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Private universities lag behind in research
By Ali Usman
LAHORE: A majority of the city’s private universities lag behind in
research and go without contributing any major publications to the
peer-reviewed journals, a report on universities by the Higher
Education Commission (HEC) has revealed.
HEC has compiled a report by taking into account publications by
Pakistani universities, which appeared in peer-reviewed journals
indexed by Thomson-Reuter, ISI Web of Knowledge during the years
2007 and 2008.
The databases used for this analysis were Science Citation Index,
Social Science Citation Index, and Art and Humanities Citation
Index.
According to the report, the Quaid-e-Azam University tops the list
with 544 publications in 2008 and 409 publications in 2007.
University of Karachi comes in second position with 419 publications
in 2008 and 276 publications in 2007. Aga Khan University is the
only private university that comes in the top five universities on
the basis of research publications. The university is third in the
list with 311 publications in 2008 and 186 publications in 2007. The
University of the Punjab is the only university from Lahore that
comes in the top five universities. The university is fifth with 278
publications in 2008 and 162 publications in 2007.
Private universities: The report shows that the majority of private
universities in Lahore are not focusing on research and have only a
few publications during 2007 and 2008. Lahore University of
Management Sciences (LUMS) is the only private university in Lahore
that has contributed in the internationally recognised journals.
LUMS is fourth in the list of universities from Lahore. The
university has 27 publications in 2008 and 19 publications in 2007.
No other private institution in Lahore has produced research based
publications.
Many reputed government institutions including the Forman Christian
College University (FCCU) and Kinnaird College did not publish any
research material. FCCU has three and Kinnaird College only one
publication in 2008.
HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail H Naqvi told Daily Times this
ranking had nothing to do with the overall positions of the
universities and was only a research-based report on universities.
He said many reputed private institutions focused on market-oriented
courses and Bachelors degrees and were less focused on the research.
“Besides, most of the research is possible with government funding.
For some years, HEC has been providing scholarships to the private
institutions like LUMS and Aga Khan University which are doing
really well,” he added. He said the research work in the
universities has now improved as compared to the previous years.
Daily Times:June 8, 2009 |
