Category: Higher Education
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Science and Technology Rat Race (ٹرک کی بتی)
We were mindlessly and blindly made to follow the chimera of science and technology. Unfortuately Pakistan was steered away from the essential fields that make a nation great and were diverted to a rat race towards the glitter of Science and Technology. See the related blogpost “Myth of our Country being Backward because we lag…
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How HEC Kills Creativity and How PEC Kills Creativity
How HEC and PEC kill creativity! They kill creativity by targeting the roots from where creativity and innovation originate. Creativity, innovation, new paradigms, new frameworks and and new ideas originate from out-of-the-box thinking, lateral thinking, inter-disciplinary aha experiences. However, HEC/PEC’s notion of quality works in the reverse direction; they force faculty, curriculum as well as…
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HEC Ranking Fiasco Genesis
University Rankings in Pakistan Dr. Syed Irfan Hyder, January 5, 2004 https://www.dawn.com/news/1065476 This is with reference to the letter to the editor of Dawn, December 31, 2003 where the writer has highlighted the risks of jumping prematurely in the area of university rankings. Development of a ranking system is a good idea, but coming up…
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What HEC Quality Criteria Did Not Measure
[Written in December 11, 2003] This was written on the basis of HEC Survey that was circulated by HEC in 2003. Many of these areas are still not being covered. The survey still relies too much on brick and mortar measurements. Following important areas for determining the strength of an institute of higher learning and…
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Why HEC’s Foreign Faculty Hiring Plan failed
This was written in June 2003 when HEC with a fanfare started the program and spent billions of rupees. Why HEC’s Foreign Faculty Hiring Plan may fail: HEC and its bureaucracy is not equipped to run and monitor projects. HEC and not the employer organization is going to make a decision on who is to…
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Different Types of Research Contributions and Challenges in Defense
Paper Writing and Research Strategies [Copied from the net in 2012. Source unknown] Introduction Here is a brief reminder of how to write papers and what kinds of papers to write. Please also see the other materials on our web site on paper structure. What matters most about a paper is what the reader gets…
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Quality and Duration of PhD Degree: Will HEC recognize Iqbal’s PhD ?
Do you know that Allama Iqbal’s PhD thesis would never have passed HEC’s quality criteria of minimum duration of three years for a PhD! Iqbal arrived in Germany between 17 to 20 July 1907. Munich University issued call for defense on 21st July. Defense was held on 10th November 1907. A group photo, of young…
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Covey’s First Habit Advice to Proponents of Corruption Eradication First
Stephen Covey’s first habit advice to anti-corruption proponents: First habit of highly successful people states that focusing on circle of concern is counter productive. Instead focusing on your circle of Influence will cause it to expand, and this expansion will eventually take care of your concerns. “Process Efficiency” is in your circle of Influence and…
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Incompetence and inefficiency is the Mother of Corruption and is the fundamental problem of third world countries
Had corruption been the cause of our problems, then IK’s “clean” govt’s anti-corruption drive should have been showing better results. IK’s “clean” govt has falsified the hypothesis that Pakistan’s plight is because of corruption! It is the inefficiency and incompetence, stupids! Incompetence, not corruption, is responsible for our woes and problem. [To understand the context…
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Javier Poncela-Professor from Malaga Spain who Taught us Selfless International Collaboration
Very sad. It was very sad to learn that Dr. Javier Poncela, a Professor at the University of Malaga, Spain had passed away. Dr Poncela was a well known personality in the electrical engineering departments of the universities of Sindh. He became a popular academician in Pakistani community and was routinely invited for the conferences…
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Myth of Bigger Infrastructure Means Better Education: Quality vs Infrastructure
Myth: Bigger Infrastructure Means Better Education: We were told that only high-quality universities should be allowed to come up. Primary criteria for high quality were the size of the campus, covered area and other brick and mortar facilities. HEC, SHEC, PHEC, CIEC and their institutional proformas are replete with questions about the size of the…
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What Should New Students of a University Must Consider: Essentials of a University Education
Why Education and Why Higher Education What is the Purpose of Education What does it mean to be well educated and what is our mission What is Higher Education What is Impact can you create What Impact on Society What Impact on Industry and Economy What should be your personal Impact Here is the detailed…
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5 Challenges for Designing your Professional Lives
Faculty, Parents and my dear students: As I look at your beaming faces full of hope and aspirations and great expectations of your future after four years of university life, I first invite you to try to soak in this environment of this marvelous infrastructure at IoBM. You are sitting in the building which is…
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Forthright and Courageous Gentleman-Col Raza Kamal at KIET
Col (r) Raza Kamal from 17 Baluch (2 Sind). A thorough gentleman and a great colleague. His commitment and dedication as Director College of Management Sciences at PAF KIET was exemplary. I had a long 10+ years association as Dean n Vice president of PAF KIET with Col Raza Kamal. It started during KIET’s initial…
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Dynamic Role of Abstract in Guiding the Flow of Writing of a PhD Dissertation
Abstract is the first thing in a dissertation that is read, and is often the last. A dissertation is at most read by 1.6 people from end to end, including the author [1]. PhD dissertation is written to enable a researcher to find all information necessary for replicating the results and understand the thesis. Hence,…
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Government Spending, Keynesian Economics and Pakistan’s Economic Slide in 2018-19
This issue was the beginning of the start of destruction of economy. So many apparently sane people people lost it through his charisma. We need to take a hard look at how criticism for the sake of criticism destroyed the “development” cycle of Pakistan’s economy. Development expenditure on flyovers, metros, motorways etc increases the money…
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How to Eliminate Corruption in Pakistan: Simplicity and Transparency of Bureaucratic Procedures
Corruption is directly proportional to the complexity of bureaucratic procedures and is inversely proportional to the transparency of bureaucratic procedures. The bureaucratic procedures are being made more complicated (eg. even a pencil purchase requires approval) and censorship is being imposed, which will further decrease transparency and will thus increase corruption. For a perfectly transparent process,…
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Overcoming Forex/IMF Problem through Incentivizing Small Producers of Solar Energy
How to resolve Dollar PKR devaluation problem and avoid IMF loan. I think PTI Imran Khan’s strategy to focus on small producers has a lot of potential. Here is what can bring tabdeeli through massive generation of jobs and overcoming the foreign exchange issue of rising dollar and devaluation of rupee. I think experts in…
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Zauq-e-Aagahi, Quresh Pur and PTV’s role in Inspiring a Generation of Knowledge Seekers
Once upon a time on PTV we used to have quiz competitions of the highest order. I grew up with many such programs that made me look up to the contestants as the wizards of knowledge. Unfortunately today on TV we find nothing except crass, gross, coarse and vulgar competitions like programs where they are…
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Exemplary Inspirational and Collaborative Leadership – Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad
Today (Sep 10, 2018), with the departure of Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad for the hereafter. I lost a mentor, a guide and a trail blazer who exemplified what does it mean to be an inspirational leader. Inna lillah e wa inna ilaihi rajioon. A loss that seems more acute because I could have learned much…
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“Skin in the Game” Public Service Reforms in Pakistan- A Proposal
The fastest way to reform the public sector is to bring the bureaucracy’s skin in the “game” of changing the bureaucratic structures and increasing the efficiency. Unless the decision makers are themselves going to feel the adverse consequences of their decisions and hurdles they would not be willing to make positive changes in improving the…
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Essential Orientation for Teachers and Faculty Members
Essential Orientation for Faculty Members, Teachers and Facilitators embarking on a journey to understand experiential learning and weaning away from the conventional mode of teaching. In my opinion this is the minimum level of understanding required by teachers of schools and universities.To maximally gain from this material, watch the following videos and read the following blog…
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How to be a Change Leader and a Job Creator
[IoBM Orientation for New Students Sep 1, 2018] As I look at your beaming faces, your youthful energy, and your ambitions for shaping the future of our nation and our dear country, I am filled with hope. I am sure that our future is destined to be better than our today. It is also welcoming…
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Technical Analysis of Helicopter Cost Debate for PM Imran Khan Travel
Recently Pakistan’s information minister’s claim that the helicopter ride of PM Imran Khan costs Rs50/km became viral on social media and caused a lot of posts debunking and defending with humor and exaggeration. There were also claims that the cost is Rs 30/km and not Rs 50/km and led to cynics doing all sorts of…
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How to Sabotage Change (Tabdeeli) by Turning the Focus from Output to Input
Change Resistance from bureaucracy against IK’s “tabdeeli” agenda through very clever manoeuvre by taking IK’s eyes off the ball (output). By opening the Pandora box of holidays per week, Sir Humphery (of Yes Prime Minister serial fame) or equivalent senior bureaucrat in the IK’s clique had turned the debate away from “output” measurement and towards…
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Dr Muhammad Mahmud of IBA: A Self-made Industrious Faculty Member
Dr M Mahmud expired early morning of July 12, 2018. Inna lillah e wa inna ilaihi rajioon. May Allah reward him with the best of abodes in the hereafter. Aameen. Allah blessed him with 27th Ramazan night to start this journey. He was an alumnus of IBA. His association with IBA started in 1967-68 in…
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Top Ten Reasons Why HEC Abandoned Quality Ranking of Universities
Recent decision of HEC to abandon its quality rankings [1] needs to be welcomed. It was an initiative motivated by hubris with scant regard to societal and industry requirements. It was conceived and designed by those who wanted all the universities to become research universities and clones of each other. It was a whip with…
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Power of Word in Value Based Education: Discriminating Truth from Falsehood
Honorable Prime Minister, Group Chairperson City School, dignitaries, educationists, teachers and my dear students. I thank the organizers for giving me the opportunity to speak about value based education, some thing that is near and dear to my heart. Power of Word emanates from the depth of our feelings. Words are only words unless they…
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Metro/trains vs hospitals vs schools: Where to Allocate Meagre Resources
[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions] Metro/trains vs hospitals vs schools vs dams vs energy vs other infrastructure projects? Allocation of resources to infrastructure projects and measurement of their comparative benefits is a political decision and should be decided by people not…
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Sir Najmul Hasan of IBA and How to Determine the Extent of Your Success in Life
Yesterday, during my PhD class with students I was trying to explain the complexity of real world and how models (and theories) help us in making sense of this complexity by focusing on a few concepts and their relationships. The discussion moved towards perception and reality and from there to this phenomenal lesson by Najmul…