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(Questionable scholarship - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
Questionable scholarship
EDITORIAL — PUBLISHED ABOUT 10 HOURS AGO
ACADEMIC dishonesty has long plagued higher education in
Pakistan. While attempts have been made to reform the sector,
there is much ground to cover before Pakistan can develop a
higher education system in line with international academic
standards. The Higher Education Commission is primarily
involved in overseeing the tertiary sector; while the body does
take action against academic malpractice, as its chairman said
at a news conference on Wednesday, critics feel the HEC must
do more to crack down on scholastic dishonesty, including
plagiarism, and universities’ tendency to hide evidence of
academic wrongdoing by erring members of their faculty. The
HEC announced it had closed 31 PhD and 26 MPhil programmes
in public and private universities countrywide over the last 18
months as these programmes were not meeting minimum
standards. Over 60 programmes for these research degrees
were also prevented from inducting new students for the same
reason. While it is welcome that programmes not meeting
quality standards have been suspended, we must ask why these
varsities were allowed to conduct the courses and admit
students if they did not meet the criteria. And, what will be the
academic future of the affected students?
Unfortunately, much like the state of primary and secondary
education, higher education here has become a business, with
many set-ups operating out of bungalows and offering
advanced ‘degrees’. Even many established universities cannot
claim to be producing scholars of international standing, who
have a firm grip on their specialisation. Perhaps the key issue
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1s quantity over quality, where numbers are given preference
over substance. We are comfortable with churning out MPhil
and PhD ‘scholars’ without much concern about the quality of
their scholarship. For example, publishing in journals of
questionable repute is common, while in some cases even
highly placed academics, such as the VC of the Federal Urdu
University, are alleged to have been involved in plagiarism. Our
universities must focus on genuine research and upholding
standards of academic excellence, or risk being labelled
diploma mills that mass-produce ‘scholars’.
Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2016
TODAY ON IMAGES
8 ‘surreal! Angelina Jolie-
moments from Brad Pitt divorce
the Magnum ‘could drag on
Chocolate Party —_for years’
last night
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