Moalims

As compared to the 816 research publications in international journals in the year 2001-2002 by Pakistani universities and higher education institutions (HEIs), there were 7,966 impact factor research publications made by Pakistani universities the year 2014 — a 876 percent increase in the last 12 years — with the largest number of publications related to the socio-economic development of Pakistan. Before the establishment of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) in 2002, from 1975 to 2002, the total number of research publications in 27 years was 11,763. Resultantly, 2014 was a year of rapid growth, drastic shift in research paradigms and an indicator of phenomenal growth in impact factor research publications by the higher education sector under the envisioned initiatives of the HEC. This shows an encouraging rise in world-class academic research being carried out in Pakistan by Pakistani scholars.

There is also a significant growth in the number of PhD graduates in Pakistani universities. Leafing through the annals of 68 years of academic history in Pakistan, a total number of 3,281 PhDs were produced till 2002. However, since the establishment of the HEC in 2002 to 2012, 4,820 PhD degrees have been awarded, which is 76 percent higher than the PhDs awarded in the previous 55 years. This means that some 60 PhDs were being produced annually during the period from 1947 to 2002. However, the rate of producing PhDs has enormously increased to the figure of 482 PhDs per year since 2002. Based on this data, the percentage growth of producing PhDs annually has increased by 703 percent after the year 2002. Keeping in view this trend, the growth rate of PhD graduates can be expected to be significantly higher in the year 2014 to 2015. Therefore, the intellectual community in Pakistan and abroad must know that even with the scarcity of resources, the amount and quality of world class academic research in Pakistani universities is on the rise as a result of the untiring efforts of educational leadership and esteemed scholars with the support of the HEC of Pakistan.

My objective in this narrative stands on giving a brief overview of how research in Pakistani academia is gradually making progress every year, its potential apex in the next decade and the last five years’ competitive overview of research growth among five top ranking universities (2014) in Pakistan, including Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad, the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, University of Punjab (PU) Lahore, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad and Aga Khan University, Karachi. The said universities are at numbers one, two, three, four and five respectively on the HEC Universities/HEIs’ Overall Ranking 2014 and have earned a significant standing in the national and international arena based on their quality of research productivity, dynamic faculty development programmes, employability of the graduates and in addressing the needs of society.

In the year 2003 (first year of the establishment of the HEC), the aforesaid universities published 121, 38, 48, 8 and 103 research publications respectively, indicating a significant leading position by the QAU, featuring Agha Khan University at number two with 103 publications, PU at number three followed by University of Agriculture with 38 research publications. In the same year, the most vibrant university of today’s Pakistan, CIIT was at number five with only eight research publications because it was newly established. The HEC and educationists of Pakistan at that time, including Dr Atta-ur-Rehman, gave a thriving push to the expansion of higher education along with ensuring the culture of quality academic research and aggressive faculty development programmes throughout the country. It was the far-fetched vision of such intellectuals, including Dr Javaid Laghari as well, that in 2014 the above mentioned universities published 978, 525, 603, 935 and 456 research publications respectively, featuring QAU at the top of the list whereas the 16-year-old CIIT has proved to be a splendid breakthrough and rapidly emerging institute of higher learning in Pakistan with 935 research publications, second after QAU, going ahead of the University of Agriculture, PU and Agha Khan University. However, collectively, these universities have set a unique trend of cutting edge quality academic research and development, most relevant to the socio-economic development of Pakistan. It was indeed after the establishment of the HEC that growth in academic research gradually rose, expected to reach up to 10,000 research publications at the end of 2015 compared to 7,966 publications in the year 2014 with a 26 percent rise in the growth rate.

If we look at the last five years of continuous growth of these five universities, there is seen a 25 percent increase in research publication on an average from 2009 to 2010: 38 percent going to Agha Khan University, 34 percent to PU, 24 percent of CIIT, 23 percent to the Agriculture University and 10 percent to QAU. From 2010 to 2011, CIIT has shown a tremendous growth rate of 69 percent (top on the list) by publishing 429 research publications as compared to 254 in the previous year of. Similarly, PU jumped up to 41 percent from 34 percent by increasing its research publications to 512 from 362 and QAU moved from 10 percent to 18 percent growth rate by producing 727 research publications compared to 617 in the previous year. Agha Khan University went down in growth rate to 21 percent with 534 publications compared to 31 percent last year and the Agriculture University nominally raised only two percent of its research publications.

It is also important to mention that the overall growth rate of research in all Pakistani universities in 2010-2011 was 26.9 percent as compared to the previous year’s 26.3 percent. The highest growth rate of research publications appeared in 2006-2007, which was amazingly 61 percent with 2,850 research publications compared to 32 percent of 1,767 research publications in the previous year.

However, if we see the performance of the same universities in the year 2013-2014, the picture is also very interesting. QAU features at the top spot in research publications with 978 papers and 19 percent growth rate whereas the CIIT features at the top with respect to the growth rate of 31 percent and 935 research publications compared to 711 in 2012-2013. The Agriculture University went down 13 percent with 525 publications compared to 609 in the previous year. PU came down to five percent with 603 publications compared to last year’s 14 percent with 573 and Agha Khan University finishing the same year with two percent less growth rate publishing 556 research papers compared to the previous year’s growth rate of 11 percent.

Being an academic and an optimist Pakistani, the rhythm and flow of the previous 13 years of data shows academic research in Pakistan is significantly mounting with brilliance and acceptance at the global level. Yes, of course we have to focus on quality of research productivity and, for that, universities at the individual level must take necessary and corrective measures to ensure this. The HEC is already moving to strengthen the education system and to steer the results’ oriented research culture in Pakistan.

Optimistically, the factual atmospherics of academic research in the last decade are brilliant. However, on the sidelines, universities/HEIs must be ready to respond to the internationally changing paradigms of academic research. In order to achieve this objective, they must focus on developing an on campus thinking culture, a research culture that promotes trends of innovation in order to conduct research that may addresses the local needs and problems of the people of Pakistan. This is the best investment.

Asif A Malik
(The writer is an educationist and freelance columnist with an interest in education policy making.)