A CASE STUDY OF GC UNIVERSITY LAHORE By: Prof.Dr.Nasira Jabeen, Phd & Tayyeb Ali Khan, MPhil.

1. A CASE STUDY OF GC UNIVERSITY LAHORE By: Prof.Dr.Nasira Jabeen, Phd & Tayyeb Ali Khan, MPhil. AN EVALUATION OF IMPLEMENTATION OF TENURE TRACK SYSTEM (TTS) IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OF PAKISTAN

2. CONTRIBUTORS 1. Tayyeb Ali Khan M.Phil in Management Institute of Administrative Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore Research Interests: Human Resource Management, Organizational Behaviour, Public Sector Reforms Email: tayyebalikhan@yahoo.com March 29, 2011

3. CONTRIBUTORS 2. Dr. Nasira Jabeen Professor of Public Administration Director, Institute of Administrative Sciences, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan Post-Doctorate South Asia Institute, University of Austin at Texas, USA. Research Interests: Governance, Human Resource Development, Public Sector Reforms. March 29, 2011

4. CONTENTS 1 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 2 METHODOLOGY 3 RESULTS 4 DISSCUSSION 5 CONCLUSION March 29, 2011

5. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The main purpose of the study was to review the of implementation status of TTS in higher education institutions of Pakistan and to investigate factors that facilitate or impede implementation of TTS as part of administrative reform. Since GCU is the first among General Universities of the Punjab which adopted TTS and implemented the scheme in 2005 it was selected as a case in point for the study. March 29, 2011

6. STUDY QUESTIONS The study attempts to provide insights to the following questions: What were the perceived and actual constraints for adopting tenure track system in higher education institutions of Pakistan? What were the various problems faced by the public universities in adopting the system and how were they handled ? What were the major challenges of the TTS in terms of performance measurement, quality improvement, and evaluation of teaching, research and administrative services? What improvements can be made to the system? Is there any alternative to the system? March 29, 2011

7. JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY Presently, public sector universities in Pakistan are confronted with the challenge of adopting Tenure Track System (TTS) as a new performance based system towards improving performance of faculty and quality of higher education institutions. Other universities can learn from the example of GC University for implementation of tenure track system in their respective universities. This study will help the stakeholders towards strengthening the system and remove its constraints at an early stage. March 29, 2011

8. METHODOLOGY Since the basic aim of the study was to capture meanings and significance rather than measuring or quantifying aspects of implementation effectiveness. Participants’ experiences and subjective interpretations were utilized to reach the findings of the study. Both primary and secondary sources of information were utilized for collection of data while secondary sources of information included examination of tenure track statutes, written correspondence of HEC with universities, primary sources consisted of semi structured interviews with respondents. March 29, 2011

9. RESULTS The findings of the study revealed that tenure track system had been dominated by few universities. Out of 110 higher education institutions and centers, six institutions has 61% of total tenure faculty. COMSATS has the highest number of tenure track faculty (19%) and they have increased their tenure track faculty almost six times in the year 2007-08 as compared to the year 2006-07. This allows us to make generalization that the focus of TTS is on limited universities. The operational difficulties experienced by many implementing agencies were not anticipated, that is why we see many versions of TTS statutes over the time. March 29, 2011

10. RESULTS Gender wise breakup of the TTS reflected that overall representation of women on tenure track has been quite low as compared to their male counterparts. This also indicates inherit bias in the system which have few women at senior academic/administrative rank(s) in universities as is exhibited in given below table: March 29, 2011

11. RESULTS The basic assumption of TTS is that it will promote a culture of quality and performance in Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan. It went through lot of revisions due to the various concerns of the existing faculty, who did not want to disturb the equilibrium of power within their departments and universities. Almost all the tenure track faculty perceived that number of research publications was the only criteria on which their performance would be judged in future. Somehow, the link of awarding tenure track with the performance of tenure track faculty was missing. March 29, 2011

12. RESULTS Due to many uncertainties associated with the scheme, most of the tenure track faculty perceived it as a short term incentive. An important lesson learnt was that in case of any fundamental change to be introduced in universities, the existing cultural context and authority structure of the implementing universities need to be studied carefully. Why did the universities hired more professors on tenure track? One possible explanation drawn from the findings was that those professors normally hold important authority positions in universities, and in order to maintain their authority structure they were given preference while granting TTS. March 29, 2011

13. RESULTS March 29, 2011

14. DISSCUSSION The major theme that emerged about perceived and actual constraints about implementation of TTS revealed that financial funds were not adequate for the scheme. The scheme future totally depends on financial condition of HEC. All respondents were agreed that university had autonomy for implementing TTS. Some faculty members criticized the scheme that it created a class culture in the university. GCU was a young university and implemented the system as its university systems were in stage of transitions. GCU has a centralized system and this fact supported the swift implementation of TTS as compared to the other universities. March 29, 2011

15. DISSCUSSION Pay was the main motivation for almost all TTS faculty for joining the scheme. Most of the TTS faculty agreed that it improved performance of teachers in the area of research. The theme emerged that Tenure Track Faculty was dissatisfied with the existing evaluation criteria with its narrow focus on publications. This dissatisfaction is quite high in social sciences and languages faculty. Most of the respondents were of the view that evaluation methods were not clearly communicated. The university should conduct an orientation on evaluation methods of tenure track faculty and clearly communicate performance expectations. March 29, 2011

16. DISSCUSSION Culture of dependence generally prevails in our higher education institutions, especially those who are financially weak. GCU was not able to support the scheme through their own funds. The need of recognition was largely felt in the faculty including TTS and non TTS members. It is recommended that financially weak universities should not be included in this scheme as it would disturb their whole reward system. March 29, 2011

17. CONCLUSION Furthermore, TTS statutes should be concrete and flexible in terms of accomplishing the objectives. Different universities have different contexts and may develop different labor contract arrangements. By saying TTS is the only reward model for future hiring might put the institutions in a straitjacket. March 29, 2011

18. CONCLUSION It was observed during the study that absence of adequate university support system, reluctance of universities for committing resources for the scheme, inadequate financial support, ignoring large number of existing faculty, lack of trust among stakeholders insufficient government funding, and changes in government priorities also pose serious hindrances in the path of successful implementation of the system. March 29, 2011

19. CONCLUSION To sum up, in order to make the scheme successful, it should be perceived as equitable with the same rewards forthcoming for the same effort. More coordination and feedback mechanism need to be established between HEC and universities. Separate titles for research and teaching can be used in order to differentiate their performance standards. The dimension of practice can be incorporated for practical disciplines like medicine and business. This can be added as another dimension for awarding tenure track. The university support systems should be improved to reduce wastage of faculty time. Weak work systems affect the working of teachers. March 29, 2011

20. CONCLUSION • Scales of teaching should be separated from civil servants scale. And in case of using the same scale, similar facilities, perks and benefits should be offered to the academic community. • Universities may come up with their own reward system for their teachers based on equity, fairness and clear outcomes linked with performance only then the system is expected to come up to the desired outcomes of quality and performance on a continued basis. • Role of Dean has been changed, now it involves many administrative activities. Therefore they should be evaluated accordingly. • A specialized human resource department is a need of the day. This department will look into modern HR practice and help the university in its process of implementation. March 29, 2011

21. PRESENT OUTLOOK OF TENURE TRACK SYSTEM (TTS) • The current statistics cited in given below tables highlighted the fact that this scheme gradually gained grounds at the ranks of Assistant Professors. The number of tenure track faculty increased from 489 (Dec 2008) to 906 (Jan 2011).(Asst. Prof. from 263(Dec 08) to – 727 (Jan2011)) • This was initial focus of the scheme and it was designed to attract young PhDs to join this scheme. • This scheme is now slowly getting its momentum among young academia and its sustainability depends on various factors which have been before. • There is a decreasing trend in ranks of Associate Professor and Professor. (Prof. from 160(Dec 08) to 136(Jan 2011) , Associate Prof. from 66(Dec 08) to – 43(Jan 2011)) March 29, 2011

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23. PRESENT OUTLOOK OF TENURE TRACK SYSTEM (TTS) • Academics at senior ranks are less motivated to join the scheme as remuneration difference among TTS and BPS scheme has been reduced. • This is due to annual increase in salary of BPS faculty, extra payment to BPS faculty members for their extra administrative and teaching work whereas TTS scale has not been revised since 2008. • Another reason for decline of TTS professor might be that many professors have reached the age of retirement. March 29, 2011

24. PRESENT OUTLOOK OF TENURE TRACK SYSTEM (TTS) • According to the data presented above, 68.2% of total funds released to ten universities. 46 universities got TTS funds in year 2010. March 29, 2011

25. Thank You ! March 29, 2011

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