Comments on: Higher Education in the Kerry-Lugar Bill: American-style Universities

By: pintoo

pintoo — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:24:56 +0000

just a bribe to dirty leaders for selling security n respect.

By: Bilal Zafar

Bilal Zafar — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:34:50 +0000

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.

By: Bilal Zafar

Bilal Zafar — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 01:16:31 +0000

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.

By: Bilal Zafar

Bilal Zafar — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:21:45 +0000

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.

By: Shabna Khan

Shabna Khan — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:52:41 +0000

Bilal, It is a great idea. Any further development on this? Shabnam Khan

By: Yaser Sheikh

Yaser Sheikh — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:33:58 +0000

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.

By: Joe Ryan

Joe Ryan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:15:08 +0000

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.

By: yaser

yaser — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:16:16 +0000

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.

By: bilal

bilal — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:56:14 +0000

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.