Higher Education in the Kerry-Lugar Bill: “American-style” Universities

The Kerry-Lugar bill continues to advance through the legislative process. On Friday, the US House of Representatives authorized $1.519 billion in assistance to Pakistan and the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the bill the day before allocating $1.57 billion in aid to Pakistan. The difference between the House and Senate versions have to be resolved before the bill actually becomes law, and can materialize into actual aid.

Interestingly, in his companion report to the Senate bill, Senator John Kerry includes a vision of introducing “american-style” universities in Pakistan.

The companion report states that:

“Whereas scholarship and fellowship programs are an important part of United States assistance and positively impact relations between our people, it is cost-effective to develop local capacity in American-style higher education in order to broaden cultural understanding. There is a long and remarkable history of American schools and universities around the world. Universities that emulate American curricula such as in Beirut, Lebanon and Cairo, Egypt, have been successfully drawing talented students and producing leaders in government, business, science and education.”

It further goes on to laud the achievements of specific alumni of American Universities in the Middle East:

“They have produced leaders such as Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister; Ali Al-Naimi, Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum; Dr. Ashraf Ghani, former Afghan Finance Minister and World Bank official; and former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad. It is intended that assistance under this Act be used to explore the opportunity to establish an American University in Pakistan.”

While the sentiment is quite laudable, one wonders whether Senator Kerry, his staff, or the advisers assisting him in crafting this report, are aware of the slew of universities currently in operation in Pakistan that are closely modeled on the modern American university. The Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (GIKI), for instance, has a a four year, semester-system with GPA based evaluation. The Lahore Univeristy of Management Sciences (LUMS) has a quarterly-system, modeled, as well, after the system in some american universities. These universities, the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), and several other public and private universities already have curricula that is, by any reasonable standard, “american-style” — styled on the template of courses taught in universities in the US. The problem isn’t establishing local capacity in american higher education — that’s already here. The fundamental problem is finding academics and staff that can make universities work, american or otherwise.

To me, what is most notable in the list of accomplished alumni of the American Universities is the absence of a single noted scientist or academic. Having visited the American University in Dubai and Sharjah, I got the distinct impression that these were money-making ventures, without much interest in creating a true intellectual environment (e.g., neither had a PhD program). If Senator Kerry’s proposal of establishing an American university in Pakistan does pan out, one also wonders who would be tasked with the project itself. Would it be the state department or a private enterprise? Or will it proceed via the HEC? After the fiasco with the Universities mega-project, a multi-billion rupee boondoggle, there may be should be some trepidation.

Another alternative is to encourage an existing American university to establish a satellite campus in Pakistan, like New York University in Abu Dhabi, or Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. However, both these initiatives have been heavily subsidized by the local governments of Qatar and UAE. Perhaps the funds from the Kerry-Lugar bill can be used to incentivize leading american universities (perhaps public US universities?) to establish programs in Pakistan. Security concerns aside, these enterprises seem to have come closest to transplanting viable academic institution in countries where academic and intellectual traditions are currently dormant.