Open letter to Dr Banuri

The right investments in higher education can turn the trajectory of our intellectual fortunes skywards

I hope you are as excited about taking on one of the country’s most important jobs as many of us are about hearing of your selection as new HEC head. It is indeed refreshing to see an active academic, with exposure to both the national issues and grandest challenges of our time, to take charge at a time when leadership in higher education can change the destiny of the country. The right investments in higher education, can and will, pay dividends over decades and can turn the trajectory of our intellectual fortunes skywards.

While I am sure that many immediate challenges of bureaucracy and forces from many quarters will take up your time and demand your attention, I believe the higher education sector is facing a silent, yet crucial crisis that can irreversibly harm the entire enterprise of our higher education and inquiry.

The issue that is rarely talked about, but is casting a long shadow, is that of diversity and inclusion in a holistic and broader sense. I hope you will allow me to explain what I mean by it.

At the most fundamental level, we all can agree that we have an acute diversity problem in the country. The representation of women in higher offices is shockingly dismal. The events of the last two weeks have brought many names of all political stripes to the fore as caretaker leaders at the federal and the provincial levels. Not one of them, proposed officially by any party, was of a woman. Rather, some of the proposed names were of people who have been unapologetic about their misogyny. The problem in higher education leadership is no different. Looking across the nation, we note that girls for decades have outperformed boys in nearly every discipline, yet systematic social and structural barriers have continued to hinder their ascent to leadership positions. There are persistent issues of verbal and physical abuse and harassment, prevalent in universities. I hope that your advisory council, and your leadership team will set the tone of inclusion both through action (ie, representation) and in policy (ie, mentorship and incentives).

Beyond the very fundamental aspect of gender diversity in higher education, we have another diversity problem on our campuses. As an academic, I am sure you recognise that diversity of opinion and the right to question is at the very core of our profession. Unfortunately, like diversity in gender, the diversity of opinion is also stifled routinely. Voices of dissent, efforts to cultivate creative thinking and questioning of dogmas remain heretical on campuses. Questioning authority and speaking truth to power is neither unpatriotic nor a sign of a foreign conspiracy — in fact it is an essential step in creating a rich, tolerant and pluralistic society. What the HEC needs to do is to help universities become more autonomous, more financially independent and more ready to push the boundaries of our thoughts and ideas. This can happen through supporting seminars and symposia that encourage scholarly and respectful debate and by training teachers to cultivate creative thinking and by supporting a culture of an inclusive dialogue.

Finally, the third level of inclusion and diversity is associated with disciplinary scholarship. For some reason, sciences, engineering and medicine are considered princely subjects and arts, humanities and social sciences as ugly step-children of scholarship. Innovation has become synonymous with computing, IT and mobile apps. Lack of support for intellectual diversity on campus is creating robots, not scholars. The HEC’s position should be to support inquiry and excellence, with high integrity, regardless of the discipline that excellence originates from.

I am sure you will face challenges, hurdles and resistance. But even in the darkest days, there will be many like me and my colleagues, the world over, who will support every effort for diversity and inclusion. Godspeed and good luck.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2018.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.