STEP – Science, Technology, and Education in Pakistan

A vast majority of graduates from Pakistani industry goes on to serve the local industry. Right from the day of the first interview, many of them are presented with the reality that their four years of undergraduate learning does not help with the prospective job responsibilities. After landing a job, they have to learn the ropes by going through orientation and probation periods while earning meager salaries. Only after this, often humbling experience, are they transformed into a practicing professional and able to get promotions or avail employment opportunities elsewhere with higher salaries or better job description. The industry is not happy with the curriculum being taught at the academic institutes, and about the lack of proper career counseling to students which would encourage them to have a more stable career path. The academia blames the professionals for not coming forward to contribute in teaching. They also bring up the lack of industry support in  providing internships and senior project supports which could minimize the need of post-graduate training during the orientation/probation periods and allow students to be ready to take the real-world challenges from the day of graduation. Both parties have a valid argument but these discussions are mostly limited at pointing out the other party’s faults, instead of finding out solutions and identifying action items for each party.

There are many reasons for this increase in gap between the academic training and the industrial needs, but most of them can be traced directly to the lack of qualified faculty, especially those with industrial experience, at most of the institutions. This is particularly true for the IT-related disciplines.  Faculty forms the core of academia and other than classroom teaching is also responsible for i) course and curriculum development and keeping them up-to-date with the ever changing state of technology, ii) evaluating student performance, iii) career counseling,  iv) research and innovation, and last but not the least v) help develop a creative and positive learning environment. Thus the lack of qualified faculty affects all aspects of academic performance and is the largest contributor to the waning quality of graduates.

Recently, the Software Ponder Alliance has started an initiative in which some members of that group engage a small number of senior students from an institute and guide them throughput the process of a senior project. At the end of this annual exercise, the involved students were better equipped to deal with their job functions. This practice is now being expanded to cover more institutes and more students. The exercise showed how small and informal efforts on part of some individuals can significantly affect the entire system.

Recognizing the fact that the faculty cannot be improved overnight and that attracting qualified faculty to local institutes not only requires funds but also social and economic reforms, I propose the following measures to gradually improve the state of affairs:

· Curriculum and courses should periodically be revised based on the practices of some of the leading international universities.

· The faculty should be encouraged to make use of recorded lecture and content made available on the web by leading academics at top universities

· The faculty should be encouraged to liaise informally with professionals especially their former class-fellows now working in the industry. This liaison should focus on:

o Obtaining feedback about course assignments

o Having the professional over to deliver one or two of the scheduled class lectures

· To inculcate essential tool knowledge, workshops and seminars should be organized by leveraging the aforementioned informal industry liaison

· The academia should periodically host alumni in the industry to seek feedback on academic issues

· The faculty should use informal industry liaison to secure internship opportunities for the students as well as explore senior project ideas with the industry. The trouble with senior projects is that the industry is not in a position to dedicate manpower to the constant monitoring of the projects. A way out could be to have periodic one or two hour progress reporting sessions, on a rotating basis at the industry venue and the academic venue

· Engage active organizations such as Software Ponder Alliance, IEEE, INETA, Koshish Foundation, and STEP to leverage their platforms for mutual benefit.

Someone once told me that you should do what is right on your own. You have limited powers and your actions will only have effect in a small circle around you. But when others near you notice the goodness around you, they will contribute more area to your influence. As your circle of influence grows you will be able to extract more improvement in society out of your positive actions.

I believe that the steps outlined in this article can be put in place with some effort on part of both the parties involved. These steps do not require a lot of funding or formal involvements on either side and informal platforms such as the ones mentioned above can play an important role in implementing these. It is time for the faculty and the professionals to realize their moral duty to the society in general and contribute towards the improvement of the society in general and the academic sector in particular.

Editor’s note: Saqib Ilyas is a doctoral student of Computer Engineering at Lahore University of Management Sciences and an assistant professor at NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of STEP.