Where are we Marching to?

Rankings may pose threats of creating a culture of prejudice and academic racism

March this year has been all about competition. In the land far away, on a TV set close to us, we have gone through the routine phases of collective excitement, euphoria, disappointment and depression. Away from the limelight, there are other happenings in March that provide bragging rights to those who are in the field. In many parts of the world, newspapers and journals come out with rankings of institutions, programmes and departments in March. In the past, the Higher Education Commission has also tried to create rankings of our national universities, with a model that leaves a lot to be desired. Without going into the mechanism or analysis of a particular ranking method, the list of rankings is often important to university administrators and perhaps to some students. Fresh lists are continuously coming out from the four corners of the world that slice and dice the universities in ways that are bordering on silliness. The most recent list I saw was of universities in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and emerging economies. The list excludes universities from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, western Europe and nearly all other research powerhouses. I will leave it up to the readers to form their opinion on the importance of these lists.

Rankings are always controversial and while some celebrate a particular position on the list, others question the methods. But these lists become dangerous if they start to create a culture of prejudice and academic racism. In a recent conversation with an administrator at an institution, this particular individual remarked proudly that his staff “only” collaborates with universities that are ranked highly. Another one went a bit further and said that he would not even think of glancing at the resume of a student for an open position if it wasn’t from a highly-ranked institution. In a society that is so desperately in need of education, such deeply rooted prejudices, among the most educated, do little to change our status quo.

I have, over the years, been affiliated with multiple institutions and have had the opportunity to work closely with colleagues on numerous campuses around the world. Rankings come and go every year, and perhaps the university administrators do highlight them for a week or two, but these lists in newspapers never play a role in deciding who we, as researchers, work with to solve a particular problem. The problem and the nature of the question should exclusively determine the team that is assembled, not the emblem on the letterhead.

Over the years, there have been numerous studies, largely in Africa, that suggest that researchers there are more likely to collaborate with institutions outside their country than with in-country partners, even when the in-country partners may have the ability to contribute more substantially. I would not be surprised if the same is true in Pakistan as well. The badge of honour for us is a collaborator, at a brand name institution, the members of which we meet once every two years, not our partner who is equally vested in the problem. There is nothing wrong in collaborating with folks at a higher ranked institution, but there is something deeply flawed if that relationship is based on status and not inherent ability to contribute. The question we should ask ourselves, aside from rankings and their meanings, is what is the point of higher education? If our inherent biases and prejudices, even in academia, are not allowing us to build bridges over the abyss of distrust, where are we headed?

While Pakistan Day was celebrated with pomp and with a display of national unity, we should ask ourselves, how deep are our biases? This March, where are we marching to?

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2015.

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