RETHINKING THE CULTURE OF RESEARCH IN PAKISTAN

This paper investigates the current strengths and gaps across research in Pakistan, assessing the current state of Pakistan's own internal research culture as well as international links and visibility and proposes a set of recommendations to policymakers and senior academic stakeholders. Improving the quality and reach of Pakistan's research and innovation agenda is a core priority under the Pakistan Higher Education Committee's Vision 2025. This research piece is developed with these priorities in mind and to explore what expertise the UK might offer to Pakistan as it builds its research capacity and looks to become a globally competitive research and education centre of excellence.

The study included a comprehensive literature review on the development of research frameworks and quality assurance in Pakistan and worldwide, including literature from the USA, UK and Singapore. Approximately 335 Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan participated in a survey assessing the quality, frequency and visibility of research in universities. In depth interviews were conducted with over 100 influencers, policymakers and academic leaders in Pakistan, including the Higher Education Commission, and 12 case studies were collected. Fieldwork also included interviews with five senior academic and industry stakeholders in the UK to provide context for the UK's development of a research culture, which could be taken forward and adopted by Pakistan (including the Research Excellence Framework).

The findings revealed an acute awareness among both practitioners and leaders in the research field of the challenges facing Pakistan's research: inter-university information sharing and network building; the lack of a national online research hub and poor digital visibility and profiling within institutions; the need to strengthen research assessment bodies and develop an excellent framework; weak links between higher education and industry; low take-up of research within the industry sector; funding streams for research limited by discipline with sparse funding available for humanities and social sciences. The literature review posits that these trends are likely to be echoed in other developing countries and thus have a broader significance and audience interest beyond Pakistan.

The report proposes a set of recommendations to address these deficits, which will be discussed with the Higher Education Commission and other policy and departmental bodies, as well as the Chancellors and Vice Chancellors of Pakistan's university network. The report advocates for the development of an accessible, high quality online platform that collates recently published research, ongoing and upcoming research funding opportunities, dissemination events and fully developed academic profiles for research contributors. Secondly, for relationship building and knowledge sharing to be conducted across higher education and industry. Thirdly, capacity building for research assessment bodies to critically review research reports and rigorously check quality of outputs. Fourthly, development of information sharing programme between UK and Pakistan, to inform development of Research Excellence Framework in Pakistan and increase opportunities for academics in Pakistan and UK to collaborate on mutually relevant pieces of research, thereby strengthening the bilateral relationship and research portfolio, sharing expertise and engendering trust.