Building Knowledge and Skills in Pakistan: Developing Doctoral Provision in State Sector Universities
Introduction and Rationale
University research plays a crucial role in the generation of new knowledge. University teaching prepares young people to participate in society and build their communities. The number of both public and private universities in Pakistan has increased rapidly in the last decade, as has the number of students. In the fast changing context of Pakistan, it is vital that promising young academics, especially women, are given every encouragement to develop their careers in-country.
At present, there are some effective indigenous doctoral programmes where people can study a PhD and conduct important research, but not enough in the new public sector universities. It is important that such programmes are developed so that these universities will be highly enough regarded that they will not be seen as second choice to overseas doctoral programmes, and so that more people can access and staff them. When overseas doctoral programmes are chosen, valuable doctoral research is often not carried out in-country, and many scholars do not return to work in Pakistan after studying overseas.
The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has been encouraging the development of indigenous doctoral programmes for the last four or five years, particularly by streamlining and standardising them through policy reform – they have developed a ‘road map’ for PhD programmes in Pakistan. One strand of that ‘road map’ concerns faculty members. In order to start delivering PhD programmes, each relevant faculty should have at least three full time members of staff with their own doctorates. The HEC has generously supported the universities with scholarships for overseas doctorates for their staff. But, for example, the new public sector women’s universities are mainly staffed by women, and women in Pakistan do not find it as easy as men to access international scholarships for many social and academic reasons.
The beneficiaries of these overseas programmes are still limited in number, because they are mainly for existing staff. There are many thousands of prospective doctoral students, not on the staff of universities, who find such programmes can be difficult to access for financial and social reasons and because they will be taken away from their families and country.
Our project has a different focus: a UK university – University College London Institute of Education - together with the Association of Commonwealth Universities will work in key partnership with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and the British Council, Pakistan to embed excellent doctoral programmes in several newer public sector universities in Pakistan, and to strengthen other existing programmes. The programmes will be developed and owned in-country by those public sector universities. The teaching, research and scholarship will take place in Pakistan.
This project will offer an unusual ‘cross-fertilisation’ of ideas, knowledge and experience and ultimately each government university will be poised to take the work further into their own regions.
Through this project, doors will be opened for more students to access useful doctoral programmes, thus strengthening universities, producing important in-country research and ensuring a larger group of home-based researchers and academics. The intended goals of the project include the longer-term expansion of the programme to other universities in Pakistan, and ultimately to other countries in South Asia, where improved doctoral capacity could be supported through a partnership model such as for this project.
The Proposal
We are proposing a five-year project to develop and extend excellent, sustainable indigenous doctoral provision in Pakistan public sector universities, modelled initially in a number of key partner universities. At present, we are seeking support for the launch phase of the project (year 1), which will scope out frameworks, academic programmes, action plans and budgets for the following four years, beginning with a launch meeting which will be an agenda-setting meeting.
The launch phase will build a strong, mutually respectful and responsible team which includes representatives of all partner universities and other national and international higher education specialists to manage the five-year programme. Initially, the international partners will be the University College London Institute of Education and the Association of Commonwealth Universities working with the Higher Education Commission and the British Council.
The expected outcome of the launch phase will be a set of agreed frameworks for successful, sustainable and high quality doctoral programmes in Pakistan. Throughout this phase and beyond into the subsequent years, members will keep in regular contact (face to face meetings and electronically) to monitor goals and objectives and to review progress during the first five years and beyond. They will:
· Submit these frameworks to the Commission for Higher Education for approval
· Develop doctoral programmes in their universities using the frameworks
· Develop the staff needed to make these doctoral programmes successful
· Launch the programmes and recruit students
The Launch Meeting (See Two Alternative Tentative Programmes)
During the launch phase, beginning at the launch meeting, the participating team members will agree key factors for success and performance indicators against which success will be judged. This work will focus on issues such as:
· Models of effective doctoral programmes: what does a good doctoral programme look like?
· Scoping and mapping the project – how can the project be delivered most effectively?
· What works well in the partner universities’ present postgraduate research provision, and what needs to be improved?
Action plans will be made, presented and robustly evaluated, so that they are ready to take forward immediately. These framework plans will cover such concerns as:
· Developing and supporting academics to supervise PhD students
· Student training programmes on research methods, data gathering and analysis
· Progressing PhD students on their journey effectively: reviews, upgrades and quality assurance
· Online possibilities: resources and handbooks for students and staff, and ethical research guidelines
· Sustainability of the programme into the future
· Funding doctoral programmes and students
Following the launch, the participating team members will act as resource people, developing academic programmes in their universities. Key activities for them will be both curriculum and staff development – agreeing appropriate programmes and knowledge transfer, quality assurance issues and developing ways of teaching at doctoral level.
Each university will submit programmes to the Pakistan Commission for Higher Education for approval. Following the development and approval of programmes and the development of staff, the universities will launch the programmes and recruit students. Key people from all the organisations in the planning team will keep in regular contact to review progress over five years.
Activities over the five years will follow this schedule:
Ø Year One (Launch Phase):
1. The launch meeting will take place, to agree framework, timetable, and staff development plans for future doctoral programmes, action plans to take these developments forward when back in home universities, and sustainability plans for the future of the programme
2. A Memorandum of Understanding between HEC and UCL IoE will be prepared and signed by all partners, to cover the full term of the project and to define the scope of the partnership. The British Council and the ACU will offer technical support
Ø Year Two:
3. Back in home universities, the team will build internal partnerships and support groups; shared staff development across the project will take place. Frameworks agreed during the launch meeting will be developed further.
4. The universities will begin staff and student recruitment for enhanced doctoral programmes. They will also review the need for technical and support staff, including libraries.
5. All partners will meet virtually at agreed times to review work so far, with regional face-to-face meetings to follow-up in between.
Ø Years Three and Four:
6. The enhanced doctoral programmes will begin.
7. Team members will meet at agreed intervals to support each other’s organisations, to bring new staff members into the team and to review the programmes.
8. All partners may act as external reviewers for each other’s’ programmes.
9. Monitoring and evaluation will take place on a continual basis throughout the programme, but in year three a comprehensive mid-stage review will be undertaken to assess progress against objectives so far.
Ø Year Five and Subsequently:
10. At the end of this first stage of the programme, the partners will conduct a major review of the programme, and plan its longer-term development.
11. The original team will offer guidance, advice and in-service work to other Pakistan universities in the first instance so that they too develop and offer excellent in-country doctoral programmes. It is intended that this programme and others stemming from it will be taken up in other regions where doctoral programmes do not yet exist or could benefit from further enhancement.
By the end of year five, several public sector universities in Pakistan will have thriving and excellent doctoral programmes and will be centres of development for doctoral programmes in many other universities in the region. In addition, strong, lasting partnerships will have been formed between British and Pakistan universities, laying a solid foundation for future collaborative activities and offering a model of good practice for further UK/Pakistan partnership-based higher education initiatives.
Outcomes
The steering group for the project will include senior academics (deans and deputy chief executives) from all the partner universities. The team will meet regularly to implement, to review and to develop the following goals and to ensure the project outcomes within their universities.
Indicators Of Success Will Include:
· Enhanced in-country doctoral level provision in public sector universities in Pakistan
· More young academicians and intellectuals staying in or returning to their home countries after completing doctoral programmes
· More women students (and others with responsibilities for dependants) working towards doctoral qualifications
· Doctoral programmes open to a much wider group of appropriate students
· Developing in-country research as a basis for doctoral work, building knowledge which makes a demonstrable contribution to Pakistani society
· Strong links between initially the public sector universities to exchange staff and doctoral students for the shared development of excellent doctoral programmes, for mentoring and for joint research
· Strong links between the UK and Pakistan partner universities, with a solid foundation for future collaboration and a model of good practice for further UK/Pakistan partnership-based higher education initiatives
· Enhanced international knowledge and experience gained by academics from both the UK and Pakistan
· Growing the human resource in the participating universities by working with facilitators from the University College London Institute of Education, and by ensuring exchanges between the Pakistani and other British Universities
· The joint development of shared training resources
· Strengthening national and international higher education by excellent and appropriate doctoral provision, research and scholarship and shared resources within the region
· Affordable programmes for staff development delivered within the region and beyond
· Groundwork to expand the programme to other regions where doctoral provision would benefit from this model of partnership-based capacity building.
23 January 2015
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