Talking Points

Challenges to Higher Education in Punjab: Role of Private Sector

Universities

 I am really pleased to be here amongst the leadership of private

universities/degree awarding institutions of Punjab to discuss the role of
private sector universities in the socio-economic development of the
Pakistan. I welcome you all. I hope this seminar would help understand the
challenges of higher education in Punjab and suggest a viable way of how
to tackle these challenges in order to bring our education at par with
international standards.
 First, we have to find out what challenges and problems are being faced by
our higher education system both at micro and macro levels than we would
be able to chalk out the viable lines of action. The role of private sector
universities is vital to tackle these challenges.
 The recent rankings of QS and THE depict that our education system lacks
the global benchmarks of quality and productivity. One or two of our
universities hardly touch the borderline of top 500 high-ranked universities
of the globe. Our universities are not getting international recognition.
Despite huge investment, we are not following the quality parameters
which are paramount to these metrics of quality; this is a big challenge.
 Second, our graduates are unable to compete for both at local as well as
international job market as they lack necessary skills and expertise of their
field. All of our focus has been on the theoretical learning of the concepts,
 we ignored skill-based education. We are producing theorists rather than
empiricists.
 Third, if our graduates possess those necessary skills than they lack the skill
to cash their expertise. There is a lack of proper career counseling and
guidance. More our students are ignorant of the emerging market trends
both at local and global levels which ultimately saturate the job market and
there are few opportunities for them. It is dire need to guide them properly
about the emerging disciplines and their employability opportunities in the
job market.
 Accreditation of degree program is also a big challenge we are facing.
Though private sector has increased the access and choice of degree
programs for the students, a number of the programs, they are offering,
lacks proper approval from the relevant department/accreditation council.
It is unfortunate to say that our approach in running private universities is
becoming more corporate than social welfare approach.
 Our syllabi, curricula, and pedagogical techniques are incompatible with the
modern global trends. We are still using the same old-fashioned classroom
techniques and stick to rote memorization method to teach our future
leaders of society. This is ruining their creativity and productivity. We must
have to get “modernized” in our syllabi, curricula, and teaching
methodology.
 Teacher and faculty training is a sector which we have ignored at all. We
have taken it for granted that a teacher who has obtained his degree ten
years back could teach the students the modern knowledge without
 undergoing any training. Knowledge is steadily progressing; we need to
regularly train our teachers to get compatible with the current trends.
 There is a number of other challenges you could count which are
hampering the growth and fertility of our higher education system. But the
question is how we could cope with these challenges both at the public and
private sector.
 Private Universities are as important in curbing these challenges as public
universities are. They could improve the higher education by taking some
concrete and responsible measures.
 Private sector universities should refrain from offering admissions into
subjects/programs until they get the final approval from the concerned
government departments/accreditation counsels. This is what they are
legally and ethically bond for. The admissions in un-accredited/unapproved
programs not only offer problems to the universities themselves but also
for the government. Private sector universities could help government
improving higher education by only offering accredited programs in their
universities.
 Private universities should focus on improving the quality parameters by
introducing the modern trends in curriculum and pedagogy. We must focus
on inclusive education and inclusive pedagogical techniques in our
classrooms. I must mention here that the ranking of QS and THE does not
mean here at all. What means really is the metrics which these ranking
systems as based on. For example, QS ranking mechanism focuses on
Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, Faculty/Student Ratio,
Citations per faculty, International Faculty Ratio, And International Student
 Ratio. You should try to improve these ranking parameters. Doing this, you
would achieve the ranking as well as quality in higher education sector.
 The next thing private sector universities need to do is to work on the
research and innovation in their universities. There should be dedicated
highly equipped research and incubation centers at each university to
address the very problems of this society. Private universities should invest
into this sector.
 Private universities should promote skill-based education and concept of
entrepreneurship. It is the reality that government could not provide with a
job to every graduating student. If graduates are equipped with skilled
based qualifications and possess entrepreneurial skills, they could hunt
their jobs in various private sectors and even could have their own start-
ups.
 In the end, I would like to congratulate the organizers of this seminar. This
was a really great initiative to gather the leadership from private sector
universities to deliberate on this crucial issue.