The Ph.D gridlock

After India, universities in Europe and the US receive bulk of applications of Ph.D aspirants from Pakistan. An equally overwhelming number of candidates apply for Ph.D programs in Pakistani universities. On the face of it, this draws a rosy picture that the country is moving fast to achieve higher education goals.

When we look at the job market, we find it rare for a Ph.D to perform well in any professional organization. A number of times, when a Ph.D scholar in media studies appears for a job interview in a newspaper, he is neither able to edit or to report. Same is the story of other social sciences disciplines.

At present, the number of Ph.Ds is above 15,000. The question is, where do these highly educated people go? The answer is simple; they become a part of the system and are hired by universities to teach and supervise more Ph.D aspirants. Ironically, the person who was unable to qualify for a newspaper job, becomes the head of a media studies department in a university.

Studies have shown that in most interviews for admissions to MS and Ph.D classes in universities, the applicants will say that they are jobless and intend to continue their studies. The second highest number of candidates are employees of universities or departments where they have a chance to get promotion after having a Ph.D degree.

I came across a retired officer of armed forces who was checking the timetable for Ph.D classes at a university in Islamabad. Though he was working in another university, he had to serve some interests of the professor who granted his admission, otherwise he stood no chance in the presence of fresh candidates.

When Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy mentions that most of the university professors are unable to deliver a lecture or write a message in English or Urdu, he is absolutely correct because there is no shortage of these people on campus. It is amazing to see how these professors are producing research papers upon research papers and these papers are also published in research journals recognized by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

After Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed took charge as the HEC Chairman, many low quality journals were removed from the list of recognized journals. When the society has been digitized, why does the HEC need to assess credentials of an academic on the basis of publishers of his work? If an academic could not find a good manager to market their work at top journals, shouldn’t they be given a chance to be judged on the basis of the content they produce? There has to be a criterion to measure the quality of their research regardless of where it has been published. In this digital age, content should not defined by the publisher. In the light of Yuval Noah Harari’s concept of the present tense, this academic content has to be freed of patenting and publishing formalities and assessed on the basis of its utility. For instance, if a professor is not able to put to practice what they teach, he is not fit for teaching either.

Digitization of society had been running at a fast pace even before the Covid-19 pandemic. Students can now find study material online with ease, leaving no room for textbook teachers on campus. A teacher should be able to generate interest of the students in the subject. Cameras have been installed in classrooms making it easier for students to have access to lectures of top professors. The scholar, who studies Ph.D for the sake of teaching at the university, will never be able to be a part of the change the Pakistani society needs so badly.

The universities have to take a stance on the quality of education. Its time they stop looking at the HEC for solutions. A visit to the HEC is all they need to instill a sense of responsibility towards the students; bureaucracy and higher officials, the organization is rotting. Most of the clerks working there have got their Ph.D degree sitting on a desk serving the professors who claim to be their teachers. With the number of its employees running in thousands, it is anything but a smart body to serve the purpose it was meant for.

It is heartening to note that the vice chancellors of all the universities have formed a committee chaired by Dr. Muhammad Ali Shah, Vice Chancellor of Quaid-i-Azam University. These vice chancellors are the true voice of their universities and they should be taken on board. Since Ph.D has merely been reduced to being a tool for promotion in university jobs, they can guide on how to make Ph.Ds more productive. Professional and experienced guidelines are needed to pull the country out of the abyss it is in. The country needs Ph.Ds who are able to put their knowledge into practice.

The writer teaches mediatization at IIUI