University of Peshawar faces dropping admission rates

For any country to embark on the road to socioeconomic progress, the higher education system must educate and train a sizeable population of students in a wide variety of subjects yet as admission rates for the bachelor’s program at the University of Peshawar continue to observe a downward trend, any hopes for a way out of the current state of domestic instability, seems to be fading away.

Founded way back in 1950, the University of Peshawar (UoP) once held the reputation of being the parent of higher education institutions in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) however, in recent times, a lack of administrative and academic efficiency alongside a deteriorating standard of education has led to a sharp decline in the admission rates across all departments, out of which ten, including the departments of Philosophy, Gender Studies, History, Pashto and Social Work, have no students at all.

According to documents obtained by The Express Tribune, UoP has witnessed an unprecedented decline in admission to its Bachelor of Science (BS) programme, which has received only 3000 students across 53 different faculties this year, that is half of its earlier rate of enrolment, as a result of which the institution is facing a loss of Rs118 million.

Shah Nawaz Khan, an educationist was of the opinion that the UoP has been battling with a serious dearth of financial resources since the past five years due to its poor management.

Read: Widespread concern as UoP salaries stall

“A perception has been created among parents and students that not only is the UOP degree expensive but pursuing it is also a waste of time since the teachers and other staff members were always on protest. The standard of education too is deteriorating day by day and students have very little facilities available on campus. Furthermore, since the past one year, the university is functioning without a permanent Vice Chancellor for supervising its affairs,” regretted Khan

On the other hand, Dr Muhammad Uzair, President of the Peshawar University Teachers Association opined that apart from poor administration, the dropping rates of admission at UoP could also be attributed to the sprawling of cheaper colleges, which were offering BS degrees at a much lesser fee.

“If students can earn a degree for only Rs12,000, why would they choose a university which costs at least Rs70,000,” said Dr Uzair.

Speaking to the Express Tribune on the matter, Dr Muhammad Saleem, Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Peshawar claimed that multiple factors could explain the declining rate of admission at UoP.

“Since some time, the government has stopped releasing funds for the education sector due to which the university had to increase its fee, which led to lower admission rates. The UoP will review its admission fee policy to attract more students in the coming years,” he assured.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th 2024.