Centre for Public Policy & Governance,
FC College (A Chartered University), Lahore
Supervisor: Dr. Saeed Shafqat
Lead Researcher: Raheem ul Haque
Research Associate: Khurram Waqas Malik
Research Assistants: Adeel Riaz & Saboor Karamat
Scope of Work:
1. To prepare a comprehensive report on the credentials/Curriculum Vitae (CSV’s) of the faculty currently teaching courses in governance related disciplines in Pakistani universities and public training institutions to assess the potential and training requirements for adopting a Masters’ program in Governance. More importantly faculty qualification, experience, area concentration and research orientation will be assessed both to develop clear targets for capacity development as well as to define a road map for achieving these targets in comparison to world class programs offering multi-disciplinary Governance curriculum.
2. The evaluation will also include institutional infrastructure including library, faculty and student facilities to determine student induction and professional development capacity.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
History & Evolution
The history of policy programs in Pakistan goes back to the early 1960s when the Institute of Administrative Studies, Punjab University started a program in Public Administration (PA). Simultaneously, leading to the establishment of Pakistan Administrative Staff College and National Institutes of Public Administration for the training of public servants. Public Administration programs have since started at a number public universities but it is only recent that universities have started Public Policy and Governance programs.
Unlike the evolution of policy programs in the United States where school standards were maintained owing to policy school associations, no such association exists in Pakistan although recently HEC has played a small part in reformulating curriculums. An evaluation of international policy schools indicates that though some commonalities exist in the curriculum, each school tends to specialize in a particular area of Public Policy owing to its faculty, location or institutional strength.
But in spite of the history of policy programs in Pakistan, there hasn’t been an academic discussion regarding the need, objective and adhering standards for the programs. It is thus important for academics to discuss and build a consensus on the definition of Governance, Public Policy and Public Administration, the standards for curriculum and graduation within the Pakistani context.
Academic Programs & Curriculum
Currently there are fifteen universities offering policy programs in the country divided into: First, Master’s programs requiring 14 years of education which include 9 MPA, and 1 Governance and Public Policy program each. Second, there are Master’s/MPhil programs requiring 16 years of education including 4 PA and 3 Public Policy of which 6 extend to a PhD program. Third, there are two degree awarding Executive Programs, 1 each in Public Administration and Public Policy.
In terms of curriculum, policy programs can be divided into three. First, the MPA programs which have evolved more towards management than policy with concentrations in Human Resource Management (HRM), Marketing, Finance and MIS with only a few schools offering Development. Second, Public Policy programs with heavy economic concentration producing economic analysis experts. Third, programs in Public Policy, Administration and Governance, which have a diverse curriculum and an eye for producing generalists.
Faculty & Institutional Status
Similarly diversity exists among policy programs in terms of institutional culture, faculty expertise and student intake. But the overall situation requires a lot of improvement as average Student to Full Time Faculty Ratio is 30 reaching as high as 75 for one university. The general dearth of full time faculty is further compounded when relevant subject areas are taken into account. The faculty expertise is heavily tilted towards HRM with a total of 7 PhDs while there is only 1 PhD for Quantitative/Econometric Analysis. Though our analysis indicates 17 Economic PhDs, this number would be 5 if PIDE, an economic research organization is excluded from the analysis. Thus there is a critical need for faculty expertise in Economic Theory and Quantitative & Empirical Analysis among policy schools. Within Public Management, HRM expertise dominates while Structure and Process of Government, and Leadership and Administrative Theory are neglected. But the worst situation exists in the field of Political Economy, Globalization, Governance and Development, all core areas of Public Policy for which faculty expertise is non-existent in policy schools.
The reasons for the dearth of full time and additionally PhD faculty are numerous including a young discipline, institutional culture, student intake but one that stands out for public sector universities is the compensation mechanism. The Tenure Track System (TTS) introduced by the HEC improves compensation structure for public sector faculty if conditions for research output are met. But almost all public sector faculty interviewed were not part of the TTS and it is unlikely that they would become a part primarily because they are currently teaching up to 6 courses a semester to supplement their government grade based income, leaving them little time for research.
Faculty Development
In terms of faculty development, some public sector universities are availing opportunities to send their junior faculty for PhD through HEC scholarship and foreign university exchange programs. But an institutional strategic plan is missing among all interviewed institutions. All institutions had goals to improve academic quality, introduce new concentrations or start a new program but a detailed plan which encapsulates faculty skills requirements, budgetary requirements, projected student size, administrative and institutional needs was missing.
It is thus recommended that policy programs in the country bring themselves under the framework of an association, which is manned by academic experts and policy makers to evolve a consensus on definitional grounds and objectives of the various policy programs. Additionally the same association can facilitate policy programs both to devise a five year strategic plan and more importantly to execute and achieve it.
Recommendations
Based on the interviews and data gathered over the course of this research, it is recommended that a three tiered approach be taken:-
- For the Short Term, policy programs should develop linkages with their own university’s social science departments to involve needed experts in teaching, while the association should kick start research activity by devising incentives for faculty research seminars. The association should create a pool of experts (both domestic and foreign faculty) to deliver intensive short-term courses in core policy subject areas at various cities in addition to exploring linkages and exchange program opportunities for domestic policy programs.
- For the Medium Term, the association should institutionalize the curriculum, program structure and logistics for short-term faculty training in select subject areas. Additionally association should facilitate foreign summer research sabbaticals where junior faculty can work under the supervision of an expert in the field while facilitating domestic PhD degree holders to get Post-Docs for exposure to foreign academic and research culture.
- For the Long Term, the association should institutionalize linkages and exchange programs with foreign universities for a long-term commitment towards faculty development and exchange; it should provide PhD scholarships in select subject areas for which experts do not exist in Pakistan. More importantly using its pool of experts, it should build a quality domestic PhD program by supporting it with faculty, library, lab and other institutional resources.
The following areas of exploration were further suggested during the review process but time constraints have restricted their inclusion in the report.
- A detailed assessment of Public Administration, Public Policy and Governance curriculums including texts of various universities would inform the scope, clarity, context (local or foreign) and datedness of what is being taught.
- An overview of market supply and demand of policy graduates should be undertaken to understand national level needs.
- The Annual Review Reports of policy departments can shed more light on the needs and functioning of these departments.
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