Higher education: a far-fetched dream of millions.

Byline: Khalil Ahmed

Hafiz, a young boy in his early 30s, dilated on his plight why his dream of getting a professional degree in business could not come true. He struggled to save money so that he could get a higher education degree, which could guarantee him a bright future without much volatility in his income. Being the only son of his parents, he always since his adolescence wanted to make his parents proud. Since his father is a shopkeeper with a limited and irregular income, Hafiz himself wanted to do something to supplement the household income. He endeavored to get a job with his B.Com degree but to no avail.

Though he appeared in some interviews for employment, however, he was given an impression that a master's professional degree is mandatory to perform the job. The major chunk of his CVs sent for employment landed with no opportunity even for an interview call. Having failed with a job opportunity, he determined to do an MBA, however, the predominant cause of the disappointment for him was skyrocketing fee structure of the degree awarding institutions.

Getting admission in public sector universities is not that easy owing to limited number of seats. There are institutions, so-called colleges, with affiliation of the public sector universities claim to be the representatives of the public sector universities since there students get the degrees from the public sector universities. The fee structure of these colleges is comparatively lower but the poor facilities and the quality of lectures need the attention of the public sector universities which awarded the affiliation to such colleges.

The criteria for awarding affiliation and the quality of lectures need to be overseen by the competent authorities. Everyone even with very poor marks in graduation is welcomed warmly in these colleges since the basic aim seems to be minting money not imparting invaluable knowledge to serve the country better.

Another category of the degree awarding institutions is private sector universities being run in bungalows/residential localities. Such institutions do have their various branches as well in various parts of the cities to cater to the maximum students. Students who are desperate to get an MBA for future prospects resort to joining these institutions since being in good books of the faculty members is the predominant criteria to get through that particular course. The faculty members have absolute power to award marks and at times in order...