this was apparent, since it was felt that while political will is present, it was imperative to generate momentum as well as counter the fears change will inevitably introduce. Similarly, it was recognized that questions of value, and of women’s representation in the higher education community, deserved special attention. A detailed report of the conference deliberations will be published shortly and will be available via its web-site http://www.pak2000.org.
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