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THE ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN ABDUL MAJEED KHAN 02-arid-1150 University Institute of Education and Research University of Arid Agriculture Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 2007

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THE ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN

ABDUL MAJEED KHAN 02-arid-1150

University Institute of Education and Research

University of Arid Agriculture

Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

2007

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THE ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR IN HIGHER EDUCATION

IN PAKISTAN

By

ABDUL MAJEED KHAN

(02-arid-1150)

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

in

Education

University Institute of Education and Research

University of Arid Agriculture

Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

2007

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ii

CERTIFICATION Certified that contents of thesis entitled “The Role of Private Sector in Higher

Education in Pakistan” submitted by Abdul Majeed Khan have been found

satisfactory for the requirements of the degree.

Supervisor: _________________________ (Dr. Lt. Col. ®M.H. Arif)

Member: ___________________________ (Dr. R. A. Farooq)

Member: ___________________________ (Dr. M. Munir Kiani)

Date

Director Director University Institute of Education and Research Advanced Studies

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Dedicated to

My Father (late)

and Mother Whose prayers are the assets of my life

and these prayers served as a guideline

and prop during every difficult moment

of my life and made me what I am today

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CONTENTS

Page

Acknowledgement x

Abstract xii

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 8

2.1 PRIVATE PROVISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN

PAKISTAN

12

2.2 ISSUES OF QUALITY 25

2.3 ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR IN HIGHER EDUCATION

IN PAKISTAN

32

2.4 RELATED STUDIES 40

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 46

3.1 POPULATION 46

3.2 SAMPLE 46

3.3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT 47

3.3.1 Questionnaire For Administrator 49

3.3.2 Questionnaire For Teachers 49

3.3.3 Questionnaire For Students 50

3.4 PRETESTING OF QUESTIONNAIRE 50

3.5 DATA COLLECTION 51

3.6 DATA ANALYSIS 55

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 58

DISCUSSION 85

SUMMARY 89

CONCLUSIONS 91

RECOMMENDATIONS 94

LITERATURE CITED 98

APPENDICES 107

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LIST OF TABLES

Table No Page

1 Number of public and private sector universities & degree awarding institutions (DAIs) in Pakistan.

15

2 Universities/degree awarding institutions (2005-06)

17

3 Enrollment at universities /degree awarding institutions and constituent colleges by Area and Sector during 2003-04

18

4 Number of students enrolled by sector and level of degree over the years 2003-04

18

5 Number of students produced by public and private sector universities during 2003-04

19

6 Number of full time and part time faculty members by public and private sector universities during 2003-04

19

7 Full time faculty members classified by their highest qualification during 2003-04

20

8 Student-Teacher Ratio for the year 2003-04

20

9 Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the overall questionnaire for administrators with its subscales as a measure of its internal consistency.

58

10 Inter-scale correlation matrix between the questionnaire for administrators and its sub-scales/areas.

59

11 Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the overall questionnaire for teachers with its subscales as a measure of its internal consistency

60

12 Inter-scale correlation matrix between the questionnaire for teachers regarding role of private sector in higher education and its sub-scales

60

13 Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the overall questionnaire for students with its subscales as a measure of its internal consistency.

61

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14 Inter scale correlation matrix between the questionnaire for students regarding quality of various aspects of higher education

61

15 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students regarding the appropriateness of instructional facilities

62

16 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the relevance of equipment to present and future needs of students and society

62

17 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the sufficiency of books /periodicals that are available in the library.

63

18 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the availability of internet facility in the institutions”.

63

19 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the sound training of teachers in teaching methodology.

64

20 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the teachers’ command over the subject matter

64

21 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the encouragement of teachers for students’ class participation.

65

22 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the teachers’ ability to create conducive class environment for learning

65

23

Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about teachers’ encouragement in promoting critical and creative thinking among students.

66

24

Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about attitudes of teachers towards their students .

66

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25 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about considering the merit and motivation of students during admission .

67

26 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the relevance of the subjects and content to present and future needs of the society being taught.

67

27 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the competitiveness of the private sectors graduate with public sector universities

68

28 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the quality research producing in their institutions

68

29 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the provision of quality education

69

30 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the quality of various aspects of higher education

69

31 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of male and female administrators on the quality of various aspects of higher education

70

32 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of permanent administrators and contract based administrators on the quality of various aspects of higher education.

71

33 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators possessing graduate and above academic qualifications on the quality of various aspects of higher education

72

34 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores oadministrators having greater and lesser administrators experiencon the quality of various aspects of higher education

73

35 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of male and female teachers on the quality of various aspect of higher education

74

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36 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of

permanent, contract based and visiting teachers’ on the quality of various aspect of higher education

75

37 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of Professors and lecturers on the quality of various aspect of higher education

76

38 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of greater and Lesser teachers’ experience on the quality of various aspect of higher education

77

39 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of three level of education of teachers on the quality of various aspect of higher education

78

40 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of male and female students on the quality of various aspects of higher education

79

41 Significance of differences between mean opinion scores of level of degree of the students on the quality of various aspect of higher education

80

42 Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of male and female administrators, teachers and students about quality of various aspects of higher education.

81

43 Suggestions by administrators to enhance the role of private sector in the promotion of higher education in Pakistan

81

44 Suggestions by teachers to enhance the role of private sector in the promotion of higher education in Pakistan.

82

45 Suggestions by students to enhance the role of private sector in the promotion of higher education in Pakistan

83

46 Students’ enrolment in private and public sector universities during the year 2003-04

84

47 Students produced by private and public sector universities during the year 2003-04

84

48 Number of full time and part time faculty members in private and public sector universities during the year 2003-04

84

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Almighty Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful, the Creator, the Sustainer,

the Builder, the Omnipotent, the Omnipresent, the One Who was the first, the One Who

will be the last, for providing ability to complete this humble contribution with the

stipulated time. All the respects for the greatest educator and the benefactor of mankind,

Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Who advised all of us to continue getting education

from cradle to grave.

I have my heartiest gratitude for my supervisor Dr. Lt. Col..(Rtd.) Manzoor

Hussain Arif Professor, University Institute of Education and Research, for his inspiring

guidance, motivation, encouragement and constructive criticism not only during the

conduct and completion of this research work but in entire course work of Doctorate.

Perhaps I would never be able to do this effort with out his love and guidance. May God

Bless him.

The researcher is also grateful to Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Ch., Director, University

Institute of Education and Research and Dr. R. A. Farooq Ch. Additional Director,

University Institute of Education and Research, for their kind guidance, valuable

suggestions, care and motivation not only during this research work but during whole

programmes of Ph. D. May God Bless them.

The researcher is also highly obliged to Dr. Hamid Khan Niazi, Faculty of

Education, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad and Professor Malik Muhammad

Amir Ex-Chairman, IER, University of the Punjab, Lahore for their guidance,

encouragement and valuable suggestions during this research work.

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I have honor to express my deep sense of gratitude and indebtedness to ever-

affectionate Syed Ahsan Abbas Naqvi, Dr. Malik Hukamdad, Dr. Huma, Dr. Sajid

Rehman, Khadim Jan, Asif Iqbal, Ijaz Akram, Sher Afghan Niazi, Imran Niazi, Advocate

Sher Ahmad Niazi, Advocate Malik Hameed Shahzad, Prof. Iftikhar Ahmad and

Mr. Dilnawaz Abbasi for their sincere cooperation and encouragement during the course

of this study.

I am highly thankful to my brothers (Mr. Iqbal Khan, Mr. Asghar Khan, Mr.

Asmatullah Khan), Dr. Muhammad Khan Niazi, my little nephew Amanullah Khan,

Badar Jehangir, Hammad Ahmad, Haseeb Nawaz and my niece Palwasha for their kind

and moral support during my study and also thankful to Mr. Abdul Sattar, University

Composing Centre, Shamsabad, Rawalpindi for his help and cooperation in composing of

this dissertation.

The researcher offers special thanks to my dear uncles Mr. Gul Hameed Khan

Rokkari and Asghar Aziz Khan Rokkari for their kind guidance and advice for work on

private sector in higher education. The researcher also express heartiest thanks to late

Mr. Aslam Niazi (Ph.D. scholar) and Mr. Muhammad Sher Khan Amandi Khel.

I offer my profound thanks to all the administrators, faculty members and students

of private universities for their cooperation rendered to me during this research work.

May Allah Bless all these people.

Abdul Majeed Khan

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ABSTRACT

The major purpose of the study was to examine the role of private sector in higher education in Pakistan by adopting descriptive method of research. The main objectives of the study were to compare the views of administrators, teachers and students about the quality of various aspects of higher education, to compare the views of administrators both male and female, permanent and contract based, about the quality of various aspects of higher education, to compare the views of male teachers and female teachers, permanent, contract based and visiting teaching faculty, about the quality of various aspects of higher education, to compare the views of male students and female students about the quality of various aspects of higher education, to determine the share of private sector of higher education in the term of students’ enrolment and teaching faculty and to suggest measures for improvement of private sector universities in Pakistan.

As the study was conducted at national level, the population of the study constituted 270 administrators, 6180 teachers and 61108 students in existing 54 private universities and degree awarding institutions of Pakistan. Method of cluster sampling was used to select the study sample of 840 people, which was carried out in two stages. At the first stage, 12 clusters of universities were randomly chosen out of the total population of the private universities. At the second stage, 60 administrators, 180 teachers and 600 students were selected through random sampling procedure with five administrators, 15 teachers and 50 students from each selected cluster. Three questionnaires (one each for administrators, teachers and students), developed and refined through pre-testing, were used as measuring instruments to collect data. The researcher personally visited each university and collected data from the sample. The collected data was tabulated and interpreted by using t-test and ANOVA.

It was concluded that the role played by private sector in higher education was of considerable value. All respondents were found to have positive opinion about the availability of internet facilities, encouragement of teachers for students class participation, teachers’ ability to create conducive class environment for learning and wholesome attitude of teachers toward their students. Nevertheless, they expressed slightly negative opinion about the appropriateness of instructional facilities, sufficiency of books/periodicals available in the library, professional training of teachers, teachers’ command over the subject matter, teachers’ encouragement in promoting critical and creative thinking among students, relevance of the subjects and the content to present and future needs of society and quality of research. All respondents exhibited fairly negative opinion about selection of students during admission on the basis of their merit and motivation and competitiveness of the private sector graduates with public sector universities. Male respondents exhibited more positive views about the quality of various aspects of higher education. Private sector universities shared the load of higher education to the extent of 15 percent in terms of student community and 16.5 percent in terms of teaching staff.

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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

Education is broadly viewed as the intellectual and moral training of

individuals through which their potentialities are developed, the traits of the Creator

are inculcated in them and the culture of the people is transmitted to the coming

generations (Khalid, 1998). "Education is a process through which a nation develops

its self consciousness by developing the self consciousness of the individuals who

compose it. It is a social institution which provides mental, physical, ideological and

moral training to the individuals of the society, so as to enable them to have full

consciousness of their mission, purpose in life and equip them to achieve that purpose

(Ahmad, 1984).

Around the world, education is recognized as an important factor for the socio-

economic development of any society. Education today has become the most potent

instrument, not only for the social and cultural changes but also for the economic

development o f the society. Ali (1997) describes that rapid economic development of

a nation lies in the provision of education and skilled manpower. Education generates

not only new ideas and competency; it also accelerates the pace of technological

transformation. Furthermore, education prepares the people for making better choices

and provides them with the opportunities leading a better life.

There is dialectical relationship between education and society. Education is

sub-system of society and it necessarily reflects the main feature of that society. The

development of a nation depends upon the literate society. Without education, social

and economic development cannot be imagined.

1

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Govt. of Pakistan (1998) states that the type and quality of education imparted

to young ones of today will provide future leadership in various fields that will steer

the country successfully through thick and thin. The developed nations and those

claiming to be the Asian Tiger today, undoubtedly owe all their heights of

achievements to education. Advocacy for education should be a prime concern of a

society and the government simultaneously.

In ancient ages, higher education was a means of acquiring wisdom and

satisfying curiosity. It was not an instrument for achieving economic goals but the new

demands of economic life are such that modern higher education has been inter- linked

with specialization as well as employment.

According to North (1997), in modern times, higher education is considered as

a means of human resource development in a society. In advanced countries,

universities constitute the main- spring of knowledge, ideas and innovation. Today,

the most successful discharge of the university's role as an agent of change is in the

area of science and technology. The priming and grooming of high-level professional

manpower is a matter of vital concern. As a pathway to socio-economic development

in a country, higher education cannot be ignored or given low priority. Higher

education is in state of rapid development everywhere in the world as its benefits to

the social, economic and cultural life of different communities are realizable. This has

led to the worldwide exponential expansion of universities and colleges, as many more

people are encouraged to remain in education. However, there are problems. First,

higher education is expensive, and its expansion requires ample resources. Second,

rapid expansion raises problems of quality assurance and control, as increased

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numbers could so easily lead to a decline in standards. Third, expansion in the

developing world often draws upon the resources, ideas and expertise to the developed

world, even through these may not always be appropriate for every different economic

and social system.

According to Barnett (1992), Higher Education is to impart the deepest

understanding in the minds of students, rather than the relatively superficial grasp that

might be acceptable elsewhere in the system. In higher education, nothing can be

taken on trust and the students have to think for themselves so as to be able to stand on

their own feet intellectually. Quddus (1979) describes that no country has ever been

able to make rapid progress without a well-developed system of higher education.

Our greatest national asset lies in the potential skill of our people, and our economic

and social progress depends on how we develop them. This implies that all young men

and women, irrespective of their financial or social status, can prove their capacity to

profit from higher education and they must have the full opportunity to acquire it.

Over the past fifteen or more years, private higher education has grown at a

rapid rate in a number of countries and today captures a major portion of student

enrolments in Eastern and Central Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin

America. Much of this growth has come about through the expansion of commercial,

sometimes for-profit higher education institutions, rather than traditional non-profit

religious, community or academically based ones (Kelly, 2001).

In Pakistan, at the time of independence, there were only two universities and

almost forty colleges. Government did establish new colleges and universities but the

government alone was not in a position to provide adequate financial and physical

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resources to undertake the restructuring of the educational system and also its

expansion to meet the demands of the society. So private sector came forward to meet

the formidable demand of the time.

Participation of the private sector in educational development in Pakistan has a

long history. After 1947 till 1971, the private sector contribution expanded

considerably through a variety of non-government organizations but the process of

nationalization by the Peoples Government completely eliminated the private sector

from education. Many higher educational institutions were nationalized in September

1972.

Govt. of Pakistan (1998-2010) states that the system of Grant-in-Aid

introduced before Independence continued till 1972 for attracting the private sector to

participate in the provision of educational facilities to the citizens who were

demanding higher education because expenditure on education is now being

considered as an investment rather than consumption. There is a strong feeling among

the public that private sector should participate actively to supplement the resources of

the government for the development of human resources.

Higher Education in public and private sectors has expanded considerably in

the last few decades. The number of colleges and universities has increased. The

demand for higher education is increasing rapidly due to its high rates of return and

expanding size of middle class. Modern higher education, especially in science and

technology, is highly cost effective. The scarcity of public finance does not allow

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expansion of this level and therefore, concerted efforts are being made to attract the

private sector through liberal policy to establish higher quality institutions.

An overview of the facts mentioned above reveals that the problem is that of

the availability of resources. Not only ample funds for the establishment of quality

institutions are required, but there is also a need to offer attractive salaries to the

qualified teachers in all the fields especially in the field of science and technology. If

they are not given these incentives, then the others will be quite willing to hire them

on attractive terms. This will require breaking of bureaucratic chain, which is holding

all the fields in its clutches.

However, in spite of all the odds, the private sector is coming up to invest in

the field of higher education and some really quality institutions have been

established. Many colleges and universities are working in the private sector. The

government can indirectly help them by lining up Foreign Aid. The intended foreign

investors can grant some relief in terms of land for building etc.

Private sector universities are funded and supported by individuals, NGOs,

Trusts and foundations. On the other hand, public sector universities are financially

supported by federal or provincial governments and they are managed by syndicates as

governing body.

Both type of universities are duly approved by the higher education

commission and the chartered are given either by the National Assembly or the

concerned Provincial Assembly. Either type of universities functions under the

umbrella of Higher Education Commission and are bound to observe the rules and

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regulations framed by the higher education commission. The private sector

universities are also managed by the Board of Governor or Board of Management

constituted for the purpose. The private sector universities generated funds through

tuition fee, endowment funds or donations by the local or international agencies.

As few studies in this area at Master and M.Phil. level have been conducted

and, as far as knowledge of the researcher is concerned, no research study at doctorate

level appears to have conducted in Pakistan to see the extent of participation of private

sector in higher education. Hence, this study was intended to investigate the role of

private sector in higher education in Pakistan.

The major objectives of the study were as under:

1. To compare the views of administrators, teachers and students about the

quality of various aspects of higher education

2. To compare the views of administrators both male and female, permanent and

contract based, about the quality of various aspects of higher education.

3. To compare the views of male teachers and female teachers, permanent,

contract based and visiting teaching faculty about the quality of various aspects

of higher education.

4. To compare the views of male students and female students about the quality

of various aspects of higher education.

5. To determine the share of private sector of higher education in the term of

student’s enrolment and teaching faculty.

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6. To suggest measures for improvement of private sector universities in

Pakistan.

Since Independence, studies have been conducted on different aspects of

higher education in Pakistan. But perhaps no study has so far been conducted in the

area of private sector despite the fact that this aspect deserved some deep

consideration. Privatization has become a controversial issue. There are two opinions

about privatization i.e. public opinion and the government opinion.

Therefore, the present study was undertaken this study would prove helpful to

eliminate the prevailing shortcomings and enable the decision makers and planners to

think in the right direction. This study would helpful in evaluating the functioning and

performance of the private sector in higher education so as to facilitate the policy

makers, planners, educational authorities, decision makers and the various agencies

involved in the education for further planning and management and the development

of private sector in higher education in the country.

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Chapter 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter deals with the review of available literature on the private higher

education in Pakistan. In the final section a critical review of the related studies is

presented.

Virk (1998) was of the view that higher education in Pakistan needs urgent

reforms as it is not presently contributing effectively to economic growth of the

country. The standard of higher education is not enviable because the universities in

their present form are neither geared to create new knowledge nor do their graduate

study programs measure up to international standard. The rapid expansion of the

system, limited financial input and student unrest have eroded the teaching/learning

process, despite the modernization of curricula .The supply of funds to universities is

limited, coupled with inefficient use of public funding. The universities are

unresponsive to market trend and are essentially divorced from work of world.

Higher education is more supply –oriented than demand-oriented. The research base

in universities is rather weak. However, he adds Centers of Excellence, Center of

Advanced studies, Area Study Centers and mono-disciplinary institutions in the

universities have made substantial advances in a number of research fields. Yet

inadequately equipped libraries and laboratories and a shortage of qualified teachers

continue to hinder the progress of higher education toward achieve.

Clark (1995) states that governments have rarely launched private higher

education sector by specifying what roles private higher education should or would

8

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play, neither have scholars or other higher education actors drawn up guidance

blueprints or foreseen what and how roles would develop. On the contrary, roles have

more often emerged from a generally uncoordinated multiplicity of choices and

constraints.

Ashforth (2001) views that private configurations are changing rapidly. This is

true even in systems with a continuous private higher education history, such as Japan

and the uniquely longstanding U.S.A. case. Change is much more dramatic in systems

like the Chinese and Turkish, where private higher education re-emerges after a period

of non-existence, and the Russian and Pakistani, where it first emerges.

Levy (2002) states that there is great diversity even within this growth a

diversity that goes beyond the original identification of the third wave (and thus

demands fresh research globally). Some of these private institutions play a “role” of

little more than taking in tuition while dishing out poor education and then award

degrees to those who do not drop out; thus the “role” is perhaps one of making profit.

More positively, many have roles of providing access for those who could not

otherwise get into higher education. This may be seen as an equity role. Others

provide a choice related to access.

Castro and Levy (2000) describe that private institutions rarely assume or

claim to assume academic elite roles complete with doctoral education, basic research,

large laboratories and libraries, or mostly full-time academic staffs. This provides an

opening for critics to belittle these institutions as not “true universities,” not fulfilling

university roles.

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Boorstin (1958) argues that, in fact, private roles often turn out to depend on

what roles public sectors do not undertake. The public unawareness or purposeful

avoidance allows some groups, including entrepreneurs, to perceive a need or

opportunity for private action. The point is relevant to all types of private higher

education. For “academically light” roles the public sector does not deign to

undertake, there is sometimes a true sense of intentionally leaving roles to private

institutions; one major example concerns the Asian cases where public sectors did not

take on major demand-absorbing access roles. However, even refusal to assume such

an access role has not always been with a keen eye on what the private sector might

do. Instead, refusal is often based simply on what the public sector prefers to do or

thinks it can do well or what government thinks it can do. It is less about refusal and

rejection of potential roles than about the absence of serious consideration of

additional roles. Where public universities in Eastern and Central Europe do not

“lower” themselves to fields such as accounting or business management as new

economies are created, they do not always consider or approve of private institutions

assuming those roles.

Levy (1982) states that a dramatic emergence of private higher education is

also common where major or “neoliberal” economic change occurs in non-communist

settings. Until the 1980s and even 1990s, private higher education was rare in sub-

Saharan Africa and absent in some Asian countries. Sudden change results in part

from powerful global tendencies that limit the financial role of the state, privatize and

internationalize in overall development policy. These are tendencies from beyond

higher education policy. Naturally, no country pursued such political-economic

policies in order to lead to private higher education consequences (or to public higher

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education consequences, but private higher education is often more shaped by the new

economy). Instead, the consequent private higher education roles have been little

defined, however logical their fit with the new political economy, or their response to

it. Examples include low-cost provision by private suppliers, fees, and emphasis on

fields of study such as English, accounting, and business law.

Bernasconi (2004) concludes that compared to the other types of private

universities, the affiliated ones possess distinctive mission statements and declarations

of principles, consistent with the orientations of their sponsor institutions, tend to be

smaller, and tend to have more full-time and better qualified faculty. Some receive

financial support from their sponsor organizations or its members. Distinctiveness was

not found in student selectivity, nor in tuition levels, program offerings, curriculum

design, the weight of research and graduate programs in their functions, student socio-

economic profile and faculty involvement in governance.

Levy (1992) states that the literature on private higher education

internationally shows that private higher education brings diversity, especially when

compared to the public tertiary education sector, along the dimensions of finance,

control, mission, and scope of functions

Geiger (1986) in turn, in his comparative study of the private sectors of higher

education in eight European and Asian countries, finds that “diversity arises naturally

in private sectors from the varied purposes for which these institutions were founded

and from the independence that private control allows in the pursuit of these ends”.

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2.1 PRIVATE PROVISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN

The private sector has a checkered history in Pakistan. Soon after the

independence, the importance of education was recognized. Fazal ur Rehman, the first

education minister on the behalf of the father of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam, convened

the First Educational Conference immediately after independence. He read the

message from the Quaid, which provided guidelines for the educational system of the

new country (Govt. of Pakistan, 1947).

Until 1971, it expanded considerably at the school and college level, All

private initiatives were killed in the wake of the nationalization process of the

seventies which eliminated the participation of the sector in education altogether.

However, as a result of the reversal of this policy in 1979, the public /private ratio now

is about 70:30, mostly at school level. It is estimated that this step has resulted in a 14

% saving for the government budget. The private higher education sector had been shy

of investment until the early nineties when the sector began to take effective measures

to expand quickly. During the eighties, only two-mono-discipline private universities

(Agha Khan and LUMS) were established. Within the past few years, many new

universities have been established in the private sector (Isani and Virk, 2003).

Prachayani (2006) states that the Pakistani government has stressed the role of

private sector in promoting higher education in order to help enhance low rates of

higher education enrollment and national literacy in a context of resource constraints.

Research-oriented education and modern teaching methods are the prime foci of such

a promotion. Notwithstanding a view that private institutions have been providing

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laudable services and quality education, the government will continue to monitor the

performance of both private and public institutions.

Prachayani (2004) states that Pakistani private universities have requested an

extension of the 2007 deadline set by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on

charter withdrawals for private universities deemed unqualified. The HEC has

announced a list of private universities failing to meet the HEC criteria and thus slated

to lose their licenses. Some of the institutions have been identified seriously deficient.

Additionally, some institutions have been declared illegal and government has warned

parents against enrolling their offspring there. A provincial public division, the Higher

Education Regulatory Authority (HERA), founded in 2002 to oversee and control

private institutions has considered only four out of eleven private universities for

charters and has granted none.

Naqvi (2003) The provisions of the “Education Sector Reforms: Strategic Plan

2001-2004” and the “National Education Policy 1998-2010” of the Government of

Pakistan highlight the importance of higher education and the need for greater

investment by the public and private sectors. It is also realized that the public sector is

unable to cope with the surging demand of higher education from the student

community and there is a need to encourage the private sector. Accordingly, the

Government is pursuing a liberal policy towards this sector.

Higher Education Commission devised a document titled “guideline for the

establishment of new universities and degree awarding institutions”. This document

sets out the revised criteria/norms (Appendix G) as approved by the Cabinet on 27th

February 2002 for the establishment of a new university or a degree awarding

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institute and lays down the procedures for their establishment and seeking degree

awarding status or the charter of a university by the Federal or the respective

Provincial Governments. It identifies various legal, organizational, financial and

other related formalities/requirements, which need to be fulfilled and adhered to for

submission of feasibility report, inspection and acquiring a charter for the institution.

It also provides a model framework (Appendix F) of governance of a university or an

institution of higher education in private sector.

According to Qazi (2006) presently, there are 57 universities and degree

awarding institution in the public sector and 54 universities and degree awarding

institutions in private sector. In total the number is 111. According to the HEC data

out of 23.27 million eligible students in the age group of 18-26 the total enrolment was

estimated at 1.16%. In 2002-2003, the eligible population rose to 24.19% and the

percentage of enrolment to 1.3%. Similarly in 2002-2004 the percentage of enrolled

students stood at 1.7 million from an eligible population of 24.90 million. This is so

in spite of the participation of private sector, which has contributed up to 65,000

enrolments at university level. It should be mandatory for private sector institutions to

set up undergraduate and graduate study programs in such basic sciences as physics,

chemistry, biology, mathematics, and statistics, among others. Similar initiatives

should be taken by private sector to set up departments in liberal arts and social

science. All this can happen only with help and assistance of the Higher Education

Commission, if it wants to keep an eye on the equality of education in the private

sector.

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The statistics regarding the number and year of establishment of public and

private higher education universities and degree awarding institutions, male and

female in Pakistan since its independence up to 2006 is given below:

Table 1: Number of public and private sector universities & degree awarding institutions (DAIs) in Pakistan.

Universities Degree Awarding Institutions Public Private Public Private

Year

Total Female Total Female Total Female Total Female 1947-48 2 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

1950-51 4 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

1959-60 5 - 0 - 1 - 0 -

1960-61 5 - 0 - 1 - 0 -

1961-62 6 - 0 - 1 - 0 -

1963-64 6 - 0 - 1 - 0 -

1964-65 7 - 0 - 1 - 0 -

1965-66 7 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1970-71 8 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1971-72 8 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1972-73 8 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1973-74 9 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1974-75 12 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1975-76 12 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1976-77 15 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1977-78 15 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1978-79 15 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1979-80 15 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1980-81 19 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1981-82 19 - 0 - 2 - 0 -

1982-83 19 - 1 - 2 - 0 -

1983-84 19 - 1 - 2 - 0 -

1984-85 19 - 2 - 3 - 0 -

1985-86 19 - 2 - 3 - 0 -

1986-87 20 - 2 - 3 - 0 -

Contd…..

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Universities Degree Awarding Institutions Public Private Public Private

Year

Total Female Total Female Total Female Total Female 1987-88 20 - 2 - 3 - 0 -

1988-89 20 - 2 - 3 - 0 -

1989-90 20 - 2 - 3 - 0 -

1990-91 20 - 2 - 3 - 0 -

1991-92 20 - 2 - 3 - 0 -

1992-93 21 - 3 - 3 - 0 -

1993-94 22 - 3 - 3 - 0 -

1994-95 25 - 4 - 3 - 2 -

1995-96 25 - 7 - 3 - 3 -

1996-97 27 - 7 - 3 - 4 -

1997-98 27 - 10 1 3 - 5 -

1998-99 28 1 10 1 3 - 5 -

1999-00 31 2 13 1 4 - 6 -

2000-01 32 2 14 1 5 - 8 -

2001-02 36 2 20 1 5 - 13 -

2002-03 45 2 31 1 7 1 13 -

2003-04 47 3 34 1 8 1 17 -

2004-05* 47 3 32 1 8 1 17 -

2004-05 47 3 34 1 8 1 19 -

2005-06** 49 4 36 1 8 1 18 -

Source:http://www.hec.gov.pk/htmls/stat.doc

Isani and Virk (2003) states that there was no private degree awarding

institutions for almost 4 decades until 1983 when the first private university namely,

Aga Khan University was established at Karachi. The period of the mid-eighties has

been aground breaking in the establishment of two private sector universities i.e. Aga

Khan University and Lahore University of Management Science (LUMS).The period

of nineties has opened new vistas for the private sector. The Govt. is pursing liberal

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policy in respect of private sector. The private sector in higher education is opening

new avenues of cooperation.

The number increased to 18 during the period 1967-77, and during the next

decade, between 1977 and 1987, rose to 26.The number increased to 43 between

1987-1997.The period of late nineties has been a period of exponential physical

expansion in the history of Pakistan .In the coming years the number is expected to

grow faster in view of the greater participation of the private sector. From 1998 to

date, a record number of 57 universities/degree awarding institutions have been

established.

There is a rising trend of establishment of universities and degree awarding

institutes in private sector in Pakistan. Now there are fifty-seven public sector

universities and degree awarding institutions and fifty-four private sector universities

and degree awarding institutions in Pakistan. The ratio of the both type of universities

is given as under:

Table 2: Universities/degree awarding institutions (2005-06)

Public Private Total

Number 57 54 111

Ratio 51.35 48.65 100

Source:http://www.hec.gov.pk/htmls/stat.doc Note: Ratio is self-calculated.

Public and private sector share in higher education, the table 2 shows that

regarding universities, the ratio of public and private sector is 51.35 and 48.65,

respectively.

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Table 3: Enrollment at universities /degree awarding institutions and constituent colleges by Area and Sector during 2003-04

Sectors Public Private Area

No % No % Federal 31843 12.16 4720 1.79

AJK 2005 0.76 379 0.14

Balochistan 5217 1.98 564 0.21

NWFP 30815 11.67 5865 2.22

Punjab 86032 32.58 16749 6.35

Sindh 46959 17.79 32831 12.44

Total 202871 76.85 61108 23.15

Source:http://www.hec.gov.pk/htmls/stat.doc

Table 3 indicates that enrolment percentage at public sector universities

/degree awarding institutions plus constituent colleges by area during the year 2003-04

was 12.16% in Federal, 0.76% in the state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 1.98% in the

province of Balochistan,11.67% in NWFP,32.58% in Punjab province and 17.79 in

Sindh province. On the other hand enrolment in private sector was 1.79%,

0.14%,0.21%,2.22%,6.35% and 12.44% respectively. Overall, share of private sector

in total enrolment in higher education, other than distance learning, was 23.15%

Table 4. Number of students enrolled by sector and level of degree over the years 2003-04

Sector Public Private Level of

Degree No % No % Bachelor 252841 59.73 42871 10.12

Master 92613 21.88 16054 3.80

M.Phil 6802 1.60 652 0.15

Ph.D 6277 1.48 195 0.04

PGD 3595 0.84 1336 0.31

Total 362128 85.56 61108 14.44

Source:http://www.hec.gov.pk/htmls/stat.doc

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Table 4 states that the share of private sector in students enrolment for the year

2003-04 was 10.12 % at Bachelor degree level, 3.8% at Master degree level, 0.15% at

M.Phil, 0.04% at Ph.D and 0.31% at PGD (post graduate diploma).

Table 5: Number of students produced by public and private sector universities during 2003-04

Sector

Public Private Gender

No % No %

Male 53064 44.94 8735 7.40

Female 53150 45.02 3107 2.63

Total 106214 89.97 11842 10.03

Source:http://www.hec.gov.pk/htmls/stat.doc

Table 5 depicts that the students produced by private sector universities and

degree awarding institutions was 10.03 percent of total students population in

universities and degree awarding institutions of Pakistan

Table 6: Number of full time and part time faculty members by public and private sector universities during 2003-04

Sector

Public Private Faculty

No % No %

Full time 10471 77.87 3963 64.12

Part time 2975 22.13 2217 35.88

Total 13446 68.51 6180 31.49

Source:http://www.hec.gov.pk/htmls/stat.doc

Table 6 shows that percentages of full time and part time faculty members in

private sector universities were 64.12% and 35.88% respectively. The overall, share of

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private sector universities in total number of full time and part time faculty members

was 31.49 percent

Table 7: Full time faculty members classified by their highest qualification

during 2003-04

Sector

Public Private Level of

degree No % No %

Bachelor 1059 10.11 1151 29.04

Master 4525 43.21 1480 37.34

Master(H) 1319 12.59 508 12.81

M.Phil 1019 9.73 284 77.16

Ph.D 2549 24.34 540 13.62

Total 10471 72.55 3963 27.45

Source:http://www.hec.gov.pk/htmls/stat.doc

Table 7 indicates that in private sector universities, there were 29.04%,

37.34%, 12.18%, 7.16% and 13.62 % faculty members in private universities having

the highest qualification of Bachelor, Master, Master honors, M.Phil and Ph.D degree.

Table 8: Student-Teacher Ratio for the year 2003-04

Faculty Public Private

Full time 19.37 15.42

Part time 68.20 27.56

Source:http://www.hec.gov.pk/htmls/stat.doc .

Table 8 illiterates that student-teacher ratio for full time faculty and part time

faculty in private sector universities were 15.42 and 27.56 while in public sector these

ratios were 19.37 and 68.20. In private sector student-teacher ratio was quite less than

public sector universities.

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Govt. of Pakistan (1992) describes about policy statement that new incentives

will be provided to private sector for participation in educational development at all

levels. A liberal and simplified policy will be adopted to enable the private sector,

especially, the philanthropic organizations to undertake the task of educational

development with facility and ease. The major thrust of private participation will be

directed towards the rural areas. A system of matching grants and loans will be

devised to provide financial support to private sector organizations. Education

equipment industry, with a back up of technology transfer to be provided by the

government, will be completely shifted to the private sector and tangible incentives

will be provided for the same. A scheme for progressive disinvestments of higher

education institutions will be introduced. The rights and privileges of private

organizations running educational institutions will be protected through legislation.

Govt. of Pakistan (1992) states that in 1991, the public to private sector ratio

was estimated at 70:30. Had this trend continued, this ratio could easily touch the

50:50 mark. Though the private sector contribution was essentially restricted to school

education, over the period, it started gaining access to technical and vocational

education and degree level education as well.

Govt. of Pakistan (1983) laid emphasis on qualitative improvement of higher

education. Scientific research and technological development allocations were

increased from Rs.2 billion in Fifth Year Plan to Rs.7 billion in the Sixth Year Plan.

The strategy proposed for the realization of objectives of higher education included

induction of the private sector at all levels of higher education for introduction of

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healthy competition and reducing state liability and control. The Plan proposed to

encourage opening of private institutions imparting education at the degree level.

A privately endowed university for science and technology was planned to be

established with complete freedom to determine contents and duration of courses of

studies, admission criteria, salary and qualification of teachers, rate of tuition fee etc.

It was planned to have linkages with foreign universities and its physical facilities,

teaching faculty, and quality of instruction and output were planned to be comparable

with the best institutions abroad. No new university was to be opened in the public

sector. Selected university departments were planned to be developed into Centers of

Advanced Studies.

Govt. of Pakistan (1988) advocates the private sector saying that the private

sector will be encouraged to establish universities or degree awarding institutions in

new and emerging fields. The universities will be made totally autonomous like the

Agha Khan University, Karachi and the Lahore University of Management Sciences

and will be placed gradually on a self-financing basis. For this purpose, they will also

be able to negotiate foreign assistance like the NGOs and establish private chairs.

Govt. of Pakistan (1988) realizes that the universities were faced with serious

administrative problems, large budget deficits, an outmoded curricula, defective

examination system and a lack of focus on research. During the Seventh Year Plan,

special attention was planned to be paid to bring about improvements in university

education through a series of reforms. Emphasis was laid on improvement in quality

of instruction at college level. Use of computer was to be encouraged. Private sector

was encouraged with various incentives to open quality institutions.

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The administration of the universities was planned to be streamlined by

transferring the responsibility of university education entirely to the provincial

governments. The following major reforms were envisaged:

Financial position of the universities was planned to be improved by providing

them 20-25 percent of the Iqra (education) fund collections, raising the fees from the

then 1 percent of recurring expenditure to 10 percent, creating endowment funds. The

universities were planned to be made totally autonomous and to be placed gradually

on a self-financing basis. For this purpose, they will also be allowed to negotiate

foreign assistance like the NGOs, and establish private chairs.

Govt. of Pakistan (1993) also laid emphasis on qualitative improvement of

higher education and private sector. The plan stated that the participation of the private

sector was much below the required level. Private sector was permitted to open

educational institutions at almost all levels. Special legislation was to be enacted for

each university. The incentives for noncommercial educational institutions were

mainly in form of normal tax exemptions and, marginal grants for a few of them from

the recently established Education Foundation. During Eighth Year Plan, fiscal

incentives for NGOs and private sector's participation in the educational endeavor

were reviewed and made more attractive.

Govt. of Pakistan (1993) focuses on the broadening of the resource base for

financing education through increased allocation and encouraging private sector’s

participation in provision of educational facilities at all levels.”

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Special efforts were made to improve the quality of higher education. The

university courses were transformed to make them demand-oriented. Management

training was made mandatory for all administrators of education from secondary

school level to higher education level. Tuition fees of higher education institutions was

planned to be gradually increased from 1% of the recurring cost per student to 10%

scholarships and “Qarze-e-Hasna" (loan without interest) were introduced. The college

curricula were diversified and made demand-oriented. In services, training courses

were arranged. The university Acts were planned to be revised. No new university

was planned to be established in the public sector. Private sector was encouraged to

establish universities or graduate schools in the newly emerging fields. Private sector

was also be encouraged to establish educational institutions at all levels through tax

exemptions, loan facilities and grants. Special emphasis was laid on the application of

the theoretical knowledge.

Govt. of Pakistan (1998) describes that during the Eighth Year Plan period, the

private sector was encouraged to establish educational institutions at all levels. As a

result, in urban areas, about 25% students at school level were going to private

institutions. At the tertiary level, there were 12 universities/institutions in the private

sector. No mechanism could be developed to ascertain the financial expenditure

incurred by private sector in the provision of educational facilities at different levels.

Iqra surcharge could not be organized. Literacy rate, planned to increase from 35% in

1992-93 to 48% could only reach the 45% mark. Although participation of the private

sector increased, yet the precise increase is not known.

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Higher education, including Engineering Education and research, still needs

updating to keep pace with advancement at the international level. The Ninth Year

Plan proposes still greater involvement of the private sector in the spread of education.

National Education Policy 1998-2010 says that it is necessary that such institutions

including Deeni Madaris (Religious institutions) be governed under some regulation.

Some of these may be given degree-awarding status. To improve participation of

private sector, it is necessary that a system may be evolved to recognize their

certificate/degrees at par with those of public sector educational institutions. This

policy emphasizes that incentives be provided to those institutions so that they get

themselves registered with education departments and are able to provide low cost

quality education at all levels.

2.2 ISSUES OF QUALITY

According to the UNESCO (1998), quality is inseparable for social relevance.

The implication of the quality requirement and of policies aiming at "quality

safeguard" approach is that improvements should be sought, at the same time, to each

of the components parts of the institution and to the institution as an integral while,

functioning as a coherent system. The quality of higher education depends upon:

• Quality of staff which employees: acceptable social and financial status, a will

to reduce inequalities such as those relating to gender; a concern to manage

staff in accordance with the merit principle and provide them with the in.

service training. They need in order to fulfill their role in changing society; the

establishment of incentives and structures to encourage researchers to work in

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multidisciplinary teams on thematic projects, thus breaking with the habit of

exclusively solitary scientific work.

• Quality of curricula, which calls for special care in the definition of the

objectives of the training provided in relation to the requirements of the world

of work and the needs of society; an adaptation of teaching methods to make

students more active and to develop an enterprising spirit; an expansion of, and

greater flexibility/ training facilities so as to make full use of the possibilities

afforded by IT and to take the characteristics of the context into account; the

internationalization and networking of curricula, students and teachers.

• Quality of the students who constitute the raw material of higher education,

which requires special attention to their problems of access in the light of

criteria related to merit (abilities and motivation); proactive policies for benefit

of the disadvantaged, exchanges with secondary education and with the

involved in the transition from secondary to higher education, to ensure that

education is an unbroken chain.

• Quality of the infrastructure and of the external environment, not for getting

the infrastructure connected with the use and development of IT, without

which networking, distance education facilities and the possibility of a "virtual

university" could not be envisaged.

• Quality of the management of the institution as a coordinated and coherent

whole, interacting with its environment, being impossible for institutions of

higher education to exist as isolated enclaves.

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Isani and Virk (2003) states that we dealt with problems of numbers; it is time

to confront the second issue, which is that quality .The process of globalization makes

this an inescapable requirement for any real development in the country. Private

educational institution can survive only if they cater to the demand of the market, both

in terms of type of disciplines and quality. If they ignore either, they will not be able to

survive for very long.

Phongpaichit and Chris (1996) described that it does not give due weightage to

the quality aspects, which is vitally important. The quality can be achieved through

both private and public institutions. But there is an overt and undue attack on

educational institutions owned by the public authority. They are always known and

condemned as inefficient, corrupt, and slow lethargic and ineligible to produce

students effective for the job market. It is widely believed that public ownership is the

cause of inefficiency and non-sustainability. In fact, all private sector institutions are

not efficient nor all public sector institutions are not inefficient.

Consideration towards quality has increased substantially in recent years

(Dotchin and Oakland, 1994, Gupta and Chen, 1995, Kettingner and Lee, 1995

McDaniel and Louagand, 1994). The arrival of total quality management (TQM) in

higher education began slightly in the 1980’s with increasing interest in the early

1990’s. This growing interest in TQM motivates institutions to cope with an

increasingly desperate set of fiscal circumstances, and tremendous pressure from their

customers to update and improve the quality of their services (Brigham, 1994; Zemsky

et al., 1993). The definition of quality has evolved from “quality is excellence”, to

“quality is value”, to “quality is conformance to specifications”, to “quality is meeting

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and/or exceeding customers’ expectations” (Reeves and Bednar, 1994). Customers can

provided variable information to management for designing service delivery and for

adapting the university environment to the students’ needs (Hampton, 1993). In the

design of quality improvement programs, it is thus the customer definitions of quality

which count, since management may make the wrong assumption as to how customers

actually see the service quality. Assumptions such as these could lead the establish of

improper priorities with regard to quality control standard in business education

(Nightingagle, 1983), taking customer satisfaction into consideration. A knowledge

and better understanding of the process and the various characteristics, qualities and

attributes, which underlie students’ perception of quality, are required. Parasuraman et

al. (1993), therefore proposed that the consumer’s opinion of quality is formed by an

internal comparison of performance with expectation. Gaston and Nguyen (1997),

analyzing the concept of quality in business education with data of 388 respondents

from universities. He identified seven factors which influence students evaluations of

quality: reputation, administrative personnel, faculty, curriculum, responsiveness,

physical evidence and access to facilities. Sneider and Julie (1995) say” if we desire

to be responsive to the community, then we have to understand their expectations and

should borrow ideas from the business community to improve the quality education.

Brenda and Baron (2000) argued that there are many items related to duties carried out

by non academic staff e.g. administrators and faculty support staff, over whom the

academic staff may have no direct control. Academic staff should also take care of

non-academic issues in order that students attain satisfaction in their studies. The

students are not interested in university organizational hierarchies, and accept all

university staff to work together.

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In his post doctoral study titled as “the contribution of the Private Sector to

Higher Education in Pakistan with particular reference to efficiency and equity” Niazi

(2006) argued that government has indicated that it does not have the resources to

cope with improving the higher education system on its own. It has, therefore, turned

to the private and NGOs sector as partners in this effort, by creating a policy

environment that would allow these two actors to become more involved, particularly

in the creation of new institutions. Some critics of the private higher education in

Pakistan are of the opinion that this sector is totally business oriented. According to

Coffman (1997), owners of private universities have been amassing huge money by

befooling the students in the name of their affiliation with one foreign university or

another. Only a few of the universities imparting postgraduate courses with affiliation

to foreign universities have sought the permission from UGC.

The benefits of higher education are both public and private, and the

contributions from the two sectors are called on to pay for higher education in all

countries of the world. Private benefits of graduates include their earnings and the

status based on their academic qualifications and the public benefits are amount of

taxes paid by them from their total income. The earning may be measured as these are

tangible whereas the status cannot be objectively measured, as this is a non-tangible

benefit. There is a very large range in the shares that different countries assign to the

public and private sectors. Wolanin (2000) states in “Financing Higher Education in

the United States: An Overview”:

In Korea, 84 percent of the total expenditures for higher education come from

private payments and only 16 percent from the public sector. In contrast, in Denmark,

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0.5 percent of the total expenditures for higher education come from the private sector

and 99.5 percent from the public sector. In the United States, 52 percent of the total

expenditures for higher education come from private payments, which include 38

percent from households and 14 percent from other private contributors. This level of

private payments and household payments is exceeded only by Korea and Japan

among OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) industrial

or developed countries. The average among OECD countries is 20 percent of total

expenditures for higher education from private payments, of which 16 percent is from

households. Conversely, among OECD countries, the average share of higher

education expenditures from public support is 80 percent.

U.K. institutions were completely deregulated with respect to the capping of

tuition fees or chose to exercise their theoretical autonomy and take full control of

their destiny; it would be politically wise to have robust policies place in advance that

would ensure at least the same level of accessibility as at present. Oxford, for example,

must also be able to demonstrate the financial viability of such access and student

financial aid policies, funded (presumably) partly by charging much higher annual

tuition fees (£15K) to “Rich England” and rather higher fees (£10K) to “Middle

England” (taking into account affordability issues), while, of course, charging very

little (if anything at all, in order to maintain access) to “Poor England.”

Higher education in public and private sectors has expanded considerably in

the last few decades. The number of colleges and universities has increased.

According to Isani and Virk (2005) “at present there are 52 universities and degree

awarding institutes in the private sector that have received the charter from the HEC

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and providing education in the fields of Engineering, Medicine, Management, and

other related technical and general fields”. The demand for higher education is

increasing rapidly due to its high rates of return and expanding size of middle class.

Modern higher education especially in science and technology is very costly. The

scarcity of public finance does not allow expansion of this level and therefore;

concerted efforts are being made to attract the private sector through encouraging

policy which includes financial incentives for acquiring land to establish institutions of

quality higher education in Pakistan.

Levy (2005) urges that higher education is regarded as a very expensive

undertaking and requires a careful analysis of its financial requirements in order to

ensure its sustainability. Since tuition and fees paid by students are the core financial

basis of private institutions, failure to meet enrolment goals or unaccounted expenses

can destabilize financial budgets, and threaten the survival of the institution. Tuitions

dependency also means students ability and or willingness to pay. As a result, this

could cause major issues of equity and access to private institutions. Therefore, if not

properly managed, private institutions could be instrumental in causing major drift in

class and social division

Ruch (2001) states that private institutions are responsible for their own

funding, along with internal governance and management, the relationship and due

diligence to students, parents, government and public authorities. Lessons from other

countries with established private institutions have shown that in the majority of cases,

institutions are financed by tuition payments from students. For example, in the USA,

nearly 95% for the profit colleges’ revenues is generated from tuition and fees in

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contrast to 42.2% for private not-for-profit and 18.4% for public not-for-profits higher

academic institutions.

Court (1999) states that the management and governance of private higher

education is a complex endeavor. On the one hand, similar to other private ventures,

stakeholders are interested in making good profit, on the other hand; students and

parents want to insure quality academic standards. Achieving both these goals

demands serious analysis and consideration. A large number of research studies on

for-profit- private higher education have lamented on the poor quality of education in

favour of making a profit for the founders and stakeholders.

2.3 ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN

The private sector contribution creates a visible impact on educational

development. Privatization is expanded rapidly in developing countries. In all

developed countries, higher education is supported by private finance.

Kitaev (1999) explains that the most frequent and broad definition of private

education used is, “all formal institutions that are not public, and may be founded,

owned, managed and financed by actors other than the state”.

Kizalbash (1998) states that, in Pakistan, until recently one was not permitted

to start a private university. The only reason that private universities are being

established is that the government has no other choice. All the public universities were

in trouble. They were closed for weeks and months. Examinations were not held. If

you joined in 1996, perhaps you would graduate in 2020. Parents had given up hope in

the public universities and it was they who finally set the stage for the opening of the

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private sector institutions. Parents, who wanted quality education for their children,

are the real motives for the establishment of private school, colleges and universities.

Private institutions offered a superior standard of education but these were

inaccessible to the poor sections of the society. They depended on their own financial

resources and charged tuition fees. The financial position of some of the private sector

institutions was not good. Private institution that has a little endowment and few

donations, has unfortunately either to charge high tuition fees or to keep its expenses

down, the teachers received less salaries and lacked physical facilities.

Govt. of Pakistan (1998) states about the role of private sector prior to 1972

that privately managed educational institutions constituted a sizeable portion of the

total educational system. Most of these institutions operated at the school and college

levels. Such institutions were administered and managed by voluntary organizations

and apart from generating their own funds through fees, attached property and

donations, the institutions also received grant-in-aid from the government.

Govt. of Pakistan (1989) describes that some private educational institutions

earned high reputation for the academic standards they maintained and for the quality

of their public instruction. However, in a vast majority, the educational conditions

were less satisfactory, the service conditions were poor, the staff salaries were low,

and job security was non-existent. In this situation, when the private educational

institutions were pursuing a faulty educational process, and the teachers were

dissatisfied, the Government in 1972 decided to take over the entire private managed

educational institutions. This was done through martial law Regulation No.118 which

proclaimed that “as from first day of September, 1972, all private managed colleges

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together with all property attached to them shall vest in the government”. This brought

an end the long era of private managed institutions.

Govt. of Pakistan (1989) states that in pursuance of this policy, the Punjab

Private Educational Institutions (Promotion and Regulation), Ordinance No.11 of 1984

was passed in 1984. Similar Ordinances were adopted by the governments of NWFP

and Sindh. These ordinances provide for the registration of all private institutions with

a Registration Authority with the constitution of a managing body for each institution,

and spelling out the conditions for registration. Under these conditions, the

government approval was considered mandatory for the adoption of a fee structure by

each private institution. As a consequence of the promulgation of these ordinances in

the provinces, a second wave of community participation in education had been

energized. It is estimated that more or less 30,000 private educational institutions at all

levels with approximately 3 million students are functioning in the country.

Govt. of Pakistan (1989) describes about private institutions that the issue of

fees has been the subject of severe criticism by the society. These institutions,

whatever their medium of instruction, are not developing as institutions of equal

opportunity. Because of the high fee charged, the access of poor talented students to

these institutions remains evasive. There is nothing in the provincial ordinance, which

may prevent the private institutions from charging high fee. It is also important to

consider that in the absence of Grant-in-Aid from the government, fees remain the

only major source of income. On the other hand, most of the institutions are being

established with a profit motive.

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Khan (1997) describes about nationalization that this was retrogressive step,

which literally ruined the excellent private educational institutions run by extremely

dedicated foreign missionaries and Pakistani NGOs like the Anjuman-e-Hamayat-e-

Islam. The standard in privately run institutions was generally higher than in

government institutions. Moreover, these institutions were self-financing and

supplementing in a very effective way the inadequate Governments efforts in the field

of education. This decision was taken without any consultation with educationists and

was taken purely on political grounds.

Govt. of Pakistan (1979) reviewed the consequences of nationalization and

concluded that in view of poor participation rates at all levels of education, the

government alone cannot carry the burden of the whole educational process and it was

considered necessary to encourage once again the participation of the community in

educational development. To do so, the following policy measures were adopted:

1. Private enterprise was encouraged to open educational institutions

particularly in rural areas.

2. Permission to set-up educational institutions was granted by the

Ministry of Education or respective Provincial Education

Departments.

3. The existing legislation on nationalization of privately managed

educational Institutions was suitably amended to allow opening of

private educational institutions and to ensure that such institutions set-

up with the permission of Government will not be nationalized in

future.

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Baqir (1998) describes about the role of private sector that since the

government was not able to meet the educational needs of the population with its

given resources, the private sector continued to play an important role in providing

education. One important change that took place was the greater role of the private

sector in providing education at higher level, and the increased involvement of

government in primary and middle level education.

Hoodbhoy (1998) explains that before 1972, the private sector operated 51% of

colleges. Due to nationalization of educational institutions in 1972, the role of private

sector and NGOs for provision of education was briefly interrupted. But they resumed

their functioning in 1979 with the result that by 1990, 5000 educational institutions

were being run by non-government enterprises and organizations to provide education

from the primary to university level.

In view of the inability of our government to finance the public sector

universities in Pakistan fully, the need to encourage the private sector for establishing

universities in the country was felt seriously and the government, in its National

Education Policy, 1992-2002, clearly outlined the need for establishing universities

and institutions of higher learning through the private sector. The revival of

privatization is considered a useful activity for the much needed expansion of higher

education. Generally, the participation of the community in educational development

is viewed favourably “burden sharing” with the government.

Edelenbosch (1992) states that educational programmes are more likely to be

successful when there is significant community involvement and participation.

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Parental involvement allows the programme to reflect the needs or concerns of the

community and gives parents more of a stake in the programmes overall success.

Muhammad (1988) describes that private sector had been playing an important

role in development of education. The government alone cannot achieve the targets.

However, he was of the opinion that the private sector also created the problems and

that the owners of the private institutions were not serving the nation. Most of the

private institutions are working on commercial basis and they did not recognize the

importance of national language.

Khalid (1991) concludes that private institutions are not working for the

benefits of the nation. They do not follow the policies of the government and they

design their own curriculum. Some institutions are spreading the Western education

and thoughts. Almost all private institutions have monopolized. Often they increase

their fees and funds and also get money in the name of uniform and books. The

expenses of such private institutions are not within the approach of a common man.

On the other hand, the condition of government institutions is very bad. They are

deteriorating day by day. Parents prefer to admit their children in private institutions

due to the deteriorating standard of the government institutions. Basically, the

development of private sector is not against the benefits of the country, but there

should be a check on it.

Verman (1992) states that there is a craze for management education and

getting the Master in Business Administration degree. The MBA programmes are

conducted by the university departments, affiliated colleges and institutes and by the

private organizations. But only a few of the university-affiliated colleges and institutes

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are well equipped to conduct the courses for MBA. Their infrastructure, facilities,

faculty resources, libraries, research and other activities are not adequate to run the

management courses. Generally, an affiliated college appoints one full time director,

one or two full time faculty members and the visiting faculty members are taken from

the industrial field and nearby affiliated colleges for the conduct of management

courses. The faculty members who teach B.A. and B.Com courses start teaching

management courses without any orientation, without exposure to decision making in

the field of management operation.

Ahmed (1993) mentioned the drawbacks of private institutions. Firstly: the

heavy funds and fees, have deprived the poor sections of society to educate their

children in such institutions. Secondly: the system of private institution is harmful as

they have developed the system of different civilizations and offer foreign curriculum.

Some institutions are affiliated with foreign countries and producing new kind of

slavery. The institutions affiliated with foreign countries are even producing sub-

standard quality of education. There is also a complaint that some Govt. employees

have established the private institutions as a side business and earning the profit. As a

result, they cannot pay attention to the govt. institutions.

Khan (1997) states that the encouraging sign in the field of higher education is

the establishment of prestigious private sector universities like the Agha Khan Medical

University at Karachi, the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Technology at Topi and the

Lahore University of Management Sciences at Lahore. The most disturbing

development in the field of the higher education is the mushroom growth of private

universities affiliated with non-recognized foreign universities, working within a

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single room and offering degrees in many applied subjects. The government needs to

have a regulatory mechanism for granting affiliation and monitoring their academic

standards and performance.

Ali (1997) concludes that privatization is, however, highly divisible and

controversial policy politically because it calls for redistribution of income and

changes in employment patterns. By relaxing controls and by deregulating the

economy, privatization helps the developing countries to crawl out of the economic

plagues. The privatization is in operation in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia,

Pakistan, England, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe, Mexico, Brazil and

Chile.

Coffman (1997) states that the growth of private higher education has had

some positive impacts. Private universities generally pay much higher salaries, and the

best ones offer quality libraries and research facilities. They tend to respond to the

public demand for modern, hands-on practical training in business and technology.

The schools are free to offer innovative curricula, unconstrained by bureaucratic

demands, to adhere to an outdated, set program. They usually offer more appealing

learning environments that are free of political conflict and physical decay. And they

have caused public universities to take a closer look at their own responsiveness to the

needs of students and the market.

Sanyal (1998) narrated the problems of privatization by saying that

privatization faces financial problems because, in most cases, laws usually do not

allow incentives for private contributions. There is a lack of donors in developing

countries and the business sector is too weak to support higher education. Fees being

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the major source, institutions are equipped with low quality inputs, resulting in low

quality outputs, especially in excess-demand driven privatization.

Hoodbhoy (1998) concludes that the present thinking of the government is that

the university system is fatally ill and the only solution proposed is to let the private

sector build universities. But, privatization is not a panacea. True, the efficiency of

private organizations is higher than government ones. There is less wastage, more

accountability, greater attention to the quality of services provided, and more

responsiveness to the demand of the consumer (i.e., the student). On the other hand,

there are serious problems of equity and opportunity. Unlike education at lower level,

higher education requires huge capital input and, in order to make up the costs, high

fees must necessarily be charged.

Virk (1998) states that the private sector of higher education is opening up new

avenues of operation. The most important change is seen in their national outlook in

terms of appointment of faculty and student intake. Public sector universities have

traditionally been confined to their regions as far as the intake of students and teachers

is concerned. In terms of tuition fee and salary to the staff, new grounds are being

broken. A newly recruited lecturer, for example, in a private sector university gets

more pay than a professor of a public sector university. This new development in the

private sector is being watched with interest.

2.4 RELATED STUDIES

Niazi (2006) research on” the contribution of private sector to Higher

Education with particular reference to efficiency and equity”. The major objectives of

the study were to examine research activities, physical facilities, quality of faculty,

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quality of students, annual output, fee structure and nature of jobs of faculty in private

universities. A case study of 10 universities/ higher education institutions within the

twin cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad was conducted. In order to collect the data 3

questionnaires were delivered to the administrators, faculty members and students of

the private higher education institutions and senior management of these institutions

were interviewed. Percentage and Pearson chi-square were used to find the results.

The major findings of the study were the sample universities were established in the

early nineties, but expanded with in twin cities Rawalpindi and Islamabad between

2001 and 2005.Amojority of privately managed higher education institutions were

offering programmes from B.A to Ph.D. level in various disciplines. The findings

show that students enrolled in these institutions were studying Management sciences

followed by Computer sciences, Telecommunication, and Software Engineering.

Seventy percent of the targeted institutions were following the semester system.

Majority of faculty in these institutions were full time lecturers and assistant

professors and they were well qualified. Majority of the faculty was between the age

of 26 to 40 years and they had 1 to 10 years teaching experience. But they delivered

well-prepared lectures and encouraged creative thinking. Internet facilities among

administrators, faculty members and students were available. Likewise latest journals

were also available in libraries of these institutions. A large majority of these

institutions were running in rented building and were owned by their trusts. The

targeted area institutions had well equipped science and computer laboratories,

playgrounds and adequate number of room, which were according to the need of

subjects being taught in targeted higher education institutions. These institution hold

annual sports, 40 percent of the institutions were availing hostel facilities 60 percent

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student were provided with transport facility while medical facilities were not

available. Talented students were given scholarships while needy (poor) students were

given fee concession as well as loan. The degree awarded by these institutions was

recognized by the Higher Education Commission. The system of examination adopted

in these institutions was comparable with other national universities. Tution fees were

the main source of revenue in these institutions. Majority of the students were paying

tuition fee from Rs.25, 000 to Rs. 60,000 per semester. These institutions were mainly

monitored by their respective board of governors.

Hamidullah (2004) conducted a study on “comparison of the quality of higher

education in public and private sector institutions in Pakistan”. The objectives of the

study were to compare the quality of staff, quality of student, quality of infrastructure

of higher education in public and private institutions. The sample was twenty

universities/degree awarding institutions, ten each from public and private sectors. The

major findings of the study were that the teachers in private sector were confident and

competent than the public sector; the quality of students was better in private sector

than in public sector, private sector universities were far better than public sector

whereas playgrounds, common rooms, cafeteria, hostels, dispensaries and transport

facilities were better to a greater extent in public sector universities and lastly as far as

quality of management was concerned both sectors were weak.

“A Field Study on the state of education in Pakistan” was conducted by PEP

Foundation, Inc., U.S.A. in April – September 1999. This report was a product of

interviews and discussions with officials of the Ministry of Education and Higher

Education Commission (then University Grants Commission) Islamabad and with

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university vice chancellors, college/university professors and students, and executives

of medium to large size businesses of major cities in Pakistan.

According to this report the education, especially higher education in Pakistan,

needs massive improvement both in quality and quantity. Currently less than 3% of

young Pakistanis in the age group of 17–24 are enrolled in college or university. At

present, there are only 30 universities in Pakistan. According to the study the standard

of education, especially in the public sector, and in science and technology is quite

modest. The quality education is limited to only a few institutions. Most of these

institutions are private, profit making and were beyond the reach of all except a very

small richer class. Thus, there is both a strong and an urgent need in Pakistan for

opening of new universities where quality education can be made available to young

men and women, especially from the economically disadvantaged families.

In 2002, the World Bank and UNESCO jointly conducted a study titled,

“Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise”. In this study efforts

were made to explore the future of higher education in majority of the developing

countries including Pakistan. In the report it was concluded that:

the endpoint of investment of the country on human resource development in

student’s time is that the existing system of higher education neither educates

learners to participate adequately in the income, social or political life of the

country nor creates the good society envisaged in the vision statement by the

Task Force. (Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise

2002;).

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The report underlies that government needs to develop a new role regarding

higher education and should look into setting up the parameters for quality of

higher education. As a result of the report, in 2001, the government constituted

a task force to look into higher education with a view to its implementation. It

is notable that for the first time stakeholders from both public and the private

sectors were involved in this activity.

A study was conducted by the Boston Group for a contribution to the Task

Force on the Improvement of Higher Education in Pakistan in 2001. The authors of the

report held a series of meetings with the key personnel of higher education in Pakistan

and benefited from their ideas at these forums. The report suggested the structural

reforms necessary to address problems facing Pakistani universities today. The report

focused on the institutional reforms, curriculum reforms, and fiscal reforms in the

higher education system of Pakistan. The report asserts its analysis as follows:

The lack of accountability in Pakistani universities is a direct consequence of

the flawed nature of the administrative structures in place. Several of the most

positions in the university management have responsibilities inappropriate to their

role, with limited authority and for which the position holders are not directly

accountable. The most problematic among these are the appointment of the vice-

chancellor by the chancellor with a nominal consultative process.

The theoretical framework of this study substantiates the vital and much

needed role of private sector in all tiers of education, especially in higher education.

The issue regarding the quality of education in private institutions is the main focus of

the study. It is a fact that quality of education cannot be enhanced in isolation. It has to

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be coordinated with quality of management, quality of teaching staff, quality of

curricula, quality of infrastructure and quality of research, ultimately resulting in

quality graduates. The literature reviewed reveals that there is much controversy about

different aspects of privates sector. One group of authors’ view that in private sector

institutions, education is very costly which make students’ access difficult. Foreign

universities curricula are being taught in these universities. These institutions have

well qualified faculty. Their infrastructure meets the needs of students. These

institutions are providing quality education. But some authors reject this view about

the role of private sector institutions of higher education. Foreign experts conduced of

the studies, they made valuable contribution to the debate of higher education. They

report generalize the view of higher education without any empirical evidence.

Moreover, most of these studies carried out in that period when the number of private

higher education institutions was not enough. The study, which was carried out

recently, focused on the investigation of research activities, physical facilities, quality

of faculty, quality of students, annual output, fee structure and nature of jobs of

faculties in private universities. This study was delimited to the universities in twin

cities of Pakistan. It should not be generalized to know the entire role of private sector

in higher education in Pakistan. The present study was designed to investigate the

overall views of private sector universities in Pakistan.

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Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The major aim of the study was to examine the role of private sector in higher

education in Pakistan. The study was descriptive in nature. For this purpose, two

sources of data were used, namely, the primary sources and secondary sources. The

literature on private higher education in Pakistan was extensively reviewed. The

primary data were collected from the individuals directly engaged in the private

universities of Pakistan. Following methods and procedures were adopted for study:

3.1 POPULATION

All administrators, teachers and students of privately managed universities and

degree awarding institutions in Pakistan constituted the population from which

samples were drawn for the study. Population of the study constituted 270

administrators, 6180 teachers and 61108 students studying in 54 private universities

and degree awarding institutions in Pakistan (Appendix ‘D’).

3.2 SAMPLE

Method of cluster sampling was used in order to select the study sample of 840

people which was carried out in two stages. At the first stage, 12 clusters of

universities (Appendix ‘E’) were randomly chosen out of the total population of the 54

private universities. At the second stage, 60 administrators, 180 teachers and 600

students were selected through random sampling procedure with five administrators,

15 teachers and 50 students from each selected cluster.

46

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3.3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

The researcher prepared three separate questionnaires on the basis of literature

review. Three questionnaires - one each for administrators, teachers and students were

developed as instruments for data collection of primary data. The questionnaires

comprised of items mainly about the quality of various aspects of higher education.

These quality aspects are described by UNESCO (1998).

The main reason for selecting this method of collecting data from the

respondents was that they were all educated enough to understand questions in the

printed form. The other reasons for using questionnaire were the following:

1. Questionnaire as a tool for data collection is more appropriate than other

methods when the respondents are more in number and widely dispersed.

2. The use of questionnaire for collection of data is relatively cheaper

compared to other methods.

3. Questionnaire can easily be coded and analyzed. They were more amenable

to statistical analysis.

4. They can be quick to administer, enabling feedback on many things to be

gathered in a few minutes.

5. They can be used anonymously, allowing learners the chance at least of

giving negative feedback without the embarrassment of giving it publicly.

6. The chance of bias would be minimal because the respondent would free of

any pressure of being observed through these tools.

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Some limitations of the use of questionnaires, according to Ellington et al.

(2003) are generated by the somewhat casual way that learners may address them,

particularly if confronted by too many questionnaires, too often. The limitations

include:

1. The Ticky Box syndrome: People become conditioned to make instant

responses to questions. Getting through the questionnaire quickly becomes

a virtue. Responses are made on a surface level of thinking rather than as a

result of reflection and critical thinking.

2. The Performing Dogs syndrome: Many people filling in questionnaires

tend to please the researcher. They can usually tell which responses will

please the people giving them the questionnaire and the people whose work

is involved in the issues covered by the questionnaire. If they like the

people, they are likely to comment favourbly on things.

3. Lost Learning opportunities syndrome: Questionnaires are often used after

the event rather than during it. This tends to minimize any real learning

outcomes of the process of completing questionnaires.

4. The ‘wysiwyg’ syndrome: ‘What you see is what you get’. Questionnaires

produce feedback on the particular issues covered but often not on other

important issues. There is a tendency to design questionnaires which will

give positive feedback.

5. Blue, Rosy and Purple, questionnaire: A major limitation of most

questionnaires is that responses are coloured by how people feel at the

moment of filling them in. If the same questionnaire were used a few days

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later, some responses may be completely different. Yet the results are often

statistically analyzed as though they reflected permanent reactions to

questions and issues rather than fleeting, transient reactions.

Following three types of questionnaires (one for administrator, teachers and

students) were prepared:

3.3.1 Questionnaire for Administrators

The questionnaire (Appendix ‘A’) consisted of total 38 items out of which 30

were based upon 5 point likert scale. First part of the questionnaire was regarding the

personal history of administrators. Second part consisted of 7 items dealing with

management aspects. Third part consisting of 8 items, sought information from the

administrators regarding the infrastructure. Fourth part of the questionnaire contained

9 items in which information was asked about the quality of teachers. Fifth part of the

instrument consisting of two items asked about quality of students. One item was

asked about the curriculum and 3 items related to check the quality of the institutions.

The last item of the questionnaire was open-ended in which the administrators were

asked to write down some suggestions which could enhance the role of private sector

in promotion of higher education in Pakistan.

3.3.2 Questionnaire for Teachers

This questionnaire (Appendix ‘B’) consisted of total 43 items among which 36

items were based upon five point likert scale. The questionnaire developed for

teachers asked for the information regarding their academic qualification, gender,

experience and their suggestions to enhance the role of private sector in higher

education. Apart from it, questions about the management system consisted of 8

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items. Second part of the questionnaire consisted of 6 items in which information was

asked about quality of infrastructure. Third part of the questionnaire related to the

quality of teachers which comprised 12 items. The forth part of the questionnaire was

about the curriculum which consisted of only one item. The fifth part of the

questionnaire comprised of 2 items about quality of students. The sixth part of the

questionnaire consisted of 7 items about quality of the institutions.

3.3.3 Questionnaire for Students

This questionnaire (Appendix ‘C’) consisted of total 29 items among which 25

were based upon five point likert scale. The questionnaire developed for students

asked for information regarding their gender, degree programme and their suggestions

to enhance the role of private sector in higher education. The first part of the

questionnaire dealt with the infrastructure and comprised of 8 items. Second part of

the questionnaire about the quality of teachers consisted of 10 items. Third part of the

questionnaire was about quality of students which comprised 2 items. Fourth part of

the questionnaire about the quality of institutions consisted of 4 items. In the last part

of the questionnaire, only one item was related to the curriculum. About one-third

items were common in the questionnaires meant for teachers, students and

administrators.

3.4 PRETESTING OF QUESTIONNAIRE

The pretesting of questionnaire was conducted in March, 2005. The researcher

personally visited two local private universities and administrated questionnaires

among ten members of administrators (five from each university), twenty members of

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teaching faculty (ten from each university) and thirty students (fifteen from each

university). They were asked to complete the questionnaire carefully and give their

opinion about the items which were not clear and needed further improvement.

After a period of one week, the investigator collected the questionnaires from

the respondents and examined them carefully in consultation with the study

supervisor.

Keeping in view of the suggestions by the administrators, teachers and

students, the researcher refined the questionnaires.

The items of three questionnaires vary to some degree due to the following

reasons:

• Some items were common that had direct relevance the three categories of

respondents who could equally give their informed opinion on these aspects.

• Some items were uniquely relevant to one group of respondents only who were

competent enough to give their views on specific aspects.

3.5 DATA COLLECTION

The procedural steps followed in data collection are described below:

1. The investigator started data collection process on 6th of April, 2005 by

visiting each university and administering the questionnaire in person. He first visited

the University of Lahore. On the first day, he met two administrators and administered

them the questionnaires and got those questionnaires completed. On the next day, he

again paid a visit to the university and met with other three administrators. They

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declined to provide information immediately due to their official commitment. They,

however, promised to return the completed questionnaires after four days.

Accordingly, they returned the questionnaires on appointed date.

In the meantime, the investigator got the questionnaires filled in from 25

students who were randomly selected first day and 25 were selected randomly on the

next day and students’ data collection was completed in two days. Researcher spent

rest of two days in receiving the questionnaire filled in by the teachers. The whole

process was thus completed in four days.

2. During the second phase of data collection, the research went to the University

of Central Punjab Lahore on 11th of April .He initiated the data collection process. On

the first day, he met three administrators and administered the questionnaires to them.

They filled in the questionnaires on the same day. On the next day, he was able to

contact with only one administrator and administered questionnaire to him. Due to his

preoccupation, he promised to return the questionnaire after three hours. He handed

over it to researcher in time. Similarly, on the third day, researcher was able to get the

questionnaire filled in by one administrator.

The investigator felt unusual difficulty in getting the questionnaires filled in

from the teachers and students because most of the time teachers were involved in

taking their classes and the problem with the students was that of their low attendance.

Fifteen teachers and 50 students were selected as sample. Whole process of data

collection from the administrators, teachers and students was completed in six days.

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3. In the third phase of data collection, the researcher went to Hajvery University

Lahore on the 20th of April to administer the questionnaires to administrators, teachers

and students. Five administrators, 15 teachers and 50 teachers were selected as a

sample. The investigator took 10 days in getting the questionnaires filled in from the

administrators, teachers and the students because all of them were involved in

academic tasks.

4. The scholar next visited University of Faisalabad on 2nd of May for data

collection. On the first day, researcher got questionnaires filled in from two

administrators. On the next day, three other administrators filled in questionnaires. It

took six days in getting responses from five administrators, 15 teachers and 50

students.

5. The next institution visited by the investigator was Gandhara University of

Peshawar on 24th of May. On the first day, he tried to contact with administrators,

teachers and students but the researcher could not have an access to them. The

administrators promised to provide data after two days. Accordingly, the

questionnaires to five administrators, 15 teachers and 50 students were administered

who returned the same after five days. Students took most of time. But administrators

and teachers extended full cooperation.

6. The scholar reached Preston University Kohat on 28th of May. He came to

know that exams were being conducted in the university. By taking approval from the

vice chancellor, researcher contacted the students by visiting the hostel and took time

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from teachers and administrators. The teachers and the administrators returned the

completed questionnaires after about five days.

7. After collecting data from Universities located in NWFP, the researcher visits

Isra University Hyderabad on 5th June. The administrators were hesitant to provide the

needed information. They suspected that information could be used against the

university. After great deal of persuasion, the researcher was allowed to administer

questionnaires to teachers, administrators and students. After hectic efforts, the author

managed to get data from the required sample in about three days.

8. The scholar then visited the Agha Khan University on 10th of June. The

administrators declined to provide the information. He, however, managed to get the

questionnaire completed only from 15 teachers and 50 students.

9. The investigator then visited the Hamdard University on 20th of June. He met

the administrators and administered questionnaires to five of them. They returned the

questionnaires after three days. The questionnaires were then given to 50 students who

delayed filling in the questionnaires and returned back questionnaires in ten days. 15

teachers returned the questionnaires within five days. Whole process was thus

completed in ten days.

10. The researcher visited the Jinnah University for Women on 2nd of July. The

administrators refused to cooperate while the author collected data from 15 teachers

and 50 students.

11. The scholar visited the Iqra University, Quetta on 14th of July and

administered questionnaires to teachers, administrators and students at the same time.

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55

All showed positive response and cooperation and data were collected in four days

from administrators, teachers and students.

12. The author went to Foundation University Islamabad on 28th of July. He also

had to face many hardships in the beginning due to strictness of rules and regulations

of university. He had to visit many a time to get approval from the Rector. After

getting approval, The questionnaires were administered to teachers, administrators and

students. All of them returned the questionnaires after 15 days and researcher went

time and again to collect the data.

The response rate was 100 percent from the teachers and students while 83

percent administrators responded.

3.6 DATA ANALYSIS

The responses obtained through the above-mentioned research instruments

were scored before statistical analysis and interpretation.

The following scoring procedure was adopted:

Strongly Agree 5

Agree 4

Un-decided 3

Disagree 2

Strongly disagree 1

The data collected were analyzed by using computer software SPSS version

11.0 by adopting the following procedures:

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56

1. The researcher feeded the data into computer.

2. After the data feeding, the researcher checked the data values for any error

or abnormal value or out of range value for particular variable. This step is

called data clinic.

3. The data transformation technique was applied to compute the total scores

of three questionnaires and its subscales.

4. The frequencies of all demographic variables were taken. The statistics on

the scores of the questionnaires were computed, as cited below:

i) To determine the reliability of three questionnaires and its sub scale

Cronbach Alpha and Inter-scale correlation matrix were calculated

ii) t-test was applied to find the mean difference on the scores of three

questionnaires and its sub scales between two groups, on the

variable of gender, experience and nature of job etc.

iii) One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was computed to find the

mean difference on the scores of three questionnaires and its sub

scales between three groups.

5. The suggestions given the administrators, teacher and students in response

to the open-ended questionnaire categorized in term of number of

responses in each category of suggestions and prioritized on the basis of

more frequent suggestions in descending order.

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57

6. In order to interpret the findings obtained as a result of ANOVA, the mean

scores below 2.5 on five point likert scale were considered as negative

opinion and those above 2.5 were termed as positive opinion. The negative

and positive opinions were further graded as slightly below ±3.5, fairly

±3.5 and above and highly above ±4.0.

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Chapter 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter deals with the analysis and interpretation of the descriptive data.

The responses of the respondents on the quality of various aspects of higher education

in private universities, are tabulated, analyzed and interpreted in this chapter.

Table 9: Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the overall

questionnaire for administrators with its subscales as a measure of its internal consistency.

Scales No. of Items Alpha Co-efficient

Overall Scale 30 .887

Quality of Management 7 .786

Quality of Infrastructure 8 .806

Quality of Faculty 9 .732

Quality of Students 2 .675

Quality of Institutions 3 .788

The above table shows the alpha reliability of the questionnaire for

administrators regarding role of private sector in higher education and its sub-

scales/areas. The figures indicate that there is moderate to high internal consistency

between the overall questionnaire and its subscales. The questionnaire appears to be

reliable measuring the role of private sector in higher education.

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59 Table 10: Inter-scale correlation matrix between the questionnaire for

administrators and its sub-scales/areas.

Scales Manag Infra Faculty Students Curr Inst Total

Quality of Management 1.0

Quality of Infrastructure .456** 1.0

Quality of Faculty .223 .434** 1.0

Quality of Students .376** .422** .676** 1.0

Quality of Curriculum .502** .375** .313* .385** 1.0

Quality of Institutions .418** .309* .547** .494** .187 1.0

Total .701** .779** .768** .712** .539** .677** 1.0

*p < .05; **p <.01

The above table states the correlation between the questionnaire for

administrators and its sub-scales/areas. All the values are positively correlated to each

other. There is a positive significant correlation among quality of infrastructure;

quality of faculty and quality of students i.e. .676 reflect that quality of students

increased with the increase of quality of faculty. Similarly, quality of the institutions is

significantly correlated with quality of management (.418), quality of faculty (.547)

and quality of students (.494). The total score of the questionnaire is highly correlated

with all its subscales at p < .01

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60 Table 11: Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the overall questionnaire for

teachers with its subscales as a measure of its internal consistency.

Scales No. of Items Alpha Co-efficient

Overall Scale 36 .743

Quality of Management 8 .462

Quality of Infrastructure 6 .448

Quality of Faculty 12 .515

Quality of Students 2 .421

Quality of Institutions 7 .481

The above table shows the alpha reliability of the questionnaire for teachers

regarding role of private sector in higher education and its sub-scales/areas. The

figures state that there is moderate to high internal consistency between the overall

questionnaire and its subscales. The questionnaire appears to be reliable measuring

the role of private sector in higher education.

Table 12: Inter-scale correlation matrix between the questionnaire for teachers regarding role of private sector in higher education and its sub-scales

Scales Manag. Infra Faculty Cur Students Inst Total

Quality of Management 1.0

Quality of Infrastructure .265** 1.0

Quality of Faculty .216** .163* 1.0

Quality of Curriculum .265** .310** .196** 1.0

Quality of Students .310** .174* .186* .413** 1.0

Quality of Institutions .418** .425** .271** .283** .214** 1.0

Total .701** .624** .622** .499** .475** .742** 1.0

*p < .05; **p <.01

The above table illustrates the correlation between the questionnaire for

teachers regarding role of private sector in higher education and its sub-scales/areas.

All the values are positively correlated to each other. There is a positive significant

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61 correlation among quality of institutions, quality of students and quality of curriculum.

The total score of the questionnaire is highly correlated with all its subscales at p < .01

Table 13: Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of the overall questionnaire for students with its subscales as a measure of its internal consistency.

Scales No. of Items Alpha Co-efficient

Overall Scale 25 .629

Quality of Infrastructure 8 .477

Quality of Faculty 10 .423

Quality of Students 2 .551

Quality of Institutions 4 .501

The above table indicates the alpha reliability of the questionnaire regarding

role of private sector in higher education and its sub-scales/areas. The figures show

that there was high internal consistency between the overall questionnaire and its sub-

scales. The questionnaire is reliable for measuring the role of private sector in higher

education and its scales/areas and also provides satisfactory evidence of the reliability

of the scales.

Table 14: Inter-scale correlation matrix between the questionnaire for students regarding quality of various aspects of higher education

Scales Infra Faculty Students institution curri Total

Quality of Infrastructure 1.0

Quality of Faculty .150** 1.0

Quality of Students .156** .206** 1.0

Quality of Institution .219** .173** .232** 1.0

Quality of curriculum .260** .227** .184** .210** 1.0

Total .693** .696** .447** .572** .446** 1.0

*p < .05; **p <.01

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62

The above table indicates the correlation between the questionnaire regarding

role of private sector in higher education and its sub-scales/areas. All the values are

positively correlated to each other. There is a positive significant correlation between

the quality of infrastructure, quality of faculty, quality of institutions, quality of

curriculum and quality of student. The total score of the questionnaire is highly

correlated with all its subscales at p < .01.

Analysis of common items of three questionnaires

Table 15: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students regarding the appropriateness of instructional facilities.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 4.00 1.44

Teachers 180 2.63 1.35

Students 600 2.31 1.43

Total 830 2.48 1.47

34.376**

**p<.01

The above table illustrates that there is statistically significant difference

between means scores of administrators, teachers and students regarding the

appropriateness of instructional facilities at .01 level. The attitude of administrators

was more positive as compared to teachers and students whose views were slightly

negative.

Table 16: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the relevance of equipment to present and future needs of students and society

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 4.22 1.33

Teachers 180 2.74 1.53

Students 600 2.76 1.59

Total 830 2.84 1.60

20.615**

**p<.01

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63

The above table states that there is statistically significant difference between

means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the relevance of

equipment to present and future needs of students and society at .01 level. The

attitude of administrators was highly positive whereas that of teachers and students

was slightly negative.

Table 17: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the sufficiency of books /periodicals that are available in the library.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 4.12 1.30

Teachers 180 2.24 1.07

Students 600 2.50 1.43

Total 830 2.54 1.41

38.605**

**p<.01

The above table illustrates that there is statistically significant difference

between means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the sufficiency of

books /periodicals that are available in the library at .01 level. The attitude of

administrators was found to be highly positive as compared to teachers and students.

Teachers viewed the sufficiency of books /periodicals in the library most negatively

Table 18: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the availability of internet facility in the institutions”.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 4.56 0.93

Teachers 180 4.18 1.07

Students 600 4.04 1.14

Total 830 4.10 1.12

5.618**

**p<.01

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64 The above table states that there is statistically significant difference between

means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the availability of

internet facility in the institutions at .01 level. The attitude of administrators, teachers

and students was highly positive about availably of internet facilities in the

institutions.

Table 19: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the sound training of teachers in teaching methodology.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 3.90 1.40

Teachers 180 3.33 1.20

Students 600 2.35 1.31

Total 830 2.66 1.39

63.963**

**p<.01

The above table indicates that there is statistically significant difference

between means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the sound

training of teachers in teaching methodology at .01 level. The attitude of

administrators was more positive as compared to teachers and students whose views

were slightly negative.

Table 20: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the teachers’ command over the subject matter.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 3.72 1.35

Teachers 180 4.42 0.76

Students 600 1.83 1.00

Total 830 2.51 1.47

523.094**

**p<.01

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65 The above table indicates that there is statistically significant difference

between means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the teachers’

command over the subject matter at .01 level. The attitude of teachers was highly

positive as compared to administrators whereas that of students was fairly negative.

Table 21: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the encouragement of teachers for students’ class participation.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 3.74 1.27

Teachers 180 4.47 0.59

Students 600 3.92 1.20

Total 830 4.03 1.13

18.827**

**p<.01

The above table describes that there is statistically significant difference

between means scores of administrators, teachers and students concerning the

teachers’ encouragement for students’ class participation at .01 level. The attitude of

teachers was more positive as compared to administrators and students.

Table 22: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the teachers’ ability to create conducive class environment for learning .

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 3.58 1.31

Teachers 180 4.50 0.62

Students 600 2.75 1.53

Total 830 3.05 1.59

139.699**

**p<.01

The above table shows that there is statistically significant difference between

means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the teachers’ ability to

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66 create conducive class environment for learning at .01 level. Teachers’ attitude was

highly positive as compared to administrators whereas student’s views were slightly

negative.

Table 23: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about teachers’ encouragement in promoting critical and creative thinking among students.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 3.92 1.36

Teachers 180 4.43 0.68

Students 600 2.31 1.35

Total 830 2.87 1.53

220.557**

**p<.01

The above table states that there is statistically significant difference between

means scores of administrators, teachers and students about teachers’ encouragement

promoting critical and creative thinking in students at .01 level. The attitude of

teachers was highly positive as compared to administrators and students whereas that

of students was slightly negative.

Table 24: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of

administrators, teachers and students about attitudes of teachers towards their students .

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 3.87 1.38

Teachers 180 4.34 0.69

Students 600 3.17 1.57

Total 830 3.46 1.50

47.981**

**p<.01

The above table illustrates that there is statistically significant difference

between means scores of administrators, teachers and students about attitudes of

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67 teachers towards their students at .01 level. The attitude of teachers was highly

positive as compared to administrators and students.

Table 25: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about considering the merit and motivation of students during admission .

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 4.52 0.71

Teachers 180 2.37 1.21

Students 600 2.07 1.22

Total 830 2.28 1.32

97.165**

**p<.01

The above table shows that there is statistically significant difference between

means scores of administrators, teachers and students about considering the merit and

motivation of students during admission at .01 level. The attitude of administrators

was highly positive as compared to teachers and students whose views were most

negative.

Table 26: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the relevance of the subjects and content to present and future needs of the society being taught.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 4.30 1.19

Teachers 180 2.49 1.36

Students 600 2.06 1.14

Total 830 2.29 1.31

84.470**

**p<.01

The above table states that there is statistically significant difference between

means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the relevance of the

subjects and content to present and future needs of the society being taught at .01

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68 level. The attitude of administrators was highly positive whereas that of teachers and

students was slightly negative.

Table 27: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the competitiveness of the private sectors graduate with public sector universities.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 3.92 1.41

Teachers 180 2.36 1.13

Students 600 1.90 1.04

Total 830 2.12 1.19

85.267**

**p<.01

The above table describes that there is statistically significant difference

between means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the

competitiveness of the private sector’s graduate with public sector universities at .01

level. The attitude of administrators was more positive as compared to teachers whose

views were slightly negative whereas that of students was found to be fairly negative.

Table 28: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators, teachers and students about the quality research producing in their institutions .

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 2.34 1.31

Teachers 180 2.77 1.38

Students 600 2.24 1.29

Total 830 2.36 1.33

11.151**

**p<.01

The above table shows that there is statistically significant difference between

means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the quality research

producing in their institutions at .01 level. The attitude of administrators, teachers and

students was slightly negative about producing quality research.

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69 Table 29: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of

administrators, teachers and students about the provision of quality education.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 4.20 1.17

Teachers 180 2.20 1.14

Students 600 2.27 1.30

Total 830 2.37 1.34

56.007**

**p<.01

The above table indicates that there is statistically significant difference

between means scores of administrators, teachers and students about the provision of

quality education at .01 level. The attitude of administrators was more positive as

compared to teachers and students whose views were slightly negative

Table 30: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of

administrators, teachers and students about the quality of various aspects of higher education.

Category N Mean SD F-value

Administrator 50 58.82 10.32

Teachers 180 49.47 7.07

Students 600 38.30 7.07

Total 830 41.96 9.61

303.166**

**p<.01

The above table states that there is statistically significant difference between

means scores of administrators, teachers and students at .01 level. However, figures

show that the administrators had most positive perceptions as compared to teachers

and students who expressed less and least positive opinion about the quality of various

aspects of higher education.

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70

Table 31: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of male and female administrators on the quality of various aspects of higher education.

Male(N=34) Female(N=16) Scale

Mean SD Mean SD

t-value

Quality of Management 30.06 3.428 22.94 6.708 4.946**

Quality of Infrastructure 34.97 5.277 28.94 7.407 3.303**

Quality of Faculty 33.97 6.018 33.94 8.362 .016

Quality of Students 9.18 .936 8.63 1.996 1.338

Quality of Curriculum 4.79 .410 3.25 1.612 5.286**

Quality of Institutions 10.79 2.805 9.75 4.139 1.050

Total 123.76 11.510 107.44 24.536 3.223**

**p < .01

The above table indicates that there is statistically significant difference

between mean opinion scores of male administrators and female administrators on the

quality of management, quality of infrastructure, and quality of curriculum. Male

administrators had more positive opinion on these dimensions. However, no

significant difference in mean scores of male and female administrators existed on

quality of faculty, quality of students and quality of institutions.

Significant difference was found in the mean opinion scores of male and

female administrators about the overall quality of higher education, the mean opinion

scores of male and female administrators was significantly higher than their female

counterpart.

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71 Table 32: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of permanent

administrators and contract based administrators on the quality of various aspects of higher education.

Permanent (N=20) Contract (N=30) Scale Mean SD Mean SD

t-value

Quality of Management 30.05 5.889 26.27 5.265 2.374*

Quality of Infrastructure 36.35 5.613 30.83 6.363 3.145**

Quality of Faculty 37.35 5.050 31.70 6.889 3.143**

Quality of Students 9.35 .933 8.77 1.569 1.493

Quality of Curriculum 4.75 .444 4.00 1.438 2.254*

Quality of Institutions 11.30 2.515 9.90 3.642 1.495

Total 129.15 15.301 111.47 16.714 3.788**

*p<.05; **p < .01

The above table states that there is statistically significant difference between

mean opinion scores of permanent administrators and contract-based administrators on

the quality of management, infrastructure, faculty and quality of curriculum. The

figures indicate that permanent administrators had more positive opinions as compared

to contract-based administrators. However, no significant difference in mean scores of

permanent administrators and contract-based administrators existed on quality of

students and quality of institutions.

There was significant difference in the mean opinion scores of permanent

administrators and contract based administrators on the overall quality of higher

education, the mean opinion scores of permanent administrators being significantly

higher than contract based administrators.

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72 Table 33: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators

possessing graduate and above academic qualifications on the quality of various aspects of higher education.

Scales Education Level N Mean SD F–Value

Graduate 9 21.78 4.711

Master 25 29.44 4.073 Quality of

Management M.Phil & above 16 28.56 6.613

7.688**

Graduate 9 27.56 7.350

Master 25 34.60 5.066 Quality of

Infrastructure M.Phil & above 16 33.69 7.078

4.417*

Graduate 9 29.44 9.029

Master 25 32.96 5.609 Quality of

Faculty M.Phil & above 16 38.06 4.892

6.358**

Graduate 9 7.67 2.236

Master 25 9.12 .927 Quality of

Students M.Phil & above 16 9.56 .814

7.133**

Graduate 9 2.33 1.323

Master 25 4.72 .678 Quality of

Curriculum M.Phil & above 16 4.75 .447

35.585**

Graduate 9 9.78 4.353

Master 25 10.28 2.951 Quality of

Institutions M.Phil & above 16 11.13 3.222

.550

Graduate 9 98.56 23.522

Master 25 121.12 9.884 Total

M.Phil & above 16 125.75 18.146

9.217**

*p < .05; **p<.01

The above table shows that there is statistically significant difference between

mean opinion scores of administrators possessing graduates and above academic

qualifications on the quality of management, infrastructure, faculty, students and

quality of curriculum. The administrators with M.Phil and above level of education

had more positive opinion on the sub scales. However, no significant difference in

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73 mean scores of possessing graduates and above academic qualifications existed on

quality of institutions.

Significant difference was found in the mean opinion scores of administrators

possessing graduate qualifications and those possessing above graduate academic

qualification on the overall quality of higher education. The mean opinion scores of

administrators possessing M.Phil and above qualification being significantly higher

than administrators possessing graduate and master academic qualification.

Table 34: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of administrators having greater and lesser administrators experience on the quality of various aspects of higher education

Upto 10 years experience (N=28)

Greater than 10 years experience (N=22)

Scale

Mean SD Mean SD

t-value

Quality of Management 26.00 6.538 30.05 3.539 -2.599*

Quality of Infrastructure 31.96 7.341 34.41 5.387 -1.309

Quality of Faculty 32.46 7.010 35.86 6.073 -1.803*

Quality of Students 8.64 1.592 9.45 .858 -2.155*

Quality of Curriculum 3.93 1.464 4.77 .429 -2.613*

Quality of Institutions 9.32 3.507 11.91 2.238 -2.980**

Total 112.32 20.181 126.45 11.640 -2.921**

*p<.05; **p < .01

The above table shows that there is statistically significant difference between

mean opinion scores of greater and lesser administrators’ experience on the quality of

management, quality of faculty, quality of students, quality of curriculum and quality

of institutions. The figures indicate that administrators who had greater than 10 years’

experience expressed positive opinion on these dimensions. However, no significant

differences in mean scores having greater and lesser administrators’ experience

existed about quality of infrastructure.

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74

Significant difference was found in the mean opinion scores of administrators

with greater and lesser experience about the overall quality of higher education, the

mean opinion scores of experienced administrators being significantly greater than

administrators with less experience.

Table 35: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of male and female teachers on the quality of various aspect of higher education.

Male(N=113) Female(N=67) Scale

Mean SD Mean SD

t-value

Quality of Management 27.43 4.450 24.13 4.352 4.848**

Quality of Infrastructure 17.27 4.027 15.90 3.372 2.340*

Quality of Faculty 43.68 5.179 41.87 4.609 2.367*

Quality of Curriculum 2.61 1.312 2.28 1.433 1.561

Quality of Students 6.41 1.916 5.63 1.841 2.679**

Quality of Institutions 21.35 4.462 17.96 3.226 5.445**

Total 118.75 13.829 107.76 10.159 5.660**

*p<.05; **p < .01

The above table shows that there is statistically significant difference between

mean perception scores of male teachers and female teachers on the quality of

management, quality of infrastructure, quality of students and quality of institutions.

Male teachers had more positive opinion on these dimensions. However, no significant

difference in mean scores of male teachers and female teachers existed on such area as

quality of curriculum.

Significant difference was found in the mean opinion scores of male and

female teachers on the overall quality of higher education, the mean opinion scores of

male and female teachers was significantly higher than their female counterpart.

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75 Table 36: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of permanent,

contract based and visiting teachers’ on the quality of various aspect of higher education

Scales Nature of job N Mean SD F–Value

Permanent 39 27.10 5.418

Contract 75 27.56 3.239 Quality of

Management Visiting 66 24.14 4.933

11.504**

Permanent 39 17.54 5.046

Contract 75 16.92 2.954 Quality of

Infrastructure Visiting 66 16.11 3.879

1.836

Permanent 39 46.69 6.096

Contract 75 42.84 3.417 Quality of

Faculty Visiting 66 41.02 4.764

18.723**

Permanent 39 3.05 1.317

Contract 75 2.59 1.295 Quality of

Curriculum Visiting 66 2.05 1.341

7.505**

Permanent 39 6.36 2.242

Contract 75 6.51 1.446 Students

Visiting 66 5.53 2.070

5.160**

Permanent 39 22.56 4.919

Contract 75 20.60 2.918 Quality of

Institution Visiting 66 18.05 4.504

16.479**

Permanent 39 123.31 17.464

Contract 75 117.01 3.751 Total

Visiting 66 106.88 14.333

24.958**

**p<.01

The above table states that there is statistically significant difference between

mean perception scores of permanent, contract based and visiting teachers on the

quality of management, quality of faculty, quality of student, quality of curriculum and

quality of institutions at .01 level. On all these scales permanent teachers have more

positive opinion as compared to contract based and visiting teachers. However, on the

scores of quality of infrastructure there is no mean difference.

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76 Table 37: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of Professors

and lecturers on the quality of various aspect of higher education

Prof(N=115) Lecturer(N=65) Scale

Mean SD Mean SD

t-value

Quality of Management 28.10 3.908 22.85 4.024 8.579**

Quality of Infrastructure 17.68 3.607 15.12 3.731 4.509**

Quality of Faculty 44.47 4.818 40.42 4.359 5.609**

Quality of Curriculum 2.81 1.330 1.92 1.241 4.393**

Quality of Students 6.63 1.597 5.22 2.118 5.045**

Quality of Institutions 21.70 4.040 17.25 3.354 7.531**

Total 121.38 10.110 102.77 10.659 11.63**

*p < .05; **p<.01

The above table states that there is statistically significant difference between

mean opinion scores of professors and lecturers on the quality of management,

infrastructure, faculty, curriculum, students and quality of institutions. However, the

trend shows that professors have more positive perception as compared to lecturers on

these sub scales.

Significant difference was found in the mean opinion scores of professors and

lecturers on the overall quality of higher education, the mean opinion scores of

professors is significantly higher than lecturers.

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77 Table 38: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of greater and

Lesser teachers’ experience on the quality of various aspect of higher education

Greater than 5 years

(N=85) Upto 5 years (N=95)

Scale

Mean SD Mean SD

t-value

Quality of Management 27.12 4.368 25.39 4.825 2.508**

Quality of Infrastructure 16.62 3.967 16.87 3.748 -.435

Quality of Faculty 44.07 5.268 42.05 4.648 2.730**

Quality of Students 2.80 1.343 2.21 1.328 2.957**

Quality of Curriculum 6.54 1.900 5.74 1.869 2.860**

Quality of Institutions 20.98 3.786 19.29 4.695 2.626**

Total 118.13 12.448 111.56 13.975 3.315**

*p<.05; **p < .01

The above table shows that there is statistically significant difference between

mean opinions scores of greater and lesser teachers’ experience on the quality of

management, faculty, student and quality of institutions. The figures state that overall

teachers who have greater than five years experience having more positive opinion on

these dimensions. However, no significant differences in mean scores of greater and

lesser teachers’ experience existed on area as quality of infrastructure.

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78 Table 39: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of three level

of education of teachers on the quality of various aspect of higher education

Scales Education Level N Mean SD F–Value

Above Master 31 28.68 4.339

Master 129 26.08 4.491 Quality of

Management Graduate 20 23.20 4.629

9.270**

Above Master 31 18.68 4.316

Master 129 16.53 3.487 Quality of

Infrastructure Graduate 20 15.20 4.360

6.047**

Above Master 31 47.65 4,903

Master 129 41.88 4.154 Quality of

Faculty Graduate 20 43.05 6.428

19.764**

Above Master 31 3.32 1.222

Master 129 2.40 1.345 Quality of

Curriculum Graduate 20 1.80 1.056

9.463**

Above Master 31 7.13 1.708

Master 129 6.00 1.879 Quality of

Students Graduate 20 5.30 1.976

6.759**

Above Master 31 23.61 4.326

Master 129 19.52 3.969 Quality of

Institutions Graduate 20 18.30 4.194

14.918**

Above Master 31 129.06 9.416

Master 129 112.41 11.536 Total

Graduate 20 106.85 16.721

29.390**

*p < .05; **p<.01

The above table indicates that there is statistically significant differences

between mean perception scores of graduates, masters and above master level of

education on the quality of management, infrastructure, faculty, curriculum, students

and quality of institutions. On all these scales the teachers with above master level of

education have more positive opinions on all these scales.

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79 Table 40: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of male and

female students on the quality of various aspects of higher education

Male(N=314) Female(N=286) Scale

Mean SD Mean SD

t-value

Quality of Infrastructure 26.33 4.336 19.88 4.311 18.260**

Quality of Faculty 29.55 4.982 24.79 5.061 11.595**

Quality of Students 4.35 2.107 3.55 1.514 5.328**

Quality of Institutions 11.44 3.435 8.77 2.811 10.360**

Quality of Curriculum 2.39 1.229 1.69 .908 7.831**

Total 74.06 8.572 58.68 6.734 24.281**

**p < .01

The above table shows that there is statistically significant difference between

mean opinion scores of male students and female students on the quality of

infrastructure, faculty, students, institutions and quality of curriculum at .01 level. The

trend states that male students having more positive perception as compared to female

students.

Significant difference was found in the mean opinion scores of male and

female students on the overall quality of higher education, the mean opinion scores of

male students being significantly higher than female students.

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80 Table 41. Significance of differences between mean opinion scores of level of degree

of the students on the quality of various aspect of higher education

Scales Level of degree N Mean SD F–Value

BCS/BIT 180 20.07 4.822

MBBS/MCS/MBA 295 25.55 4.924 Quality of

Infrastructure MA&above 125 22.43 4.630

74.204**

BCS/BIT 180 23.76 4.878

MBBS/MCS/MBA 295 29.80 5.249 Quality of

Faculty MA&above 125 26.42 3.919

87.651**

BCS/BIT 180 3.37 1.273

MBBS/MCS/MBA 295 4.39 2.154 Quality of

Students MA&above 125 3.82 1.715

17.757**

BCS/BIT 180 8.83 2.890

MBBS/MCS/MBA 295 11.37 3.500 Quality of

Institutions MA&above 125 9.25 2.931

41.293**

BCS/BIT 180 1.66 .841

MBBS/MCS/MBA 295 2.34 1.273 Quality of

Curriculum MA & above 125 1.96 .995

22.292**

BCS/BIT 180 57.69 8.029

MBBS/MCS/MBA 295 73.45 9.803 Total

MA & above 125 63.88 4.479

205.109**

**p<.01

The above table shows that there is statistically mean differences between level

of degree of the students on the score of students questionnaire and its subscale. The

figure shows that there is a significant mean difference between three level of degree

of the students on the quality of infrastructure, quality of faculty, quality of student,

quality of curriculum, quality of institutions and overall scores. On all these scales the

students who enrolled in Master degree perceived more positive about the role of

private sector in higher education in Pakistan as compared to others. This mean

difference is statistically highly significance as p<.01.

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81 Table 42: Significance of difference between mean opinion scores of male and

female administrators, teachers and students about quality of various aspects of higher education.

Gender N Mean SD t-value

Male 461 45.75 8.77

Female 369 37.22 8.44

14.56**

**p<.01

The above table describes that there is statistically significant difference

between means scores of male and female administrators, teachers and students on

common items of the questionnaires at .01 level. However, figures state that the male

administrators, teachers and students expressed more positive views as compared to

female administrators, teachers and students on the quality of various aspects of higher

education.

Table 43. Suggestions by administrators to enhance the role of private sector in the promotion of higher education in Pakistan.

Sr.No Suggestions Frequency

1 HEC should encourage private sector by providing guidance and

financial support

11

2 HEC should offer scholarships to both the teachers and students like

public sector universities

9

3 There should be highly qualified teachers in private sector

universities

8

4 Teaches’ salaries in private sector should be enhanced 7

5 There should be a collaboration/coordination between public and

private sector universities for the enhancement of research oriented

studies

6

N=50

As the above table indicates, the suggestions that to improve the role of private

sector in promotion of higher education as viewed by the administrators include,

according to the order are HEC should encourage private sector by providing guidance

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82 and financial support, Higher Education Commission should offer scholarships to both

the teachers and students like public sector universities, there should be highly

qualified teachers in private sector universities teachers’ salaries in private sector

should be enhanced, there should be a collaboration/coordination between public and

private sector universities improve of research studies.

Table 44. Suggestions by teachers to enhance the role of private sector in the promotion of higher education in Pakistan.

Sr.No Suggestions Frequenc

y

1 Higher Education Commission guide as well as the Govt

should help financially to improve the infrastructure such as

laboratories and training

41

2 Research oriented study should be encouraged 35

3 Merit should be strictly followed 33

4 Higher Education Commission should play its role to check

private universities

30

5 Education should promote intellectual excellence, not

business alone

26

N=180

As the above table indicates, the suggestions that to enhance the role of private

sector in promotion of higher education as viewed by the teachers include, according

to the order are Higher Education Commission should guide as well as the Govt

should help financially to improve the infrastructure such as laboratories and training,

research oriented study should be encouraged, merit policy should be strictly

observed, HEC should play its role to monitor private universities and education

should promote intellectual development, not business alone.

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83 Table 45. Suggestions by students to enhance the role of private sector in the

promotion of higher education in Pakistan.

Sr.No Suggestions Frequency

1 Fee should be less 120

2 Higher Education Commission must keep a check on private

universities

78

3 The Govt should give respect to the private sector 55

4 Co-curricular activities should be arranged in private sector 50

5 Talented students should be awarded scholarships 35

N=600

As the above table indicates, the suggestions that to enhance the role of private

sector in promotion of higher education as viewed by the students include, according

to the order are Fee should be less, Higher Education Commission must keep a check

on private universities, the Govt. should give regard to private sector, co-curricular

activities should be arranged in private sector universities and talented students be

awarded scholarships.

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84 Table 46. Students’ enrolment in private and public sector universities

during the year 2003-04

Private Public

no % no %

Enrolment 61108 14.44 362128 85.56

Source: Higher Education Commission, 2005

Above table shows that the enrolment of students in private sector universities

was 14.44 percent of the total students population in universities of Pakistan.

Table 47. Students produced by private and public sector universities during the year 2003-04

Private Public

no % no %

Students produced 11842 10.03 106214 89.97

Source: Higher Education Commission, 2005

Above table indicates that the students produced by private sector universities

was 10.03 percent of the total students population in universities of Pakistan.

Table 48. Number of full time and part time faculty members in private and public sector universities during the year 2003-04

Private Public

no % no %

Faculty members 6180 16.51 31248 83.49

Source: Higher Education Commission, 2005

Above table depicts that the teaching faculty in private sector universities was

16.51 percent of the total teaching faculty in universities of Pakistan.

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DISCUSSION

In the present study, it was found that all administrators responded more

positively as compared to teachers about the quality of higher education on all the

dimensions. On the contrary, students expressed negative reactions on almost all facets

of higher education. Responses of administrators and students were thus found to be

conflicting. Administrators supported the system perhaps because they designed and

implemented the policies of their institutions. It seems evident that they were less

likely to accept failure. On the other hand, students are keen and sharp observers of the

system being tested and implemented upon them who were being charged heavy fees.

Therefore, their opinion may be considered as more balanced, fair, realistic and closer

to the ground realities. It was revealed in the study that male administrators, holding

richer experience, higher qualification and enjoying permanent job with fringe

financial benefits expressed greater satisfaction with quality of management and

curriculum. This finding may also be subjective because this category of

administrators forms the central core of the administrative machinery who are virtually

responsible for running the system.

It was found in the present study that male professors and teachers possessing

higher qualification, longer experience and job security strongly backed up the quality

aspects of higher education in their institutions. The reasons for such optimistic view

may also be more personal than professional.

This was also revealed in the study that male students enrolled in master

degree programs expressed more positive opinion concerning such quality components

of higher education as infrastructure, standard of teaching faculty and curriculum of

85

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86 higher level courses. It may be due to the fact that male students feel themselves to be

more adjusted to the system due to nature of Pakistani society that tends to be male

dominated. All the respondents were found to have positive opinion about provision of

Internal facilities. This finding is in the line with Niazi (2006) who reported

availability of Internet facilities in private universities. All the categories of

respondents were also in agreement on teacher’s attitudes toward students by ensuring

class participation and task oriented approach to teaching. All respondents, on the

contrary, expressed slightly negative opinion about the suitability of instructional

facilities and consideration of present and future societal needs. This finding partially

supports Khalid (1991) who expressed that curriculum being offered in private

universities was not fully responsive to the demand of the society. Kizbalbash (1998)

was also of the same opinion. Paucity of books in the library, lack of expertise in the

subject matter and lack of focus on development of students creative and critical

thinking skills also surfaced as the weak areas in the private sector of higher

education. Quality of research was adjudged to be poor by all respondents. Verman

(1992) also held that research activities in private universities and degree awarding

institutions were inadequate and insufficient.

It is generally acknowledged that most of private universities were established

keeping in the view financial gains whose administration has not much do with the

needs and aspirations of people. The administrators running universities have their

vested interests to protect instead of providing quality education.

It was found in the study that all respondents expressed fairly negative opinion

about considering motivation and merit as the sole admission criteria. Bernasconi

(2004) supported this finding who held that there is no difference in students selection

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87 in higher education in private universities. Sanyal (1998) also supported the response

who found that poor inputs in private universities result in incompetent output. The

study also found that graduates of the private sector universities were lagged much

behind in competition as compared to the graduates of public sector universities. Levy

(2002) also supported this finding. He held that private sector universities play little

role in quality enhancement of higher education. Hamidullah (2004) however, found

contrarily by indicating that students of private universities were far better and highly

skilled as compared to the graduates of public universities. The reason of difference in

results may be that questionnaire administered by the researcher consisted of items in

which private universities respondents have an edge over public sector universities

respondents.

Although the researcher made an effort to obtain views of the stake holders

about actual state of functioning of private universities and identify problems and

prospects of private universities, yet the results of the study may be erroneous. Ground

realities regarding the issue of genuineness of conducting credible research in Pakistan

are still debatable because the respondents did not give sufficient time for filling in the

questionnaires or concealed true opinions about reality due to a variety of personal

reasons. They only tended to tick the columns or rows in a questionnaire without

giving much thought and attention to the statements. It would have better to interview

the respondents involved in the system of private sector. Moreover, parents of the

students could also be contacted about existing facilities and flaws of the private

sector. Teaching system, methodology and technology being used in the classroom

could be directly observed for assessment and evaluation of daily classroom teaching.

Moreover, achievement test could be developed and administered to the students of

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88 the institutions of private sector for the assessment and evaluation of their actual

performance.

In addition to the above, other possible flaws of the study might be the

inadequate sample of the study. The present study was conducted at national level and

the study population comprised all administrators, teachers and students of universities

and institutions of higher learning in the private sector. The sample was delimited to

only 840 comprising 60 administrators, 180 teachers and 600 students which was not

representative enough because of using the cluster sampling technique. Had random

sampling been used and instead of cluster sampling more authentic results would have

been obtained.

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SUMMARY

Pakistan is a developing country, which is far behind other countries in every

field of life, especially in higher education. Major reason of lagging behind is the lack

of human and capital resources. Since the government is not able to meet the

educational needs of the population with its limited resources, the private sector is a

playing a vital role in providing higher education in various disciplines. In order to

meet the challenges of new era, there is great need of significant role to be played by

the private sector in providing and promoting education, especially higher education,

as the entire history of rise and fall of nations reveals that human resources of a nation

determine the character and pace of its socio-economic development. The experience

of advanced countries shows that progress and prosperity owes a lot to the promotion

and growth in education, especially higher education.

The major purpose of the study was to examine the role of private sector in

higher education in Pakistan by adopting descriptive approach to research. The main

objectives of the study were: to compare the views of administrators, teachers and

students about the quality of various aspects of higher education, to compare the

views of administrators both male and female, permanent and contract based about the

quality of various aspects of higher education, to compare the views of male teachers

and female teachers, permanent, contract based and visiting teaching faculty, about

the quality of various aspects of higher education, to compare the views of male

students and female students about the quality of various aspects of higher education,

to determine the share of private sector of higher education in the term of student’s

89

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90

enrolment and teaching faculty and to suggest measures for improvement of private

sector universities in Pakistan.

As the study was conducted at national level, the population of the study

constituted 270 administrators, 6180 teachers and 61108 students in existing 54

private universities and degree awarding institutions of Pakistan. Method of cluster

sampling was used to select the study a sample of 840 people which was carried out in

two stages. At the first stage,12 clusters of universities were randomly chosen out of

the total population of the private universities. At the second stage, 60 administrators,

180 teachers and 600 students were selected through random sampling procedure with

five administrators, 15 teachers and 50 students from each selected cluster. Three

questionnaires (one each for administrators, teachers and students) developed and

validated through pre-testing were used as research instrument to collect data. The

researcher personally visited each university and collected data from the sample. The

collected data was tabulated, analyzed and interpreted using t-test and ANOVA.

Conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made in the light of the

objectives and findings of the study.

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CONCLUSIONS

Following conclusions were drawn in the light of findings of study:

1. All respondents were found to have positive opinion about the availability of

internet facilities, encouragement of teachers for students class participation,

teachers’ ability to create conducive class environment for learning and whole

some attitude of teachers toward their students.

2. All respondents expressed slightly negative opinion about the appropriateness

of instructional facilities, relevance of the equipment to present and future

needs of students and society, sufficiency of books/periodical available in the

library, sound training of teachers in teaching methodology, teachers’

command over the subject matter, teachers’ encouragement in promoting

critical and creative thinking among students, relevance of the subjects and the

contents to present and future needs of society and quality of research.

3. All respondents exhibited fairly negative opinion about considering the merit

and motivation of students during admission and competitiveness of the private

sector graduates with public sector universities.

4. Male, experienced, permanent and more highly qualified administrators

indicated favourable opinion about the quality of higher education, particularly

quality of management and quality of curriculum.

91

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92

5. Male professors, teachers with higher levels of degree, teachers possessing

greater experience and permanent teachers evidenced more favourable opinion

about the quality of higher education, especially the quality of institutions.

6. Male students and those who enrolled in master degree programmes expressed

more favourable opinion about the quality of higher education, especially

about dimensions of quality of infrastructure, quality of faculty, quality of

students, quality of curriculum and quality of institutions.

7. All administrators had highly positive opinion as compared to teachers about

the quality of all aspects of higher education whereas students rated almost all

aspects of higher education negatively.

8. Male respondents exhibited more positive views about the quality of various

aspects of higher education.

9. All administrators included in the sample suggested that Higher Education

Commission should encourage the private sector by extending them financial

assistance and guidance so that scholarships be offered to the students and

well-qualified faculty be hired. They also stressed mutual collaboration and co-

operation between public and private sector universities to ensure quality of

research.

10. The teachers included in the sample viewed that private sector institutions of

higher learning should improve their infrastructure such as laboratories and

libraries to ensure better research oriented studies and Higher Education

Commission should provide financial help in this regard. They also stated the

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93

Higher Education Commission should play its supervisory role effectively to

encourage merit and intellectual excellence and discourage pure

commercialism in private sector universities and degree awarding institutions.

11. The students included in the sample demanded that Higher Education

Commission should keep a check on the private sector universities so that

reasonable fees are charged. Government should subsidize the private sector

institutions. They also suggested promotion of co-curricular activities in these

institutions and awarding of scholarships to the talented students.

12. Private sector universities shared the load of higher education to the extent of

15 percent in terms of student community and 16.5 percent in terms of

teaching staff. The output of the private sector was 10.3 percent as compared to

the public sector. The contribution of private sector universities in promoting

higher education in Pakistan is therefore quite visible. The performance and

share of private sector is likely to have improved further by now because above

mentioned statistics pertained to the year 2003-04.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

On the basis of conclusions, following recommendations are made:

1. The study results show that the curriculum being taught at private universities

was not up to the mark which was not meeting the demands of the changing

world. It is recommended that curricula be revised and upgraded to the

international level. The curricula should be according to the present and future

needs and demands of the society. Due to ever-changing world, the curricula

be continuously updated to ensure that recent developments are incorporated

and the national needs regarding manpower training are appropriately taken

into account. The syllabi be given need orientation in consultation with the

organizations of commerce and industry to be duly represented in university

bodies so that the graduate students are well equipped with the knowledge and

skills required in the job market.

2. As revealed by the study results, the research facilities in private universities

were not adequate enough. Basic and applied research, being the essence of

higher learning, be given as much importance as teaching by striking.

3. The study indicates that due consideration was not given to merit in student

admission procedure. Merit should be the sole consideration for entry to

private universities. Access to higher education, therefore, be based on entry

tests that measure the aptitude and ability of suitable candidates for higher

learning. For construction of valid and reliable aptitude/ability tests, the

services of National Testing Service be fully utilized.

94

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95

4. The results of the present study reveal that the libraries of private universities

need to be comparable with international standards. These libraries be

equipped with latest books, journals, periodicals and reference material related

to the courses. Furthermore, audio-visual aids and multi-media system be made

available in the libraries. Information technology should be introduced in every

private sector university and facilities for internet, e-mail etc. be provided.

5. Teacher is the central log in the machinery of any educational system. It is

universally acknowledged that no system of education can be better than its

teachers. It was found that due consideration was not given to meritorious

teachers in recruitment procedure. There should be standardized criteria for

selection and recruitment of teachers in private universities. There should be

regular in-service teacher-training programme for professional development of

teachers serving in private universities.

6. The deterioration of quality and main emphasis given to quantitative expansion

in private universities is the current trend in Pakistan. There must be no

compromise over quality of higher education in privately managed

universities. Quality and quantity should go together.

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96

RECOMMANDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

In the light of the lessons learnt while conducting the study, the following

recommendations are made for future studies in this area:

1. The present study was conducted at national level but the sample was limited to

only 840 persons comprising 60 administrators, 180 teachers and 600 students.

The future studies may be conducted with larger samples.

2. The questionnaire was used as the tool to collect data. Taking into account the

inherent flaws of a questionnaire survey, observational studies are also necessary

to replicate the present study and verify the results obtained there from.

3. Comparative studies between private and public sector of higher education may be

launched on the similar topics in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses in

both the sectors of higher education. Such studies may generate useful data for the

policy makers and administrators to improve the quality of both these sectors.

4. In order to examine the role of private sector in higher education, surveys may be

carried out to discover the contributions of private sector in providing skilled

manpower to the job market.

5. In order to bring the graduates of local universities at par with international

standards, standardized achievement tests in various disciplines be developed and

administered by the National Testing Service to the out-going students and their

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97

performance on the standardized achievement tests be also incorporated while

determining their over all great point average.

6. The study was conducted at tertiary level of private education. Similar studies may

also be carried out at primary and secondary levels.

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Appendix F FRAMEWORK OF GOVERNANCE

1.1 The model framework of the governance of a university or an institution of higher education in the private sector has been provided for the information of the concerned. 1.2 Salient features of the framework 1.2.1 An institution with a minimum of four or more departments (out of which one should be in basic sciences) will be eligible for the charter of a university. An institution having less than four departments will be eligible for grant of charter as a degree awarding institution. 1.2.2 The Senate of a private/public sector institution should consist of the following: i) the Chancellor who shall be the Chairperson of the Senate; ii) the Vice-Chancellor; iii) one member of the Government not below the rank of Additional Secretary from

the Ministry of Education or any other department relevant to the special focus of the University;

iv) four persons from society at large being persons of distinction in the fields of administration, management, education, academics, law, accountancy, medicine, fine arts, architecture, agriculture, science, technology and engineering such that the appointment of these persons reflects a balance across the various fields: Provided that the special focus or affiliation of the University, to be declared in the manner prescribed, may be reflected in the number of persons of distinction in an area of expertise relevant to the University who are appointed to the Senate;

v) one person from amongst the alumni of the University; vi) two persons from the academic community of the country, other than an

employee of the University, at the level of professor or principal of a college; vii) four University Teachers; and viii) one person nominated by the Commission.

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Appendix-G

UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION ISLAMABAD

Adviser (A&C)

No. 15-01/UGC/AA&C/2002/720 March 22, 2002

Notification

Subject: Revised criteria/norms for the establishment of a new university or a

degree awarding institute in the public and private sectors

In substitution to the earlier criteria/norms and the guidelines issued by the UGC (in the year 2000) for the establishment of a new university or an institute, the revised criteria/norms on the subject as approved by the Government are hereby notified as follows:

2. The revised criteria/norms on the subject are at Forms PU-02 and PI-02. 3. Some of the salient parameters of the criteria/norms are as under:

i) The criteria shall also apply to the public sector universi-ties/institutions. ii) The revised criteria shall also be applicable in case of those universities, which

have already been granted charter in the private sector. They can be allowed a grace period of up to five years to meet the standard requirements.

iii) The power to grant affiliation to any institution shall be available to a university/institute which has built-in quality criteria, judged by the UGC/Higher Education Commission (HEC).

iv) Institutions already established shall have their affiliation powers withdrawn through amendment in their Acts.

v) Affiliated institutions shall not be allowed to admit students after a grace period of five years. Students already admitted in affiliated institutions would be allowed to complete their degree programmes.

vi) There shall be flexibility in applying the condition of land to existing universities. The Virtual Universities shall be excluded from the condition of land.

vii) The expression “Higher Education Commission” where ever appearing in the criteria shall be read as “Higher Education Commission/University Grants Commission”.

viii) The condition of Ph.D. would not be pre-requisite in case of Professors and Associate Professors of professional colleges (such as Law Colleges) functioning as faculties of the universities.

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ix) Internet connection of 256 Kbytes shall be one of the criteria for grant of charter to the universities.

x) The criteria may be adopted by all the Provincial Govern-ments. 4. The revised/norms criteria inter alia determine the basic standards and conditions, which will have to be fulfilled by the sponsors. 5. The revised criteria/norms have been incorporated in the guidelines available at UGC’s website www.ugc.edu.pk under “Guidelines for Establishing a New University/Institute”.

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Form PU-02

HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

Sector H-9, Islamabad URL : www.hec.gov.pk

General Criteria/Norms for the Establishment of a New University

University: Any degree awarding institution of higher education having four or more departments will be eligible for grant of charter for a university.

Component Nature of Requirement Standards/Norms

Departments (Physics, Chemistry etc.)

Minimum 4 departments (out of which one should be in Basic Sciences) in case of general university

1:12 Maximum for Science subjects involving lab. work

Teacher: Student ratio (desirable)

1:20 For others

Departments

No. of administrative staff including laboratories, library & other staff for miscellaneous duties

Equal to teaching staff

Teaching Faculty

Teachers

At least 24 teachers (full time). Six full time teachers (out of which two must be holder of Ph.D. degree) in case of opening a branch campus other than the main campus of the university

Component Nature of Requirement Standards/Norms

Professor 1 Associate Professor 1 Assistant Professors 2

No. of teachers (full time) required (cadre-wise) per department

Lecturers 2

Associate Professor and Professor

Must be holder of Ph.D Degree. This condition would not be pre-requisite in case of professional colleges (such as law colleges) functioning as faculties of the universities

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Journals Subscription to at least 15 current journals of international repute with impact factor of at least 100. Access to electronic journals to be provided

Libraries

Books required At least 1500 books from major international publishers in the relevant field

Hall/Lecture theatres (desirable)

12 to 15 sq. ft. per student

Facilities

No of rooms required (desirable)

2 lecture rooms per Department, 1 seminar room, 1 Library cum Reading room, 1 committee room

Teaching and Administrative Staff Offices

Required for each University (desirable)

1 Staff room 1 Faculty office for each department

Component Nature of Requirement Standards/Norms

No. of laboratories required (desirable)

At least 1 Lab. per department with appropriate space

Workshops (desirable)

35 to 45 sq ft. per student

PC (desirable) 1 for 3 students in case of IT courses

Laboratories/ Workshops/ PC/Internet service (Desirable)*

Internet service (desirable)

256 Kbytes access rate shall be provided

Area in acres 10 acres at least (depending upon the location having potential for further development). There shall be flexibility in applying the condition of land to the existing universities. Virtual universities shall be excluded from the condition of land

Built-in/covered Area (desirable)

Minimum 100 sq ft. per student.

Gross Area

General facilities: office, staff rooms, cafeteria, reading room, auditorium, committee room, conference room, housing for staff, parking space, and toilets etc.

Basic facilities for staff and students

Min. Max.

Cubicles (desirable)

80 120

Dormitories (desirable)

50 80

Dining (desirable) 8-10 12-15

Hostels (Desirable)

Gross space (desirable)

200 250

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Component Nature of Requirement Standards/Norms

Scholarships

Scholarships and freeships

At least 10% of the students to be given scholarships

Research Funding of research

10% of the institutional budget to be specified for research

Inspection Peer review One scientist having an impact factor of at least 100 will be associated in the inspection of the institution for NOC clearance

Rating Star system Higher Education Commission (HEC) shall carry out rating exercise of private universities and grant star system based on their performance and excellence. The information shall be made public for general awareness

Endowment Fund (Se-cured in the name of Trust/Society)

Rs. 50.0 million (not applicable in case of public sector university)

Tangible assets in the form of land/building etc.

Rs. 100.0 million

Working Capital Rs.50.0 million (not applicable in case of public sector university)

Finance

Total: Rs. 200.0 million

*The standardization of the laboratories shall be in accordance with the specifications of the HEC.

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Component Standards/Norms

Senate 1) The body responsible for the governance of the University/Institute shall be described as the Senate, and shall consist of the following, namely:–

(a) the Chancellor who shall be the Chair-person of the Senate;

(b) the Vice-Chancellor;

(c) one member of the Government not below the rank of Additional Secretary from the Ministry of Education or any other department relevant to the special focus of the University/Institute;

(d) four persons from society at large being persons of distinction in the fields of administration, management, education, academics, law, accountancy, medicine, fine arts, architecture, agriculture, science, technology and engineering such that the appointment of these persons reflects a balance across the various fields:

Provided that the special focus or affiliation of the University/Institute, to be declared in the manner prescribed, may be reflected in the number of persons of distinction in an area of expertise relevant to the University/Institute who are appointed to the Senate;

(e) one person from amongst the alumni of the University/Institute;

(f) two persons from the academic community of the country, other than an employee of the University/Institute, at the level of professor or principal of a college;

(g) four University/Institute Teachers; and

(h) one person nominated by the Commission.

Component Standards/Norms

(2) The numbers of the members of the Senate described against clauses (e) to (h) of sub-section 1 may be increased by the Senate through Statutes subject to condition that the total membership of the Senate does not exceed twenty-one, with a maximum of five University/Institute Teachers, and the increase is balanced, to the extent possible, across the different categories specified in sub-section (1).

(3) All appointments to the Senate shall be made by the Chancellor. Appointments of persons described in clauses (e) to (f) of sub-section (1) shall be made from amongst a panel of three names for each vacancy recommended by the Representation Committee and in accordance with procedure as may be prescribed.

(4) Members of the Senate, other than ex officio members, shall hold office for three years. One-third of the members, other than ex officio members, of the first restructured Senate, to be determined by lot, shall retire from office on the expiration of one year from the date of appointment by the Chancellor. One-half of the remaining members, other than ex officio members, of the first restructured Senate, to be determined by lot, shall retire from office on the expiration of two years from the date of appointment and the remaining one-half, other than ex officio members,

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shall retire from office on the expiration of the third year:

Provided that no person, other than an ex officio member, may serve on the Senate for more than two consecutive terms:

Provided further that the University/Institute Teachers appointed to the Senate may not serve for two consecutive terms.

Component Standards/Norms

Safeguards 1. The President of Pakistan or Governor of the province as the case may be should be Patron of the University.

2. The Patron shall have the powers to cause a visitation to be made on the request of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in respect of any matter connected with the affairs of the University and shall, from time to time, direct any person or persons to inquire into or carry out inspection of the University.

3. The powers to grant affiliation to any institution shall be available to a University which has built in quality criteria, judged by the HEC.

4. Institutions already established shall have their affiliation powers withdrawn through amendment in their Acts.

5. Affiliated institutions shall not be allowed to admit students after a grace period of five years. Students already admitted in affiliated institutions would be allowed to complete their degree programmes.

6. Campuses located in one city of a private university/institution will be considered collectively as one unit for the application of the new criteria. However, the campus of a private university located in other cities would be treated as a new institution and the same criteria will be applicable to each campus.

7 The HEC would be the competent authority to grant accreditation, validate courses and syllabi of the University which shall be subject to quality standards set by the HEC. The accreditation will be withdrawn if found that the institution is unable to satisfactorily demonstrate its ability and commitment to achieve and maintain national academic standards. 8.

Component Standards/Norms

8. The University shall be liable to provide facilities to the representatives of the Higher Education Commission, the Pakistan Engineering Council, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council or such similar relevant organizations for visitation to enable them to verify that the University is maintaining appropriate academic standards.

9. The HEC shall be competent to carry out periodic inspections and monitoring of the institution.

10. The University shall have to work within the framework of the Education Policy and other law or policy framed/amended by the Government of Pakistan/HEC/Provincial Governments from time to time.

11. The University shall be required to strictly comply with the constitutional provisions and law and abide by social, religious, ethical and cultural

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ethos and values. 12. Activities of the University shall be restricted to teaching, research and

services only. 13. Double entry system accounts shall be maintained by the University. 14. Each University shall have its annual accounts audited by the competent

auditors.

Note

• The criteria shall also apply to Public Sector Universities.

• The above criteria shall also be applicable in case of those universities, which have already been granted charter in the private sector. They can be allowed a grace period of up to five years to meet the standard requirements from the date of approval by Federal Cabinet i.e. 27 February, 2002.

• Other conditions as specified by the HEC in the “Guidelines for the Establishment of a New University or an Institution of Higher Education” will remain valid.

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Form P1-02

HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

Sector H-9, Islamabad URL : www.hec.gov.pk

General Criteria/Norms for the Establishment of a New Institute of Higher Education

Degree awarding Institute: Any degree awarding institution of higher education having less than four disciplines will be eligible for grant of charter as a degree awarding institute.

Component Nature of Requirement Standards/Norms

Departments (Physics, Chemistry etc.)

Minimum 1 department in case of an institute

1:12 Maximum for Science subjects involving lab. work

Teacher: Student ratio (desirable)

1:20 For others

Departments

No. of administrative staff including laboratories, library & other staff for miscellaneous duties

Equal to teaching staff

Teaching Faculty

Teachers

At least six full time teachers per department.

Professor 1 Associate Professor 1 Assistant Professors 2

No. of teachers (full time) required (cadre-wise) per department Lecturers 2

Associate Professor and Professor

Must be holder of Ph.D Degree.

Component Nature of Requirement Standards/Norms

Journals Subscription to at least 15 current journals of international repute with impact factor of at least 100. Access to electronic journals to be provided

Libraries

Books required At least 1500 books from major international publishers in the relevant field

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Hall/Lecture theatres (desirable)

12 to 15 sq. ft. per student

Facilities

No of rooms required (desirable)

2 lecture rooms per Department, 1 seminar room, 1 Library cum Reading room, 1 committee room

Teaching and Administrative Staff Offices

Required for each University (desirable)

1 Staff room 1 Faculty office for each department

No. of laboratories required (desirable)

At least 1 Lab. per department with appropriate space

Workshops (desirable)

35 to 45 sq ft. per student

PC (desirable) 1 for 3 students in case of IT courses

Laboratories/ Workshops/ PC/Internet service (Desirable)*

Internet service 256 Kbytes access rate shall be provided Gross Area Area in acres 3-1/3 acres at least (depending upon the location

having potential for further development)

Component Nature of Requirement Standards/Norms

Built-in/covered Area (desirable)

Minimum 100 sq ft. per student

General facilities: office, staff rooms, cafeteria, reading room, auditorium, committee room, conference room, housing for staff, parking space, and toilets etc.

Basic facilities for staff and students

Min. Max.

Cubicles (desirable)

80 120

Dormitories (desirable)

50 80

Dining (desirable) 8-10 12-15

Hostels (Desirable)

Gross space (desirable)

200 250

Scholarships Scholarships and free-ships

At least 10% of the students to be given scholarships

Research Funding of research

10% of the institutional budget to be specified for research

Inspection Peer review One scientist having an impact factor of at least 100 will be associated in the inspection of the institution for NOC clearance

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Rating Star system HEC shall carry out rating exercise of private institutes and grant star system based on their performance and excellence. The information shall be made public for general awareness

Component Nature of Requirement Standards/Norms

Endowment Fund (Se-cured in the name of Trust/Society)

Rs. 15.0 million

Tangible assets in the form of land/building etc.

Rs. 25.0 million

Working Capital Rs.10.0 million

Finance

Total: Rs. 50.0 million

*The standardization of the laboratories shall be in accordance with the specifications of the HEC. Component Standards/Norms

Senate 1) The body responsible for the governance of the University/Institute shall be described as the Senate, and shall consist of the following, namely:–

(a) the Chancellor who shall be the Chair-person of the Senate;

(b) the Vice-Chancellor;

(c) one member of the Government not below the rank of Additional Secretary from the Ministry of Education or any other department relevant to the special focus of the University/Institute;

(d) four persons from society at large being persons of distinction in the fields of administration, management, education, academics, law, accountancy, medicine, fine arts, architecture, agriculture, science, technology and engineering such that the appointment of these persons reflects a balance across the various fields:

Provided that the special focus or affiliation of the University/Institute, to be declared in the manner prescribed, may be reflected in the number of persons of distinction in an area of expertise relevant to the University/Institute who are appointed to the Senate;

(i) one person from amongst the alumni of the University/Institute;

(j) two persons from the academic community of the country, other than an employee of the University/Institute, at the level of professor or principal of a college;

(k) four University/Institute Teachers; and

(l) one person nominated by the Commission.

Component Standards/Norms

(2) The numbers of the members of the Senate described against clauses

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(e) to (h) of sub-section 1 may be increased by the Senate through Statutes subject to condition that the total membership of the Senate does not exceed twenty-one, with a maximum of five University/Institute Teachers, and the increase is balanced, to the extent possible, across the different categories specified in sub-section (1).

(3) All appointments to the Senate shall be made by the Chancellor. Appointments of persons described in clauses (e) to (f) of sub-section (1) shall be made from amongst a panel of three names for each vacancy recommended by the Representation Committee and in accordance with procedure as may be prescribed.

(4) Members of the Senate, other than ex officio members, shall hold office for three years. One-third of the members, other than ex officio members, of the first restructured Senate, to be determined by lot, shall retire from office on the expiration of one year from the date of appointment by the Chancellor. One-half of the remaining members, other than ex officio members, of the first restructured Senate, to be determined by lot, shall retire from office on the expiration of two years from the date of appointment and the remaining one-half, other than ex officio members, shall retire from office on the expiration of the third year:

Provided that no person, other than an ex officio member, may serve on the Senate for more than two consecutive terms:

Provided further that the University/Institute Teachers appointed to the Senate may not serve for two consecutive terms.

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Component Standards/Norms

Safeguards 1. The President of Pakistan or Governor of the province as the case may be should be Patron of the Institution.

2. The Patron shall have the powers to cause a visitation to be made on the request of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in respect of any matter connected with the affairs of the Institute and shall, from time to time, direct any person or persons to inquire into or carry out inspection of the Institute.

3. The powers to grant affiliation to any institution shall be available to an Institute which has built in quality criteria, judged by the HEC.

4. Institutions already established shall have their affiliation powers withdrawn through amendment in their Acts.

5. Affiliated institutions shall not be allowed to admit students after a grace period of five years. Students already admitted in affiliated institutions would be allowed to complete their degree programmes.

6. Campuses located in one city of a private institution will be considered collectively as one unit for the application of the new criteria. However, the campus of a private institution located in other cities would be treated as a new institution and the same criteria will be applicable to each campus.

7. The HEC would be the competent authority to grant accreditation, validate courses and syllabi of the Institute which shall be subject to quality standards set by the HEC. The accreditation will be withdrawn if found that the institution is unable to satisfactorily demonstrate its ability and commitment to achieve and maintain national academic standards.

Component Standards/Norms

8. The Institute shall be liable to provide facilities to the representatives of the Higher Education Commission, the Pakistan Engineering Council, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council or such similar relevant organizations for visitation to enable them to verify that the Institute is maintaining appropriate academic standards.

9. The HEC shall be competent to carry out periodic inspections and monitoring of the institution.

10. The Institute shall have to work within the framework of the Education Policy and other law or policy framed/amended by the Government of Pakistan/HEC/Provincial Governments from time to time.

11. The Institute shall be required to strictly comply with the constitutional provisions and law and abide by social, religious, ethical and cultural ethos and values.

12. Activities of the Institute shall be restricted to teaching, research and services only.

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13. Double entry system accounts shall be maintained by the Institute. 14. Each Institute shall have its annual accounts audited by the competent

auditors.

Note

• The criteria shall also apply to Public Sector Institutions.

• The above criteria shall also be applicable in case of those institutes, which have already been granted charter in the private sector. They can be allowed a grace period of up to five years to meet the standard requirements from the date of approval by Federal Cabinet i.e. 27 February, 2002.

• Other conditions as specified by the HEC in the “Guidelines for the Establishment of a New University or an Institution of Higher Education” will remain valid.