Category: Higher Education
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Conference Marketing and Promotion-Where is the “conference” in a conference!
Conference Marketing and Promotion: Where is the “conference” in a conference? Marketing and branding of a conference depends upon its value proposition for its participants. Currently value proposition of most conferences is often every thing except the “confer” part of the conference, which means exchange of ideas and discussions. Typical value propositions of existing conferences…
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What is Meant by Rigor of PhD Research
The rigor with which your hypothesis are tested and the methodology that is pursued differentiates a PhD from an MS/MPhil [1]. A PhD is held to higher standards of meticulousness and scholarship which becomes evident from the rigor of the analysis of conditions, constraints, variables that influence the experiment, and may have an impact observations,…
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Why I am a Faculty Member
Why I am a faculty member: (1) Meeting a student who graduated a long time ago and who comes over and tries to make me recall him and his batch. Then reminds me of one of my lesson that he remembers to this day and that has changed his life. This is the great fulfilling…
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Myth: Government Universities Cost Less than Private Universities
This post explores the myth that Public Universities Cost Lower than Private Universities. I think the average cost per student per year of a public university is much more than that of a private university. Given below is a preliminary analysis. A more detailed analysis is required. 2005-2006 Analysis of Public sector universities indicates that:…
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How Readers are Created. Ecosystem that Produces Readers
How can we create readers and an ecosystem where readers can thrive. How do we make reading a contagious disease when our educational institutions from schools to universities have become mass producers of functional illiterates [1]. Universities complain that they are getting intake that has studied English for 12 years but have no reading comprehension and…
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How Literature Review of a PhD Dissertation Presents the State of the Art: Synthesis vs Listing
Quality of literature review is what majorly differentiates a PhD Thesis from an MS Thesis. The qualitative difference is in the digestion and synthesis of the existing work into a framework on which your research contribution and sequence can stand. This synthesis of existing work in the topic area should itself be worthy of a…
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How Schools Teach Students to Hate Reading: Mass Creation of Non-Readers
Schools are producing graduates who know how to read but are not readers. They have become non-readers (functional illiterates) because the schools have taught them to hate reading! Functional Illiteracy Schools typically use a curriculum and methodology that consists of senseless and meaningless worksheets and exercises which the students are forced to do repeatedly, continuously…
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How to become a Life-Long Learner: Mission of Developing Life-Long Learners
This is the first orientation of new students of IoBM over the last 23 years, where our founder president, Mr Shahjehan Karim is not present. He left us for the hereafter last month. Inna lillahe wa inna ilaihi rajioon. He worked tirelessly all his life to make a world a better place. This institution of…
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What is a Problem Statement and its role in MS-PhD Research
I am coming across research proposals and dissertations where there is a section heading called “Problem Statement” under which you find several paragraphs containing everything except the “Problem Statement”! The problem statement seems to be embedded somewhere in these several paragraphs but never crisply, precisely stated in a single sentence. Statement is ONE sentence. The…
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What is a Thesis Statement and its Role in PhD-MS Research
My supervisor JC Browne at the University of Texas at Austin during 1990-1993 made me write the problem statement and the thesis statement for every research paper that I would read for my literature survey. Since early 2000s, when I started supervising my research students, I have also found the “Thesis Statement” extremely useful in…
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How to Read a Research Paper and Extract Problem Statement and Thesis Statement
Based on my experience of research supervision since 2002, I can safely say that if you do not know how to read a technical research paper and from it identify the problem statement and thesis statement and write them in a convincing readable manner then it would be difficult for you to complete your MS/PhD…
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Shahjehan S Karim – Visionary Social and Ethical Leadership
Founder President of IoBM, Mr Shahjehan S Karim left this world for the hereafter today. Inna lillah e wa inna ilaihi rajioon. Several thoughts came rushing to my mind about this great man and his achievements that have been an inspiration to me and to countless others. [July 16, 2017] Each day as I walk…
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How do I lift thee from the mundane: Musings of a Dean
How Do I Lift Thee From the Mundane What a fleeting time is youth! that beckons the future that walks in beauty that gallops with force that exudes energy in every motion that dances with the daffodils that climbs every mountain that explores every valley that aspires for the stars Ah, the Youth, whose purpose…
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Why Students Avoid and Stop Taking the Course of Some Teachers: 7 Top Reasons
Over the last 37 years in higher education as student (from 1980-94), and as faculty member and academic administrator (since 1995), I have come across scores of instances where students went out of the way to avoid certain teachers, dropped the course en-mass, ganged up to remove the teacher, walked out or simply dropped the…
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Why Educational Experiments are “Doomed” to Succeed?
It is often said that all educational experiments are doomed to succeed [1]. Here is my different take on this from the perspective of an educational reformer and educational leader. There are tons of methodologies, experiments, strategies and their resources that are available to teachers. However, when a teacher designs a new educational experiment, it…
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Top 10 Reasons Why Students Fail in Semester System- Survival Guide
About 5%-10% of students entering the university are unable to survive the semester system. The following list of top 10 reasons is based on my observations as a student from 1980-1994 at NED, IBA Karachi and at Univ of Texas at Austin. These are also based on my interactions with dropouts as faculty member from…
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Dr Wahab and IBA of 1980s and 1990s
Dr Abdul Wahab went to meet his creator on Sep 6, 2016 morning, inna lillah we wa inna ilaihi rajioon. The news brought flashbacks of several memories from my association with IBA; first as an MBA student from 1985 to 1987, and then during my stint as a faculty member from 1995 to Dec 2000, the last…
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Youth Leadership and Dave Ulrich-Orientation for University Students
[Presented at IoBM Orientation Session for Fall 2016 intake on Sep 3] Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending a workshop on leadership at Karachi Marriott by Dave Ulrich, who is considered as the father of modern Human Resource Management. Ulrich is a professor at the University of Michigan and a consultant to top companies…
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Why Engineering Students are Reluctant to become Entrepreneurs: Role of PEC and Universities
Presented at ICEE-2016, International Conference on Entrepreneurial Engineering: Commercialization of Engineering Projects and Research There are several reasons why Engineering students in Pakistan have been found to be reluctant to opt for entrepreneurship in their engineering fields as opposed to other disciplines such as Computer Science. These reasons can be classified in five major categories;…
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Abuse of Presentation Slides in Classrooms: Ban Powerpoint Presentations
Problems with Powerpoint Presentations in Classroom A couple of weeks ago I came to deliver a presentation in a seminar after four speakers who were delivering a technical talk to the business owners using powerpoint and speaking in English, which is the second or third language of the speakers and the audience. I could see…
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Conclusion vs Assumption in Research Writing- Flipping the Thread of Argument in your PhD Thesis
Conclusion vs Assumption in Research Writing- Flipping the Thread of Argument in your PhD Thesis Research especially PhD research is often not a predictable process. Starting with some assumptions we start moving in a particular direction, however, the direction may change a number of times during our journey. Initially, we may have started in a…
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Discerning the Forest from the Trees – The Insights from my PhD Supervisor JC Browne
In the acknowledgement section of my PhD dissertation in 1994, I wrote: I appreciate the support and help of my advisor, Dr. James. C. Browne. His vision and ability to abstract away the details has taught me how to discern the forest from the trees. Working with him, I learned the full import of what…
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Names vs Intent and Contents of Programs and Courses: Experiential Learning Case Study
There is an interesting academic issue related to the name of a course and its relationship with the intent and contents of the course. Over the last 20 years in academic management of curricula at several universities involving design of degree programs from bachelors to PhD level and introducing scores of new courses and monitoring…
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What Students Expect from their Teachers: Roles and Responsibilities of Teachers
Core of the following talk was presented at 3rd Conference of Deans and Directors of Business Schools organized by NBEAC at PC Lahore, Feb17-18, 2016. The talk was presented during the session Roles and Responsibilities of Business Schools’ Teachers: Perspectives of Students. This talk is based on my experiences of managing the expectations of students…
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What is the Difference between MS/MPhil Research and PhD Research
What is the Difference between MS/MPhil Research and PhD Research An MPhil/MS research differs qualitatively in two aspects with a PhD Research: (i) Quality of literature survey, and (ii) rigor of research methodology [1]. 1. Digestion and Synthesis of Related Research or Literature Survey. PhD literature survey requires a synthesis of the related literature in…
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Depressive Moods and Psychology of a PhD Student: What Causes Depression and leads to dropouts or even suicides
The mood and psychology of thesis research students directly corresponds to their progress status. If you are making continuous progress you would be positive, if you are not making progress or are missing the advising sessions then you would be pessimistic. Your pessimism and your disappointment and disillusionment will continue to increase with the time…
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Am I ready for MPhil/PhD Research: Self Checklist
Am I Ready to Embark on my Thesis/Dissertation Research? Self-Checklist. This checklist will help evaluate your status of preparation for embarking on your thesis research. If you have not carefully gone through this list, be prepared for depression and discouragement during your research: I know the difference between a thesis and a project. A project…
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Change Management in Academics: Change Agents and Credit Hours
Over the last twenty years, I have been involved in various change management efforts involving faculty members. Change management is hard and difficult in any organization; bigger the organization, more complex the change, and greater the challenge. Each organization has its own culture which makes change management distinctively challenging. In universities, it becomes especially challenging…
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How to Select an MPhil/PhD Research Topic
To appreciate the following you must have read my post “What does it Mean to be a PhD: Myths of specialization and departmental scope of expertise“. How to Select the Area of My Research? Don’t spend too much time mulling over which area of research to concentrate on. If you feel that you have entered…
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Why PhD?
Why energetic youth should pursue PhD? I think PhD is necessary for our youth, especially those who (1) have the opportunity and (2) have the academic background, for several reasons: I think it is ingratitude (na-shukri) of our youth who have the intellect and the opportunity to go for a PhD but do not. It is na-shukri…
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Managing English Teaching Outcomes in Universities: An Experiential Learning Case Study of ESL/EFL
My recollections as Vice President and Dean about ensuring the learning outcomes of English courses at PAF KIET from 2002-2012. Around ten to twelve years ago in our academic discussions with the President of the institute where I was working at that time, we would often worry about raising the English skills of our students.…