Final Report - Baseline Research on Executive Education Courses & Programs in Pakistan

(Click here to download the report)

Prepared by:

Dr. Pervez Tahir
Dr. Nadia Saleem
Ms. Saima Bashir

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report analyzes the state of executive education courses/programs being run in public and private sector in Pakistan. It identifies the priority areas for training. The increasing complexity of a modern government and the changing paradigm of public service to deliver public value require professionals with a good education and sound administrative skills. Similarly, executive education in private for-profit and nonprofit sectors can longer be driven by blanket views on efficiency and altruism.

Executives joined the public service with the idea of limitless authority and subordinate to the whim and will of the rulers only. The idea of an administration being an instrument for ensuring a civilized relationship between the citizens and the state is not embedded in the working of executives. Unfortunately the officials were not trained enough to deal with the changing roles. In general, there is lack of quality training institutions. Training in institutions that exist has deteriorated. However, the National School of Public Policy (NSPP) has taken steps towards improvement. While service delivery suffers, no clear national policy is insight to deal with the situation.

For its analysis, this study used the survey method. The survey was conducted in public sector and private sector institutions involved in executive education in Pakistan. In the case of the Federal Government training institutions, the survey indicated that there were 24 training institutions engaged in training of civil servants of various cadres. Another 24 training and skill enhancement institutions cater mainly to the corporate sector and other management professionals and the army. During the Musharraf period, the Government established the National School of Public Policy (NSPP) to focus on management training at all levels.

Management training for civil servants takes three main forms: a) Pre-Service Training, b) In-Service Training, c) Training Abroad. The ingredient to value the training was found to be missing in all levels of executives training. All training institutions reported government as their primary source of funding. Private sector training institutions also take public servants as their trainees, but their main intake comes from the corporate sector. The government nominates trainees for various courses and the institutions simply accept and train them. In the public sector training institutions the physical infrastructure was found to be good. There are not many institutions which have a Curriculum Development Approach. Only the NSPP has moved in this direction. The Specialized Training Institutions do not need a Curriculum Committee as they all run single subject courses. Most other public sector training institutions do not have this incentive. Most of the faculty were visiting and without the perspective of training officials. The quality of visiting faculty in training programmes is not of high caliber. There is no distinction between education and training. The NSPP has formulated a strategy to overcome this dichotomy. All officers selected for public service have a certain level of education but lack training. Training is in a flux because of the system is in a flux. Training prepares for generalist pursuits: it can enrich the participants intellectually but it cannot change the attitude towards training. As it is formal and based on education, training fails to develop training circles and professional groups. No priority sectors have been identified by the top level policy makers, for instance the Establishment Division, for training. There is little collaboration between the public or private sector training institutions and the industry. Training fails to win institutional pride and officers can’t relate themselves as better officers after completing the training. Future guidance on the basis of training is lacking. There is realization in the NSPP that training should train servants of the public who are supposed to maximize public values rather than officers of the government. Others have to follow this lead. Training institutions tend to confuse management with governance. Service delivery is not helped in this train of thought.

Rule of law presumes existence of laws made by informed legislators. Other than ad hoc orientation on matters of procedure, no formal training institution exists in a country boasting two houses of Parliament, four provincial and two regional assemblies. Nongovernment sector and donors are left to improvise.

A country which has experienced media explosion in less than a decade, has no formal institution to train media persons.

While public sector has been attempting to transplant client-centered approach of the private sector, the private sector training continues to struggle with social responsibility.

In sum, the baseline for executive education in Pakistan draws attention to a critical set of gaps on the supply side, more in terms of software than hardware. Filling these gaps will have to take cognizance of the demand side.

(Click here to download the report)