University rankings

In recent years, there has been a growing tendency worldwide to affix numerals to the most subjective of criterion: that of university rankings. Now the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has joined in the act, releasing its most recent list of the top universities in Pakistan. Few will dispute that the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad deserves the top rank, although there is sure to be some controversy as universities such as the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has been ranked at number 10. The HEC, being the regulator of universities, should not be ranking them since that is a separate function by itself and is performed best by an independent agency/body. Furthermore, the HEC has made this exercise controversial by adopting measures of standard that do not make much sense.

For example, a full forty per cent of ranking points are awarded based on research. Not only does this say little about the quality of instruction on offer, it also ignores the fact that Pakistan became a research paper mill — as the emphasis was only on quantity not quality — during former president Pervez Musharraf’s era. So focused was the HEC then, on producing PhDs, that it encouraged universities around the country, especially in the fields of science and technology, but perhaps at the cost of quality and oversight. Plagiarism reached alarming proportions and scholars with ambition, but not many scruples, edged out those who had dedicated their lives to their fields. The concentration on research, perhaps, explains why universities such as LUMS — which focuses more on undergraduate studies — was given its low ranking.

Somewhat surprisingly, the rankings also do not include datapoints like how many graduates end up with jobs. Even the teaching criterion is heavily based on research, with points given for total PhD output. Many different factors determine where a student will best succeed, including location and the reputation of the university in the subject that the student is pursuing. Unfortunately, all these seem to have been overlooked.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2012.