Our Universities terrible state of research and what we can do about it

While Pakistani colleges have a tradition of excellent classroom instruction, there is far too little research being done to help Pakistan build its economic, social, and scientific policies.

I've been involved with academia and research for more than seven years, and the quality of most of our researchers' publications has always bothered me.

The sloppy status of research efforts in Pakistani universities can be attributed to a number of factors. However, many of these issues can be overcome by taking a few small moves in the right direction.

For the sake of promotion, conduct research.

Some supervisors are concerned about the quality of research because of their research group's international ranking, while the majority are not. Scholars who pursue their studies at prestigious universities abroad produce fewer but higher-quality papers, whereas those who study here do the opposite.

Promotion at Pakistani universities requires a particular number of publications as well as a PhD. The quality of publications is conveniently overlooked, and a person with fewer good papers with hundreds of citations is left behind, while someone with a large number of articles in unknown conferences and journals gets promoted to tenured professor. This discourages academics from working hard after receiving their PhDs, and after they return to Pakistan, they publish in a variety of journals.

Collaboration and communication are both lacking.

Quality research requires two major ingredients: communicating the findings and cooperating on future projects.

Universities in Pakistan devote minimal attention to sharing and spreading their professors' research. Indolence, poor networking and relations, jealousy, and simply an entrenched culture that has accepted mediocrity as its trademark and has long been hopeless in the fight against it are all contributing factors.

Obtaining finance can be a difficult task.

And why is the majority of the research so shoddy? One of the main reasons is that creative, ground-breaking research requires money.

Universities in industrialized countries have dedicated funds for academic training, which they use to send their faculty to summer schools and seminars. Regular seminars are held, and eminent scholars from around the world are invited to present their findings to the young researchers.

Although HEC has some funds for conference planning and travel subsidies for researchers attending conferences, the process is excessively lengthy. Researchers must apply for visas prior to attending the conference, and due to the lengthy process of funding acceptance, they are sometimes unable to obtain visas on time.

There is an excessive gap between academia and industry.

Around the world, industry collaborates with academia to develop cutting-edge research that addresses today's pressing issues. In industrialized countries, the transfer of information from academia to industry is a top priority.

However, in Pakistan, the divide between university and industry is just too large. Research isn't shaped by industry concerns, and it's not good enough to address them in the first place. When our graduates go out job-hunting, their isolation from the actual world is also the reason they are judged ill-equipped and insufficient for the professional world.

What can be done to improve the ailing research culture?

We need to start thinking long-term and establish research-friendly environments in our universities if we want to instil healthy and fruitful research practises in academia.

• If we wish to instil healthy and fruitful research practises in academia, we need to start thinking long-term and create research-friendly settings in our universities.
• Universities should make it essential for every faculty member to produce at least one high-quality paper as a lead author per year to keep the most senior academics engaged in research. This will ensure that even tenured professors participate actively in research and do not abandon it once they have secured their position.
• Given that a large number of scholars are now returning to Pakistan, it is only reasonable to assist these newcomers and help them integrate into the system. Regular, weekly meetings should be held to this purpose, when faculty members can discuss ongoing projects. This will be a step toward enhanced communication and networking, mutual understanding, and knowledge dissemination to other academics not only within Pakistan but also outside the country. Efforts like this will, in the end, lead to more fruitful research collaborations.
• It is critical for industry and academia to work together. Students can help address industrial challenges at a lesser cost if they are involved in the projects. One strategy is to assign small research-based projects to Bachelors and Masters students, with the first supervisor coming from academics and the second from industry.

Although academic research is relatively new to Pakistan, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has been sending researchers abroad for higher education for over a decade.

Now is the moment to move forward with research-based projects in both undergraduate and graduate programmes. We won't be able to create a whole new culture overnight, but we can start by teaching the fundamentals of research at the undergraduate level.