Making academia attractive

Ensure that academic profession provides decent livelihood, freedom to research, continue to be a platform of impact.

If we ask our bright undergraduates, who are soon to graduate, if they would like to become academics, most would say no. While I do not expect students anywhere in the world to overwhelmingly flock to become men and women of letters, but in Pakistan, academia does not appear high on the radar of most. While the number of students who are interested in graduate education is rising, few pursue it to develop skills of inquiry. It is largely to improve their chances for a better paying job.

The first question we should ask ourselves is that do academics shape a nation? History has countless lessons of how professors, academics and researchers changed the course of national development and progress. It is not just the scientists and engineers in academia who have shaped society through newer inventions or superior medicines. It is also the historians, the political scientists and the economists who have bent the arc of history towards a more prosperous nation. At this time in Pakistan, we need more experts, in all disciplines to shape the national discourse, and not leave it to the ‘overnight’ experts who grace our talk shows with incorrect history learnt on Google the night before.

There are two separate questions here that are worth thinking about. The first one is why academia is not attractive, and the second is what can be done to change that. In terms of the first, many would argue that it is not attractive because it does not pay well. There is little doubt in that and while the Higher Education Commission has taken steps to improve the salary of professors, more needs to be done so that academics have a decent standard of living. That said, academia has never been able to compete with industry in terms of salary anywhere in the world. Those who are interested in making a quick buck do not grace the ivory tower. Second, some may argue that there are few resources available to do research. Once again, that is a point well taken and the funding for research needs to improve substantially. Nonetheless, an analysis of the history of research tells us that people conducted research not because of availability of resources, but because of a fundamental interest in inquiry. This takes us to a third point, which relates to our curriculum and training. If we analyse our curriculum, do we find an emphasis on rigour, inquiry and pursuit of knowledge or do we see it as a collection of courses that aim to provide superficial breadth on flashy topics but little sense of depth? Perhaps, the problem is not just in salary and research funds, it is also in the way we teach our students, that fails to emphasise rigour and depth, and does not instil a fundamental curiosity in them.

So, what can be done to make academia attractive? In my opinion, there are three things that we can start with. First, and perhaps the most obvious, is to ensure that the academic profession provides a decent livelihood. Much has been written about it; needless to say, it is a major reason people decide not to pursue it. Second, the academic profession is all about freedom and we need to create and sustain it. Freedom to pursue complex social, ethical, scientific and technical questions, and the freedom to criticise, with substance, the party line and the powers that control our lives, without worrying about one’s job. The final part is that we should ensure that academia continues to be a platform of impact. If a young man or woman wants to create a new company, or come up with a new invention, or develop a new economic model, they should know that being an academic would help them, rather than hurt them.

In the grand scheme of things, we are still a young nation and much needs to be done in terms of creating the building blocks for a robust future. Many of these blocks that are perfected in society over time are created in the classrooms, libraries and research labs. We need to create ways to populate these crucibles of nation-building with our best and brightest.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2014.

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