In an effort to enforce quality, the HEC recently announced that they would not recognize PhD degrees awarded unless the recipient manages to score a 40 percentile on the GRE subject test at the time of admission to the graduate program, reported here. This is a revision of HEC’s earlier policy, announced four years back, that the GRE subject test must be cleared before submitting the thesis. The announcement has proven controversial among PhD instructors and their students.
The controversy spilled over in Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), where the QAU syndicate and the QAU academic council are split over the issue (reported here). Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director of the HEC, was challenged by protesters during his visit to the QAU campus. Prof. Pervez Hoodbhoy, the chairman of the Physics department at QAU, supports the initiative by the HEC and recently wrote in its defense; we have shared his article here.
So, should PhD students need to clear the GRE before being awarded their PhDs?
I think that the issue raises broad questions such as:
(1) Should there be standardized tests in Pakistan? If yes, what types of test? General? Subject?
(2) Who should administer the standardized tests? GRE, Government of Pakistan?
(3) Can a standardized test be conducted in a manner similar to India? What are the pros and cons?
(4) If GRE is used as the standardized test, how to address the cost of taking GRE? Should government subsidize the cost of taking GRE?
(5) In US, people taking GRE have usually taken SAT which is not the case in Pakistan.
Yes, standardized tests for graduate students are desperately needed. Pakistani graduate students, when compared even to Pakistani undergraduates, are abysmal. As there is nothing but incentive for universities and advisers to churn out PhD students, we need some quality control.
I have a recommendation for the HEC: instead of giving personal cash to advisers for PhD students, contribute to a discretionary funding account to the adviser. Or make an endowed chair for the advisor if he or she managed to graduate a certain number of students. This personal gain is obviously going to have a corruptive influence on a system that is supposed to be fueled not by cash but by the thirst for knowledge and discovery.
As far as personal cash is concerned, one model is what LUMS is following. The honorarium given to professors by HEC is not given to the professors. Rather it goes into a common pool for equipment for the PhD students and graduate research labs.
As long as it’s the GRE subject test, why not ?
GRE tests are very expensive to take for ordinary Pakistani. Unless government provides money for tests, this is will filter out poor students.
It is interesting to note that the protesters aren’t saying that they can’t pass the exam; they’re saying it’s an affront to their dignity. So, what simpler way of demonstrating the redundancy of the HEC initiative than taking the test and passing it en masse? It is only an affront to their dignity if they can easily pass it.
The initiative is *far* from perfect, but in an imperfect word, it is a necessary and much needed step to ensure a minimum quality at the PhD level.
Definitely someone who gets a PhD degree should be able to score a reasonable percentage in a test pitched at undergraduate level. If not, then there is something seriously flawed in the system. As such, the HEC initiative is welcome.
However, given the poor undergraduate preparation of some potential students, I think they need some time to prepare for this test. There are students who definitely have potential, just need some polishing up. Hence, in our PhD qualifier exams, we are now testing broad undergraduate level preparation. A student typically spends some time in the graduate program before attempting the qualifiers. So the challenge is given up-front – by this date, you should do a good revision of undergraduate fundamentals, because they will be tested thoroughly in the qualifiers.
If a university has reasonable safeguards like this, then requiring GRE at the time of admission may not be necessary. However, I think most universities do not have strict quality filters. Hence the regulator, HEC, has to step in, which is a welcome step.
I think most students need a year or so to prepare for the GRE. They can probably not do well in it immediately after their undergrad degree. Hence, for those universities who are giving the students the option of direct admission to the PhD program (after 16 yrs education), the HEC requirement may mean that they have to curtail that option.
There is little doubt that the GRE can probably help identify the potential super-student as well as those who are not at all ready academically. Those are easy calls. The real challenge is whether the test identifies meaningful differences among your applicants, and there is little evidence that it does.
It’s a continuous scale. Why can’t it identify meaningful difference between applicants? The fact that universities around the world use it as a measure is considerable evidence that it does.
HEC has imposed GRE Subject test not the general and here is the number of students appearing in GRE Subject all over the world: (Data taken from GRE Guide book 2009)
SUBJECT 3 year one year
Biochemistry,… 6,252 2084
Biology 12,405 4135
Chemistry 8,392 2797
Computer Science 5,612 1870
Literature in English 10,920 3640
Mathematics 9,848 3283
Physics 12,962 4321
Psychology 25,693 8564
This low number shows the poor popularity of GRE Subject Test (Not the general)
In GRE Guide Book 2009, it is written
“Regardless of the decision to be made, multiple sources of information should be used to ensure fairness and balance the limitations of any single measure of knowledge, skills, or abilities. These sources may include undergraduate grade point average, letters of recommendation, personal statement, samples of academic work, and professional experience related to proposed graduate study. GRE scores should not be used exclusively”
“HEC IS USING THIS TEST EXCLUSIVELY”
Also there are many other flaw to use this test, which are clearly mentioned in GRE Guide Book 2009 and HEC is not following it.
Above data considered like this
SUBJECT ——–3 year—– one year
Biochemistry,… —–6,252—– 2084
Biology —–12,405 —–4135
Chemistry —–8,392 —–2797
Computer Science—– 5,612 —–1870
Literature in English—– 10,920—– 3640
Mathematics 9,848 3283
Physics —–12,962—– 4321
Psychology —–25,693—– 8564
Yes they should pass the GRE with the incentive that if possible the government should reimbruse the fee of those who pass the GRE. It is an issue that many students from the lower socio-economic background do not appear in the GRE due financial constraints. Also it would not be a bad idea either if those professors who supervise PhD students are also encouraged to pass the GRE if that is what is expected from students who would work under their supervision. The teacher/supervisor should be a step ahead of the student/supervisee.
Ilyas, look at this from the tax payer’s perspective. Is it too much for the Pakistani tax payers to ask a 22,23 year old students with 16 years of education, mostly on tax payers expense, to find a way to save Rs. 15,000 and take the GRE if he or she wants to spend another few hundred thousand of the tax payers money on his/her education?
Only 3-5% of our population even makes it through the doors of our universities. The fraction that has the luxury of pursuing a PhD is way, way smaller than that. But, the enormous cost of this education — and higher education is a very expensive enterprise, is borne by everyone in the forms of taxes and borrowing against future taxes.
I do not know how many students there are who can afford to NOT work until 28 years of age (which is what it usually takes to earn a PhD) and yet they can’t find a way to pay the fee for GRE. But, if there are students in this category, I hope that our people will organize to find a way to help these students. But policy-making cannot be dictated by that extremely narrow case.
I think that GRE requirement is a good initiative by HEC and will definitely improve the quality of PhD. However the thing I am not comfortable with is the way it is being imposed. In my opinion GRE should be a filtering step for the admission in PhD rather than a requirement to complete the PhD. Requiring senior PhD students to go for this is like adding a secondary level of screening on top of candidacy exam or thesis defense. This in my opinion is humiliating not just for the students but also for the system, just because it is meant to be entry level exam not a graduation mile stone. Will HEC also consider GRE as a requirement for the faculty to get placement in the universities? I know that more than 70 % of current faculty in Pakistani universities will not be able to get the required percentile and they are also not required to because they should be specialized in their areas and it is just not the right time for the GRE.
GRE is an admission requirement now. But, what do you suggest be done to students who are already in various programs? Let them sail and add to the glut of under-qualified degree holders? I don’t see another option, frankly.
But, let’s back-track for a moment. HEC should not be in this business to begin with. These are decisions that should be taken at the department level. Each department in each university should be trying to raise its own standards by inducting highest quality students and faculty, and, yes, getting rid of under-qualified ones where possible. But, old habits die hard, and sadly our universities are looking for excuses to not offend the students/faculty. If they were really serious about raising their standards, they could, for example, fail incompetent students in their candidacy or defense exams and we won’t be having this discussion. But, that’s not happening. Or at least in the eyes of HEC that’s not happening. And, I trust their judgment on this since they have no reason to create these sorts of problems for themselves.
It is really sad to see HEC as being the only `adult’ in the system (as an institution). This isn’t a sustainable or proper role for HEC, but we have the system we have, and it’ll take time for it to mature.
No, they should not.
Academics would be up in arms if the government in the United States started mandating from upon high requirements for graduation. That there is a spectrum of quality in graduating PhDs is well understood. There are a large number of US universities that consistently produce PhDs of pathetic quality — this is the cost of academic freedom.
I have little sympathy for the protestors who appear to be motivated by survival rather than principle, but in the interest of maintaining academic independence, it may be better for the HEC to use more of the carrot than the stick. Reward institutions and professors that maintain high quality, instead of punishing institutions that do not.
GRE is an important requirement and it must be a mandatory requirement.
It is not compulsory for students to pursue a PhD degree. Or is it?
I am not in the favour of GRE but I guess that’s just one side of the picture. If the purpose of making GRE mandatory is to maintain quality, HEC should try (for once) not to take the easy way out. Granting every university the “W” category and then relying on an external exam to judge the caliber of students is hardly the way to go. Even the most lame university here in Peshawar pride themselves as W category universities as recognized by HEC. Why not maintain a higher level of examination and impose some restrictions (both on procedure and on results) in terms of local examinations?
It’s the same case with ‘HEC recognized journals’. They only recognize journals indexed by ISI (Thomson Scientific). What about the other indexing organizations? They won’t recognize some of the most influential journals from, say, Elsevier. When we approached them with this query, their answer was that they can’t “maintain” a multitude of lists. Again, taking an easy way out and making life unnecessarily difficult for the already-deprived academia.
By the way, this is not to say that the students/scholars here aren’t lacking both in effort and in skills. I guess all I’m trying to say is that HEC, being the quality assurer needs to do more.
HEC always make stupid and funny rules to tease student and teachers.
People do Phd abroad have no GRE and without journal paper.
If it is really necessary to have a test before phd is being awarded then HEC should test the institute or the professor who is awarding. Student has already pass the entrance exam and now only award giving authority is the one to ask for anything.