College teachers plan campaign to bring back four-year degree programmes

Teachers of the colleges affiliated with the University of Karachi (KU) have hinted at launching a campaign this month to bring back four-year degree programmes and revise outdated degree courses.

The Sindh Professors & Lecturers Association (SPLA) says the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has banned two-year degree programmes at all colleges and universities, with clear instructions that the commission will not recognise or verify two-year degrees issued to students enrolled after the academic year 2018.

The SPLA says that apart from KU, majority of the colleges and universities across Pakistan have implemented the HEC’s policy. Even the Sindh College Education Department announced last month that two-year degree programmes will be considered unauthorised.

Thousands of students in Karachi, however, are still unable to get an admission in degree programmes at over 150 KU-affiliated colleges. The SPLA says when the HEC announced its policy on two-year degrees last year, KU disagreed with it. Their conflict resulted in delayed admissions for the academic year 2021.

Three months have already lapsed. However, KU’s Academic Council formed a five-member committee during its April 10 meeting to seek legal opinion on a provincial government advertisement about two-year bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes.

Why revise

Jamia Millia Government Degree College Principal Muhammad Zakaullah, who is also an elected member of the KU Senate, highlights many issues and benefits of the HEC’s policy.

He says some 150 colleges in Karachi are imparting degree-level education, but they do not offer admissions in BS professional degree programmes. Therefore, he adds, college graduates do not get good jobs by studying outdated programmes, and graduates of the two-year BA/BSc programmes hardly find any jobs.

However, he points out, revising degree courses of colleges will make it easier for college students to pursue higher education abroad and secure foreign scholarships like university students.

Burden-sharing

Similarly, says Zakaullah, one of the main reasons behind the constant decline in the number of admissions in colleges is the slow process of admissions. Students take their intermediate examinations in May, and their results are announced in the first week of August, he adds.

Instead of waiting five or six months after their results to apply for admissions in colleges in January, students opt for universities and private degree-awarding institutes, leaving students with poor grades for colleges, he says, but revising degree programmes of colleges will reduce the enrolment burden on universities with limited seats.

He points out that colleges will get a chance to take active part in developing a separate and independent examination system, an advisory board for colleges, academic councils and other decision-making bodies to improve college education.

Int’l standards

Appreciating the HEC’s four-year degree and associate degree programmes, Zakaullah says that after phasing out the two-year degree programmes from affiliated colleges, starting BS programmes will ensure comparability and uniformity in the standards and quality of higher education.

For this purpose, he says, the education ministers of 29 European countries met in Bologna on June 19, 1999 to sign the important Declaration of Bologna, of which Pakistan is also a signatory.

Affordability, cost

Highlighting the importance of BS programmes in colleges, Zakaullah says they will be affordable for the students who cannot pay hefty university fees. He says they will get access to modern degree programmes tailored to local economic and industrial needs. Colleges will also improve their academic systems with modern curricula, he adds. He says KU generates Rs650 million from 150 affiliated colleges. If college and university teachers help create public awareness about new degree programmes, it will increase the university’s revenue, he adds.

He points out that the best use of the land and infrastructure of over 1,500 colleges of Pakistan will surely boost the educational economy of the country, while universities will generate more capital from the latest degree programmes to be taught at colleges.

He says that thousands of under-utilised college teachers will serve the system without spending huge sums of money, while the availability of quality higher education at colleges closer to home will reduce transportation costs and other expenses for parents and students.

Competent teachers

SPLA spokesman Aziz Memon says revising college degree programmes is not only for the benefit of students but college teachers will also improve their teaching skills and abilities. As a result, he points out, teachers will get training opportunities to teach professional degrees that will ultimately benefit the system.

Likewise, he says, the college faculty members who have already gotten their MPhil/PhD degrees will serve the system in return, while the need for PhD teachers in colleges will motivate young teachers to pursue higher education.

Female education

Memon is of the view that many traditional families in suburban areas avoid sending their daughters to universities. If colleges located nearby teach university-level degree programmes, female students will prefer local women’s colleges to co-educational universities, he says.

He points out that it is also expected that women’s colleges will enrol more female students in updated degree programmes because they will get access to quality education on their doorstep.

He further points out that introducing the semester system at colleges will increase attendance, and not only decrease tuition centre education but also the mushrooming of private degree-awarding institutes.