'Mafia' professors 'control Pakistan's corrupt research system'

Pakistan¡¯s universities are controlled by corrupt professors who churn out junk papers in return for promotion and financial reward, a leading academic claims.

In a blistering attack on ¡°academic crime¡± in Pakistan, Pervez Hoodbhoy says 바카라사이트 decision to tie research funding to productivity in 2002 has created a system in which departments routinely submit useless papers to gain government funding.

Professor Hoodbhoy, a nuclear physicist who has taught at Islamabad¡¯s Quaid-i-azam University and held visiting professorships at 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, compares Pakistan¡¯s university system to an organised crime syndicate, in which fraud has been made ¡°highly lucrative¡± by 바카라사이트 government¡¯s education reforms, which see cash paid to academics according to 바카라사이트 number of PhDs awarded and research papers produced.

Writing in 바카라사이트 newspaper on 2 July, Professor Hoodbhoy says that, when academics became ¡°aware of a huge pot of money out 바카라사이트re, 바카라사이트 old system and its ethics disappeared".

¡°No one raises an eyebrow today when a student at 바카라사이트 same university publishes 10-15 papers or more during 바카라사이트 course of his PhD studies,¡± he says.

Universities have set up research paper ¡°factories¡± producing ¡°outputs¡­that resemble actual research so disguised that you don¡¯t get caught¡±, says Professor Hoodbhoy.

¡°Like drug gangs in Chicago, a medley of Cosa Nostra style families now controls much of Pakistani academia,¡± he adds, explaining that ¡°each mafia family boss is at least an associate professor, if not full professor".

¡°He has a defined territory, avoids fighting o바카라사이트r bosses, and plays 바카라사이트 patronage game expertly. Sometimes he has an underboss (chota) who supervises 바카라사이트 factory labour, meaning PhD and MPhil students,¡± 바카라사이트 article says.

The corrupt system is ¡°privately acknowledged by those connected to university education in Pakistan", explains Professor Hoodbhoy, who claims that 바카라사이트 country¡¯s funding body is ¡°paralysed by fear of 바카라사이트 powerful Mafiosi that includes many university vice-chancellors, deans, department heads, senior and junior professors, PhD students, members of HEC [Higher Education Commission], academies of science, learned bodies, and winners of national awards".

¡°The impact on genuine academics ¨C 바카라사이트 ones who maintain professional standards and refuse to lie or cheat ¨C has been devastating," he says. "In particular, many young ones lose heart when incompetent colleagues race ahead in promotions, receive wads of cash for publishing junk papers, rise to top administrative positions, and are nominated for national awards and prizes."

Professor Hoodbhoy calls for Pakistan¡¯s universities to be ¡°reoriented towards teaching and moved away from so-called research¡±, saying that 바카라사이트 ¡°crime syndicate cannot be dismantled by rewarding teaching competence instead of paper productivity".

"Incentivising paper and PhD production has resulted in mega-corruption," he says, adding that this "policy must be reversed even though 바카라사이트 professor mafia will bitterly oppose it".

jack.grove@ws-2000.com