Pakistan today boasts over 270 universities, a figure that might suggest a thriving higher education landscape. However, a closer look reveals a troubling contradiction i.e. a mushroom growth of universities without proportional planning, resources or funding. While the number of institutions has expanded, the majority operate under severe financial deficits, struggling to provide even the most basic academic and infrastructural facilities.
This financial crisis is not new, but it is becoming increasingly alarming. Government allocations for higher education have remained stagnant or have been subject to arbitrary cuts, often influenced more by politics than by actual academic needs. Meanwhile, politicians continue to champion the establishment of new universities, not out of concern for education, but often to appease constituencies and gain political mileage. This approach prioritises quantity over quality and leads to a dilution of standards across the board.
Low student enrollment is another symptom of this crisis. Exorbitant fee structures, coupled with a lack of facilities, discourage many deserving students from pursuing higher education. The growing divide between public and private institutions has only deepened social and economic inequalities in access to education.
Ironically, while many universities are unable to pay faculty salaries and pensions or offer job security to contract teaching assistants, public funds continue to be squandered on luxurious Vice-Chancellors’ conferences held in five-star hotels. Such spending serves more ceremonial than educational purposes, and does little to address the structural issues plaguing our institutions.
There is an urgent need for a nationwide collective movement involving faculty, students, civil society and education stakeholders to pressurise the government for a substantial and sustained increase in funding for higher education. These funds should be directed where they are most needed (namely the academic programmes, research facilities, pensions and faculty development) not on pomp and show.
We must stop treating universities as vote banks and start treating them as engines of national development. If we fail to act now, we risk producing degrees, not graduates, and buildings, not institutions.
Dr Aslam Baig, Dr Intikhab Ulfat
Karachi
