The Kerry-Lugar bill continues to advance through the legislative process. On Friday, the US House of Representatives authorized $1.519 billion in assistance to Pakistan and the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the bill the day before allocating $1.57 billion in aid to Pakistan. The difference between the House and Senate versions have to be resolved before the bill actually becomes law, and can materialize into actual aid.
Interestingly, in his companion report to the Senate bill, Senator John Kerry includes a vision of introducing “american-style” universities in Pakistan.
The companion report states that:
“Whereas scholarship and fellowship programs are an important part of United States assistance and positively impact relations between our people, it is cost-effective to develop local capacity in American-style higher education in order to broaden cultural understanding. There is a long and remarkable history of American schools and universities around the world. Universities that emulate American curricula such as in Beirut, Lebanon and Cairo, Egypt, have been successfully drawing talented students and producing leaders in government, business, science and education.”
It further goes on to laud the achievements of specific alumni of American Universities in the Middle East:
“They have produced leaders such as Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister; Ali Al-Naimi, Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum; Dr. Ashraf Ghani, former Afghan Finance Minister and World Bank official; and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad. It is intended that assistance under this Act be used to explore the opportunity to establish an American University in Pakistan.”
While the sentiment is quite laudable, one wonders whether Senator Kerry, his staff, or the advisers assisting him in crafting this report, are aware of the slew of universities currently in operation in Pakistan that are closely modeled on the modern American university. The Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI), for instance, has a a four year, semester-system with GPA based evaluation. The Lahore Univeristy of Management Sciences (LUMS) has a quarterly-system, modeled, as well, after the system in some american universities. These universities, the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), and several other public and private universities already have curricula that is, by any reasonable standard, “american-style” — styled on the template of courses taught in universities in the US. The problem isn’t establishing local capacity in american higher education — that’s already here. The fundamental problem is finding academics and staff that can make universities work, american or otherwise.
To me, what is most notable in the list of accomplished alumni of the American Universities is the absence of a single noted scientist or academic. Having visited the American University in Dubai and Sharjah, I got the distinct impression that these were money-making ventures, without much interest in creating a true intellectual environment (e.g., neither had a PhD program). If Senator Kerry’s proposal of establishing an American university in Pakistan does pan out, one also wonders who would be tasked with the project itself. Would it be the state department or a private enterprise? Or will it proceed via the HEC? After the fiasco with the Universities mega-project, a multi-billion rupee boondoggle, there may be should be some trepidation.
Another alternative is to encourage an existing American university to establish a satellite campus in Pakistan, like New York University in Abu Dhabi, or Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. However, both these initiatives have been heavily subsidized by the local governments of Qatar and UAE. Perhaps the funds from the Kerry-Lugar bill can be used to incentivize leading american universities (perhaps public US universities?) to establish programs in Pakistan. Security concerns aside, these enterprises seem to have come closest to transplanting viable academic institution in countries where academic and intellectual traditions are currently dormant.
I sometimes wonder: if the Pakistani-American community was organized (and perhaps connected in D.C), we could dip into this pool of aid money flowing toward Pakistan and establish a whole new university in Pakistan. A university that was primarily governed by the Pakistani-Americans through a Board of Governors or some such arrangement.
Just a thought.
It seems to me that creating whole new institutions is a way of side-stepping the social and cultural factors that keep universities in the state they are in. Unless these factors are identified and addressed, the new university will gravitate towards the norm, no matter how well-organized or well-funded. One need only to look at GIKI in the 90s and QAU farther back in the 60s and 70s to see two prominent examples of well-intentioned attempts at ’starting afresh’, slowly deteriorate towards the status quo.
Yes, it is side-stepping the “underlying cultural and social problems”, as you said Yaser, because the problems at these institutions are inextricably linked to the rigid structures that their trustees (i.e., the Board of Governors in the case of GIKI and the federal plutocracy in the case of QAU) put in place when the institutions were founded.
So, unless there is a way to fix the trustees and change those structures, the only option left is to create a new institution with a better structure at the Board of Trustees level; a structure that learns from past mistakes and remains nimble enough to respond to future challenges. If the institution succeeds, it will hopefully provide a model for existing institutions and it is entirely possible that they too will replicate that model.
Here, I will rush to add, that I do not believe that the trustees had ill intentions or that that they were incompetent people. It is just that we, as a nation, did not have much experience building academic institutions of enduring excellence. We should now try to learn from our mistakes — and, unfortunately, we’ve made plenty to learn from — and move forward as quickly as it is prudent, because the future of millions of people is at stake.
Bilal, It is a great idea. Any further development on this? Shabnam Khan
Well, nothing positive to report really. As you probably know, even though the bill passed House and Senate, it is facing significant opposition on the Pakistani side. And, from speaking with Pakistani-Americans who have the requisite experience and credentials to lead something like this, I do not feel very encouraged.
Having said that, if one of our readers wanted to bring up this issue at the up-coming conference of the Association of Pakistani Scientists & Engineers of North America (http://www.apsena.net/), that could make things interesting. I’m not attending the conference so I can only sit and wait.
Thanks for bringing the committee report on Kerry-Lugar to my attention — you think I would have been aware of it already.
QUESTION:
Who has a history of U.S. assistance to universities in Pakistan? Add’l Sec (External Finance) Asif Bajwa just told me that U.S. financing built much of the Punjab University buildings that he attended (he must have been there in the 1970s), and I had never heard of that. Probably rupees generated by U.S. Government agricultural commodity imports under PL-480 Title I.
Interesting. I wonder what other unsung contributions have been made to Pakistan’s academic infrastructure in the past. I spent a bit of time trying to find information about this online, including US gov websites, but relevant information wasn’t forthcoming.
It would be valuable to have an accessible compilation of this information. As part of the US outreach to Pakistani civilian society, presenting historic links and collaborations would be especially effective in underscoring US concern about Pakistani society beyond its military establishment.
It may also provide valuable insight, decades on, about what sort of assistance is effective and what isn’t.
A very broad overview of past USAID supported efforts (which, of course, is not an exhaustive list of assistance that the US has provided to Pakistan) is available at USAID’s website: http://www.usaid.gov/pk/about/history.html. Under the Programs->Education tab, more information with regards to the education sector can be found.
Also, it is important to mention here the case of LUMS. USAID made an early investment in LUMS that was over Rs. 100,000,000 (http://www.lums.edu.pk/giving_to_lums/overview.php) — a very significant amount by any measure.
just a bribe to dirty leaders for selling security n respect.