HEC’s top universities: After KU, Szabist too lashes out at the HEC for low ranking

The ranking process is flawed, says a statement issued by the university .

KARACHI: Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) rejected the ranking of Pakistan’s business schools, released by Higher Education Commission (HEC) last week. The reason they gave was that it was based on misguided parameters.

“We believe that the ranking is incorrect and based on a flawed process,” said a statement emailed to The Express Tribune. “It’s based on numbers, not quality.”

The HEC ranked Szabist at number 11 in the category of general universities of medium size and did not include it in the list of top 12 business schools of the country. This is in contrast to the information given on the institute’s website, according to which Szabist is one of the top 20 business schools of Asia, as per the ranking of Business Week, an international magazine that reports on the state of business education in different parts of the world.

According to the commission, the ranking is based on quality assurance and its enhancement, quality of teaching and research. Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Institute of Business Administration (IBA) and Iqra University were ranked as the top three business schools of Pakistan.

“Szabist, by far, is one of the top business and IT schools [of the country]. We have a track record and market acceptance to prove this. Our credits are internationally accepted. We have exchange programmes with highly reputed universities of the world,” read the statement.

The university spokesperson also criticised the commission’s decision to put the institute in the category of general universities instead of comparing it to educational institutions which focus exclusively on either business or IT. “The performer [HEC] never identified Szabist as a business or IT institute, but considered it as a general university.”

Responding to the outburst HEC Statistical Information Unit Assistant Director Aziz Ullah said that Szabist had agreed to the classification before the commission issued the final ranking.

“We sent them the relevant documents beforehand, which clearly stated its classification as a general university,” he said. “We had the data verified by the institute before developing the ranking.The objection of the institute is baseless.”

However, the spokesperson insisted that the management of the institute were not fully aware of assessment criteria. “We did receive forms to fill, but no official from the HEC informed us about the mechanism of the exercise or shared any specific details about it.”

However, he did not expect a drop in the student enrolment rate. “Our market credibility is such that we don’t expect any adverse effect of this rating, which is clearly based on a flawed process.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2012.