Status of higher education in Islamabad

Abstract

This thesis was taken in hand with a view to make an in-depth study of higher education offered by the chartered universities in Islamabad, to highlight the problems faced by the students through research of syllabi, visits and a survey in this regard. Although most of the universities are in line with the laid down policy of the Higher Literacy Commission of Pakistan and to some extent International standards yet some aspects need immediate attention of the government as well as the universities themselves to bring it in line with the modem day requirements. Although Islamabad is sparsely populated as compared to the rest of Pakistan's cities, it has a sufficient number of universities and institutions for higher education. These universities offer disciplines with a variety of choices for the students. Some disciplines related to the basic requirement for economic growth like agro sciences and animal husbandry are ignored in this area. The methodology adopted for the research was collection of secondary data from various sources like the Internet, consultations with the Higher Literacy Commission and Libraries. To gain more insight about the problem statement, which were developed, an extensive survey with a proper developed questionnaire was conducted by using random sampling of 120 respondents with 10 from every university, out of the whole population. The research revealed that enough universities are available in the capital territory but with limited disciplines. Most of the universities barring a couple do not have adequate facilities for the students and need to improve their campuses and over all standards. m The problem of acceptability of Pakistani degrees world wide also remains a big problem for students, which needs to be looked into and taken up with different countries in order to enable the students to get higher degrees and experience from abroad. Another problem occurring in the universities of Islamabad 1s the student involvement in the basic decisions to improve the system of education as well as the system on the whole, this problem should also be given priority by the universities and the student- teacher relationship should be developed. More universities need to offer boarding facilities in order to enable students from all over the country to come and study for the formation of a better and a cohesive society.