Pakistan’s population is increasing enormously. As per the Bureau of Statistics January 2023 report, the population has increased to 238.1 million. The country faces various internal and external challenges like security, economic, political and social challenges and these challenges are associated with quality education. The country faces numerous other challenges like tension from neighbouring countries, treatment of major powers, and more.
There is a lack of interdisciplinary research activities; most of the world’s organizations are moving towards interdisciplinary research; but in Pakistan, only a few organizations are conducting research on multidisciplinary subjects; the institutions should encourage multidisciplinary research to promote collaboration among multiple disciplines
The people of Pakistan are undoubtedly talented and still need more resources. This focuses only on the standard of research in Pakistan; for this, numerous worldwide databases were explored to find out the current situation of Pakistan in the realm of research. According to SCIMAGO Journal Rank (SJR), Pakistan’s position is better than other developing countries. As per SJR, the ranking of Pakistan is 45 among other countries. However, the question arises that India stands on seven, though both countries got independence on the same day.
It shows that since 1947 we needed help addressing educational standards to compete with our neighbouring countries. Secondly, according to the report of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC), we have a total of 247 recognized universities which offer degree programmes, of which 147 universities are public, whereas 100 universities are private. It means these universities have been turned into factories to produce MPhil and PhD degree holders with poor research. These scholars need to contribute to improving the quality of education and research to face social challenges.
According to the Times Higher Education Report, only 55 universities in Pakistan are listed in the world ranking university list. Among them, only three universities are listed between 400-600 ranking. Quaid-i-Azam University, despite a disastrous culture, held the first position because the ongoing situation, like the ethnic conflict between Baloch and Pathan, would make its ranking decline if the situation were not controlled. All the remaining universities were ranked between 600-1800, which is not a good omen for the education sector of Pakistan when we compare Pakistan with India in ranking sectors. There are 101 universities in India ranked between 200 to 1700 on the world list. The government should strictly deal with the violence in public sector universities like Peshawar University, Punjab University, Quaid-i-Azam University, and so on, to avoid further decline in educational sectors; otherwise, such violence will further damage the education system in Pakistan.
The educational sector relies on legal and standard research; however, PhD Degree holders in Pakistan only produce quality research for degree requirements. There are vast platforms that offer many projects; however, researchers are based on government jobs instead of finding other projects offered by worldwide institutions. The Higher Education Commission still needs to devise parameters for PhD degree holders. Unfortunately, sixty-year terms and re-appointment after successful tenures in teaching faculty cause unemployment in education sectors.
However, most of the older community still needs to give the young generations chances and be more varied in the current research standards. Those older people even do not know how to open a computer and take a print of their files. The Higher Education Commission should stop them from further tenure after reaching 60 years of age.
Other reasons for poor research in Pakistan include the need for more originality and because many scholars are reproducing the same work from existing studies without contributing to new research fields. Limited scope is another reason for poor quality research addressing important questions and issues in their respective fields. Another failure of quality research includes the inadequate research methodology, making it difficult for other researchers to reproduce the study’s findings.
Lack of rigour fails to establish research standards like ethical considerations and data privacy. Above all, the lack of collaboration among researchers is another bottleneck that hinders Pakistan’s research projects. Most seniors fully cooperate in encouraging their young colleagues to be recognized in their research field. All stakeholders like HEC, government, and institutions require concerted efforts to provide adequate resources and support the young generation.
Pakistan’s research standard requires a multifaceted approach to make it more prominent in the world ranking; only some worthy steps are the establishment of research-oriented institutions because, with these institutions, our country can grow in the right direction. There are heavy cuts in the budget for research and development programmes. The government and higher education institutions should grant a handsome amount for research activities.
There is a lack of interdisciplinary research activities; most of the world’s organizations are moving towards interdisciplinary research; but in Pakistan, only a few organizations are conducting research on multidisciplinary subjects; the institutions should encourage multidisciplinary research to promote collaboration among multiple disciplines.
The country faces unethical research practices; the stakeholders and research organizations should encourage ethical research practices to enhance their value. There needs to be more mentorship and counselling between students and faculty members. The institutions should encourage mentoring and counselling policies to meet the new challenges of the research realm. Enhancement of research collaboration is yet another issue; in this regard, the collaboration from people-to-people and organization-to-organization should be established to contribute to the research arena. The country may emerge from hectic situations if we follow international norms in our research activities.
