Higher Education as an Agent of Change

Outline
Introduction:
Defining higher education?
Why is it important?
Higher education is an important factor to bring about a change in the society.
Its the need of hour to invest in higher education.
A. Social Sector and Higher Education
Educated people are more socially responsible individuals.
They have higher aptitude towards blood donation, voting, volunteering and presenting their opinion
on various socio-cultural matters.
Children of highly educated parents have better cognitive skills.
They are beneficial to society in many other ways as well
B. Technological Reforms and Higher Education
This is an era of technological revolution.
Improved basic facilities of life such as clean drinking water, transportation. Communication is all
developed by highly skilled professionals.
Complex software solutions have made end-user working easier.

C. Industrial Uplift and Higher Education

Economic growth is linked to strong industrial sector.
Skilled professionals are needed in industry to enhance production levels.
There is a need to link university education with industry.
D. Political Scenario and Higher Education
It is education and social awareness that has shifted style of political leadership from oligarchy,
anarchy and dictatorship to democracy and a politics of understanding.
E. Economic Growth and Higher Education
Innovative individuals contribute immensely towards sustained economic development.
Society as a whole also enjoys financial returns on the investment on higher education.
With trained personnel at home, the cost that we spend on hiring foreign expertise is reduced
significantly.
International Relations- Image Building of a Nation
Countries with high literacy rates usually have better image building than those with poor literacy
rates. Therefore, well-educated people are significant to image building of a country in the outside
world.
Inflicting Quality in Higher Education
Higher education is not all about earning a graduate or post graduate degree. It is basically about
developing an understanding of the concepts and investing mental energies towards research and
development.
Higher Education as an Agent of Change in Pakistan
Pakistan needs an instant revolution in its social, political, technological, economic and industrial
sectors. Higher education can bring about this revolution. The need is to encourage and facilitate more
and more young students to acquire advanced degrees, research and investigate and work

indigenously
Role of Higher Education Commission (HEC)
Improving salary structure of lecturers
Designing digital library
Awarding scholarships
Carrying out research and development
Controlling Brian Drain
There is a need to control brain drain by:
Offering competitive salaries to highly educated personnel
Improving their work conditions
Provide growth and promotion opportunities
Conclusion

Higher Education as an Agent of Change

Written by: Sehar Sheikh
Introduction:
World today is no more a habitat of wild tribal populace nor it is a haven of furious warriors with
swords in their hands and blood on their minds. World has gradually developed into a place that
inhibits civilized nations, educated individuals and skilled professionals that are contributing towards
the betterment of the globe in one way or the other.
It is a known fact that education changes attitudes of individuals. It makes them more socially
responsible and indeed, the children of educated parents grow up to be more aware of their social
responsibilities and greater awareness of benefits of investing into higher education. In words of Dr.
Heather Allen, Higher education includes most professional education and is strongly vocationally or
professionally oriented. Higher education differs from other forms of post-secondary education such as
vocational education. Vocational education is a form of secondary or post secondary education but is
considered non-academic as compared to higher education.
Higher education adds to the highly educated and skilled professional and technical manpower of a
nation. Trained managers manage their organisations more effectively; engineers and scientists
develop new technologies that ease the human life, doctors and health personnel provide relief to
ailing humanity and teaching professionals prepare young generations for future development.
Thus, higher education today is needed in and linked with all sectors of a society. A change in society
can be brought only if the benefits of higher education and competencies of highly educated
professionals are passed on properly to social, industrial, political and economic sectors. Hypothesis
development, preparing research designs, formulating theories, carrying out in depth analysis,
exploration of resources and opportunities, finding brighter future prospects are all sheer requirements
of the hour. This research and development and strategy formulation can be done none other than by
highly qualified individuals. There is a need to invest in higher education to bring a massive change in
the world we live in.

A. Social Sector and Higher Education

Social scientists lay great stress on the need to equip individuals with education. Though it is not

always true, but generally the more educated a person, the more cultured he/she is in terms of
his/her social behaviour. Highly qualified individuals are more likely to engage in voluntary work,
donate blood, to vote and raise their voices against social injustices. They are usually more health
conscious and take care of hygiene and thus are less prone to falling for infectious diseases which
reduces cost for providing them with health care. In addition, children of educated parents have higher
cognitive skills and concentration levels than other children.
Social scientists argue that educated people are more aware of their responsibilities as members of
society. They are more aware of the importance of family, institution of marriage, population planning,
education, spreading awareness, quelling rebellions etc. They understand the hazards of corruption,
drug abuse, smoking, juvenile delinquency, violence again women and child labour. Thus they are
lesser prone to such activities as compared to illiterate or less-educated people. They are also less
likely to be incarcerated because most times they are aware of laws and regulations and try their best
not to violate these laws. It is the educated populace who is running youth promotion schemes,
promoting a culture of tolerance, boosting national integrity, eradicating extremism, ending bigotry
and working for HR development.

B. Technological Reforms and Higher Education

This is an age of technological revolution. From the alarm that snatches away our extra forty winks
from us in the morning to the four-wheeler that takes us to our workplace, to the little electronic
gadget that keeps on ringing all the day in our pockets to the microwave oven that serves us our
dinner hot, every thing is a miracle of technological era. These all gizmos, which have made our lives
easier than ever are designed by highly skilled scientists and engineers. Improvements in
manufacturing, production, telecommunications, transportations, sanitation facilities, availability of
clean water and harnessing new cheaper and reliable sources of energy is all dependent upon
technically skilled professionals.
All organisations are dependent on computers for their working. Complex software solutions have
made end-computing easier. These softwares are developed by software engineers and in-house
consultants. Workplace conditions can improve significantly if technical expertise is available within the
organisations. Highly skilled professionals can help a lot to boost the productivity of various
organisations.
C. Industrial Uplift and Higher Education
The economic growth of a nation is strongly linked to the strength of its industrial sector. Countries
whose industrial sectors are developed are economically prosperous nations. With improved industrial
sector, countries boost their exports thus increasing their revenues. Skilled labour is needed in
industries that may introduce counting-edge technologies, processing mechanisms, manufacturing and
production techniques and know how to operate heavy duty machinery needed for industries.
Educated industrial managers would do cost-benefit analysis before entering into new projects and will
work diligently towards enhancing profits of their companies.
University students should be given an exposure to the industry. They should be familiarised with
latest trends in industry so that they may understand the work structure and contribute significantly
towards improving industrial sector once they enter into the work field.
D. Political Scenario and Higher Education

Politics of a country shape the entire attitude of a nation. It is those who have power and authority
who define the destinies of common people. It is education and social awareness that has shifted style
of political leadership from oligarchy, anarchy and dictatorship to democracy and a politics of
understanding. Political stability and increased social awareness among masses towards their rulers is
the gift of education. Educated leaders are a boon for a nation whereas narrow-minded, illiterate and
socially unaware leaders have done immense harm to various nations.
Higher education helps not only in the development of world class leaders but also makes people more
aware to choose the right person to lead them. Thus, rightly chosen leaders reshape the destiny of a
country.
E. Economic Growth and Higher Education

Economic growth is the backbone of a nations prosperity. Innovative individuals contribute immensely
towards sustained economic development. People with higher education usually have better pay
structures. They have lesser chances to remain unemployed and live in poverty. According to a report,
people with advanced degrees earn two to three times as much as high school graduates. Thus their
living standards are improved and if more and more individuals gain higher education, the disparity
among various income groups will reduce considerably. Not only that, but society as a whole also
enjoys financial returns on the investment on higher education. Highly qualified individuals with higher
earnings contribute significantly to tax-payments at local, state and federal government levels.
Improved banking system, insurance sector, financing system, stock markets, attracting FDI, assisting
industrial, agriculture and manufacture sector by introducing new cost effective policies is all because
of highly educated personnel who have developed policy guidelines for different economic sectors.
With trained personnel at home, the cost that we spend on hiring foreign expertise is reduced
significantly.
International Relations- Image Building of a Nation
This is an era where countries have to live a life of co-operation. International relations are being
given great importance. Countries improve friendly ties between them by exchanging delegates of
students and professionals to learn from each others practices. These delegates dont visit other
countries as individuals but in fact carry a countrys image with them wherever they go. Why is that
some nations of the world are as a whole considered very cultured and organised while others are
perceived as cheaters, non trustworthy and unfair in dealings?
It is the because of image-building of nation as to how its citizens represent themselves abroad.
Countries with high literacy rates usually have better image building than those with poor literacy
rates. Therefore, well-educated people are significant to image building of a country in the outside
world.
Inflicting Quality in Higher Education
Higher education is not all about earning a graduate or post graduate degree. It is basically about
developing an understanding of the concepts and investing mental energies towards research and
development. This quality is obtained with student satisfaction, availability of professionally competent
faculty, dynamic curriculum designs, up-to-date techniques of testing a students abilities, academia
liaison with industry and tutoring relevant subject matter.

Enforcing quality in higher education is not possible unless the teaching competence of lecturers is
assessed. It is not necessary that an expert in a particular domain turns out to be an expert in
teaching as well. A lot of highly knowledgeable individuals are not good at transferring this knowledge
to others. Some are not good at communication skills and fail to deliver the contents of their course
properly. Also, it is important to note that a faculty member adept in teaching to undergraduates may
not be as good at teaching to post-graduate students. Therefore, before hiring a faculty member
universities should thoroughly assess his/her teaching competencies.
Higher Education as an Agent of Change in Pakistan
Pakistan is in dire need of higher education reforms. There are a lot of problems that need the
attention of highly educated personnel. Pakistan is a developing nation and it badly requires efforts to
increase employment opportunities, alleviate poverty through new economic reforms, and invite
investment and FDI, development of industry, Information Technology, health, medical, engineering
and social sciences.
Government of Pakistan considers the importance of higher education in human and economic
development. The government raised the share of post-secondary education in Pakistan up to 13.7 per
cent by 2005-06. It resulted in expansion of public sector colleges and universities in the country and
twice an increase in student enrolment.
Pakistan needs an instant revolution in its social, political, technological, economic and industrial
sectors. Higher education can bring about this revolution. The need is to encourage and facilitate more
and more young students to acquire advanced degrees, research and investigate and work
indigenously.
Role of Higher Education Commission (HEC)
Thanks to the HEC that previously ignored higher education has now been given utmost attention.
HEC has worked remarkably to evaluate, improve and promote higher education in Pakistan. HEC
allocates large budgets to public sector varsities which have helped improve the conditions and
educational standards of these universities. Almost all public varsities are equipped with latest
technological resources helpful in teaching and learning, computer labs, multimedia and projectors
etc. University faculty has been awarded with better monetary and non-monetary rewards to boost
their productivity. As a result many young students aspire to join teaching profession as salaries are
competitive in this profession now.
Development of Digital Library is a very commendable step of HEC. It has thousands of e-books on
numerous subjects that are taught at university level in various varsities of Pakistan. Development of
Digital Library and scholarship programmes of HEC have helped young students in endless ways by
providing them with text book material online and financial help for pursuing their degrees easily.
Highly qualified and experienced professors who were forced to retire are brought back and varsities
are benefiting from their knowledge and expertise. R & D projects are being carried out in universities.
Larger budget allocations have helped universities invite foreign faculty to deliver lectures at home
thus making students familiar with international academics.
Controlling Brian Drain
Efforts to streamline higher education are all useless until and unless the increasing trend of
emigration of highly skilled and professionals individuals to foreign lands is controlled. There is a
common view that reward structures, salary packages and work environments are better in foreign

lands than at home. Therefore, thousands of highly educated engineers, doctors, scientists and
managers who were educated and trained here at high social costs have already moved to various
developed nations and a lot more are planning to do so. Most of them permanently settled abroad and
thus the native expertise that could benefit us benefits the already affluent nations.
To reduce this brain drain and to employ highly educated individuals at home, serious efforts are
needed to improve their salary structures, work conditions, devising promotion policies and hiring
manpower purely on merit.
Conclusion
Those with advanced degrees contribute to higher labour-force productivity and significantly contribute
to national income because R &D activities in industry are undertaken by those who have university
education. A world that is driven by technology, higher education determines the state of prosperity,
welfare and a brighter future of a country. It is the competencies of our graduates that will determine
how much we have been successful in improving the living standards of our people.
Higher education is pivotal to the advancement of our growing population. In order to keep pace with
rapidly globalising world, we need to inculcate more technicalities in us. We have to run fast to win the
race and even faster to outshine all others because destiny of a country is shaped in her classrooms
and for a brighter destiny, we need colleges and universities to produce scholars with advanced
degrees.