The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has shut down 228 PhD programmes in different universities of the country due to a shortage of teachers, reported 24NewsHD TV channel Friday.

The HEC report has also made some startling revelations as many PhD scholars are still unemployed 

There are a number of posts that are lying vacant in many government and private universities despite the fact that some 4000 PhD scholars are still looking for a job.

According to a 2021 survey conducted by the HEC, the ratio of teachers and students was not proportionate in 268 PhD programmes out of a total 869.

According to the report, Punjab University is in need of 953 PhD teachers to carry on their PhD programmes, however, only 662 PhD degree holder teachers are currently working in the university and the university is lacking 291 teachers to fill the gap.

Government College University for Women, Faisalabad needs 448 PhD scholars to conduct PhD programmes in different disciplines, however, the university has only 224 teachers for the purpose and needed another 204 teachers to continue its programmes.

There are 168 posts lying vacant in the University of Balochistan against the 368 seats specified for the PhD scholars as the university has only 156 PhD scholars in different faculties. 

There are only 20 PhD scholars currently employed by Government College University for Women for PhD in Science and Technology programmes against 119 seats specified the purpose as 99 seats remained vacant.

In Dow University Sindh, there are 110 teachers for the PhD programmes as the University needs 244 teachers and lacks 134 teachers for the purpose. Only the Faculty of Medical Science of Dow University needs 208 PhD teachers whereas the faculty has only 96 PhD teachers as 112 seats stay vacant.

In Federal Urdu University Sindh, only 167 PhD teachers are currently applied against a total of 288 seats as 121 seats remain vacant.

There is a need for another 138 PhD scholars at Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan as the university only has PhD 51 teachers against total of 189 vacancies. The Faculty of Arts and Humanity of the university has only eight PhD teachers against 52 teachers required to fill the gap. There are 52 more PhD teachers needed for the Faculty of Basic Sciences other than nine PhD scholars currently working in the faculty.

Similarly, 71 PhD posts stay vacant out of 100 at Jinnah Medical University, 88 out of 145 at Abbottabad Science and Technology University, 37 at Allama Iqbal Open University, 60 at Bacha Khan University, 84 out of a total 205 at Pir Mahar Ali Shah Barani University and 84 at Government College University, Lahore.

According to the report, the universities appoint fresh PhD holders for one year only and the scholars who completed their PhD degrees from 2009 to 2019 are still unemployed.

The report said that only 642 scholars have registered themselves on a job portal made for providing employments to the PhD scholars.

According to the report, 358 fresh PhD holders have been appointed under Interim Placement of Fresh PhDs for one year.

For conducting a PhD programme, a department needs three full-time PhD teachers in the relevant subject as per the HEC rules and one teacher could supervise only five students at a time.

Report: Rozina Ali