"These scholarships are a fantastic way to support our brightest students and encourage them to finish their education, expose them to NASA's research programs and inspire them to pursue a career in aeronautics," said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
NASA expects to award 20 undergraduate and five graduate scholarships to students in aeronautics or related fields. Undergraduate students entering their second year of study will receive up to $15,000 per year for two years and the opportunity to receive a $10,000 stipend by interning at a NASA research center during the summer. Graduate students will receive up to $35,000 per annually for up to three years, with an opportunity to receive a $10,000 stipend interning at a NASA research center up to two consecutive summers.
Students who have not committed to a specific academic institution or program still may apply. However, if accepted, they must be admitted by fall 2010 into a suitable aeronautical engineering program or related field of study at an accredited U.S. university. All applicants must be U.S. citizens. Scholarship money may be used for tuition and other school-related expenses.
NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate conducts cutting-edge, fundamental research in traditional and emerging disciplines. The intent is to help transform the nation's air transportation system and to support development of future air and space vehicles. Goals include improving airspace capacity and flexibility; aviation safety and aircraft performance; reducing overall noise, engine emissions and fuel usage.
source: www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/aug/HQ_09-199_ARMD_scholarships.html
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Diversity in Higher Education
The Office of Education is strengthening involvement with higher education institutions to ensure that NASA can meet future workforce needs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, fields. Participation in NASA projects and research stimulates increasing numbers of students to continue their studies at all levels of the higher education continuum and earn advanced degrees in these critical fields.
The Office of Education strives to ensure that underrepresented and underserved students participate in NASA education and research projects to assist more of these students in their pursuit of STEM careers. The Higher Education Program will continue to focus on the Minority University Research and Education Program, thereby enhancing the capabilities of Historically Black Colleges and Universities’, Hispanic Serving Institutions’, and Tribal Colleges and Universities’ contributions to the research needs of science and technology enterprises. In addition, the Office of Education encourages these institutions to collaborate with teacher preparation programs that improve the quality and diversity of STEM teachers.
source: www.nasa.gov/offices/education/about/murep_overview.html
The Office of Education strives to ensure that underrepresented and underserved students participate in NASA education and research projects to assist more of these students in their pursuit of STEM careers. The Higher Education Program will continue to focus on the Minority University Research and Education Program, thereby enhancing the capabilities of Historically Black Colleges and Universities’, Hispanic Serving Institutions’, and Tribal Colleges and Universities’ contributions to the research needs of science and technology enterprises. In addition, the Office of Education encourages these institutions to collaborate with teacher preparation programs that improve the quality and diversity of STEM teachers.
source: www.nasa.gov/offices/education/about/murep_overview.html
2nd Coordinated Digital Library Workshop
| The 2nd. Coordinated Digital Library Workshop, organized by the Department of Library Information Services, CIIT, Islamabad was successfully completed on July 09, 2009, at the Chak Shehzad Campus, Islamabad. |
| Initiated by Mr. Raja Muhammad Ibrahim, Senior Librarian, CIIT, the two-day workshop, on July 08-09, was organized in collaboration with the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), UK. |
| The Workshop, which was skillfully conducted by Raja Muhammad Ibrahim, (senior Librarian), Syeda Nasreen Sultana, (librarian), and Hafiz Abdur Rehman, ( Deputy Librarian), was enthusiastically attended by 50 faculty members, Library Staff and MS and PhD students from various department of CIIT, Islamabad. |
| The main objective of the workshop was to promote the �efficient� use of the HEC digital library at CIIT One of the chief objectives of the workshop was to enhance the awareness level of the intellectual community of CIIT about hundreds of vitally important e-resources, available free of cost, through the HEC Digital library. The workshop also aimed at improving the students�, the faculty members� and the library staff�s skills and expertise in searching and accessing the required material in the digital environment. |
| During the day long workshop, which was based on �hands-on� training, the participants, along with a detailed orientation of the digital library, were trained in various techniques and searching strategies, which are considered essential for a fast, easy access to numerous electronic resources. The resources available at all the 19 databases of the digital library were included in the training. Various searching options, techniques and searching strategies were practically demonstrated by the trainers to the participants. The participants were then asked to complete different research assignments on their workbooks. In the end the participants were also briefed about the resources available at the E-brary. |
| One of the chief characteristics of the workshop was the practical assignment which stimulated great interest among the participants. The �interactive� training workshop which continued without a single dull moment, finally concluded on a vote of thanks by a number of e participants who highly appreciated the initiative. |
NASA's Education Program
NASA’s journeys into air and space have deepened humankind’s understanding of the universe, advanced technology breakthroughs, enhanced air travel safety and security, and expanded the frontiers of scientific research. These accomplishments share a common genesis: education. As the United States begins the second century of flight, the Nation must maintain its commitment to excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education to ensure that the next generation of Americans can accept the full measure of their roles and responsibilities in shaping the future. NASA will continue the Agency’s tradition of investing in the Nation’s education programs and supporting the country’s educators who play a key role in preparing, inspiring, exciting, encouraging, and nurturing the young minds of today who will be the workforce of tomorrow.
In 2006 and beyond, NASA will continue to pursue three major education goals:
-- Strengthening NASA and the Nation's future workforce
-- Attracting and retaining students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines
-- Engaging Americans in NASA's mission
SOURCE: www.nasa.gov/offices/education/about/index.html
In 2006 and beyond, NASA will continue to pursue three major education goals:
-- Strengthening NASA and the Nation's future workforce
-- Attracting and retaining students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines
-- Engaging Americans in NASA's mission
SOURCE: www.nasa.gov/offices/education/about/index.html
CAST
| Centre for advanced studies in telecommunication was established on 12 December 2007 as an independent research institute committed to quality research in the area of telecommunication. CAST has been directly funded by higher education commission HEC of Pakistan. Establishment of CAST has ensured long term continuity of quality and industry relevant research. | |
| Since there is a absence of any meaningful dialogue and collaboration between regional industry and universities, CAST has been developed with an aim to use it as an interface between university-based telecommunication activities and regional telecom industry, government and community groups. CAST from its inception has been focused on developing strong industry links, with specific regard to the practical implementation and realization of telecommunication technologies. In this regard CAST has established a marketing department for establishing and maintaining mutually beneficial commercial collaboration with local telecom industry. The mission of CAST is to provide a prominent service to society by promoting quality research in telecommunication by virtue of its highly competent faculty and staff, state-of-art research facilities, mutual relationship with regional industry and by providing an intellectually stimulating environment for post graduate study. CAST is a dynamic research center drawing in talented researchers from the world over and reacting rapidly to the changing technology. | |
Don’t just support education. Transform it.
Apple technology lets you reduce tactical challenges and make a key contribution to the way learning happens. Because deployment, management, and maintenance take less time and effort, you can focus squarely on empowering educators and students. Apple makes that easy, too, with innovations for digital content creation, virtual collaboration, and mobile learning that let you advance your institution’s mission. And everything will work with your existing network and assets, right out of the box. The Mac even runs Windows (sold separately) at native speed if you need it to. So now there’s nothing to hold you back.
source: www.apple.com/education/it-professionals/
source: www.apple.com/education/it-professionals/
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Be a literacy tutor
Your series on Immigrants in Sussex County rang a bell with our organization, Literacy Volunteers of Sussex County. We provide free tutoring in English to adults. Currently, three-fourths of our students are foreign-born (immigrants). We help them make the transition from feeling lost to feeling at home through mastering English. This makes all the difference in the world: it is the key to getting a job, communicating with doctors and teachers, interacting with the rest of the community.
This tutoring is done by volunteers.We train these volunteers — they do not have to be teachers (in fact, most are not). They find their work with new arrivals both fascinating and rewarding.
source: www.strausnews.com/articles/2009/09/02/sparta_independent/opinion/4.txt
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Restructuring of Legal Education:
The HEC has realized that it is necessary to streamline and transform the legal education in
Pakistan. Under the leadership of its Chairman, HEC has taken concrete steps to regulate the legal education. In this connection a project has been approved whereby the HEC will set up three Law Universities in Pakistan. Forty LL.M./Ph.D. scholarships have been notified in the national press which will be awarded to young law graduates who will be inducted as faculty-members in these universities. Thus a comprehensive and sustainable scheme has been prepared to reform and modernize the legal education in Pakistan.
The Law and Justice Commission has also announced a substantial grant specifically for the
improvement and innovative approaches in the field of Legal Education under its ‘Access to Justice’ project. It is submitted that the grant meant for Legal Education may be transferred to the HEC to strengthen its Legal Education Project.
Some suggestions:
Higher education systems everywhere are in a constant state of change. In particular, the changes in the socio-economic context caused by the impact of globalization have inevitably led to changes in the higher education sector. To check the declining standards of legal education critical actions are required by all concerned.
1. Setting up of a Legal Education Reform Commission.
The setting up of a ‘Legal Education Reform Commission’ is absolutely necessary because it
will scrutinize the functioning of law schools and examine all aspects of legal education
including the contemporary trends in other countries. The recommendations of the commission
may be placed before all stakeholders and consensus may be developed for reforms in legal
education.
2. Removal of Dual Control
Currently the HEC, PBC, the universities and various boards of governors jointly administer and
control the legal education. The PBC, being a elected body, is not in a position to prescribe
standards of legal education, whether alone or in consultation with universities. Legal education
is an academic subject and the universities must be given exclusive authorization to prescribe
various courses with the support of the HEC. It is proposed that all Law Faculties and Law
Colleges jointly form a curriculum review committee comprising of the senior members of their
respective Boards of Studies/Boards of Faculties. This will be a modified form of the existing
NCRC functioning under the HEC. The new NCRC will be a body that may meet annually under
the HEC, or without the HEC, and deliberate upon new schemes/ techniques to meet the needs
of legal profession and the market. The committee may prescribe minimal core courses for all
law students. The rest may be left to the local needs and requirements of the concerned
university. The power to recognize law degrees may still continue to be vested in the PBC.
3. A Five-Year Consolidated Law Degree Programme.
A multidisciplinary approach to a law degree is much needed. Thus, apart from the major
subjects in law, a student should be required to take supportive minors of sociology, economics,
logic, political science, history of philosophy etc. This interdisciplinary approach will certainly
improve the standards of legal education and better law graduates will be able to meet market
requirements. The HEC has already committed to the PBC to introduce a consolidated fiveyears
Law degree programme after twelve years of education by the year 2008.
4. Better Employment Prospects
The improvement of Legal Education is dependent on better terms and conditions of service for
law teachers. The universities and other law colleges offer inadequate salary packages to law
teachers as legal education is being treated as par with other disciplines. However, law is a
professional subject in great demand, and cannot be treated at par with other sub-sectors or
disciplines of education. Thus it may be possible to get a good chemist, botanist, historian or a
political scientist with the present salary package but it is extremely difficult to employ a bright
person as law teacher at the same package. The result is that there is a constant erosion in this
area. Realizing this aspect of legal education, the S.A. Rehman Commission (1958-59)
proposed an attractive package for law teachers. It is unfortunate that this aspect of the
recommendation was always ignored not only by the policy-makers but also by the PBC.
source: www.supremecourt.gov.pk/web/subsites/scp50/Articles/6/1.pdf
Pakistan. Under the leadership of its Chairman, HEC has taken concrete steps to regulate the legal education. In this connection a project has been approved whereby the HEC will set up three Law Universities in Pakistan. Forty LL.M./Ph.D. scholarships have been notified in the national press which will be awarded to young law graduates who will be inducted as faculty-members in these universities. Thus a comprehensive and sustainable scheme has been prepared to reform and modernize the legal education in Pakistan.
The Law and Justice Commission has also announced a substantial grant specifically for the
improvement and innovative approaches in the field of Legal Education under its ‘Access to Justice’ project. It is submitted that the grant meant for Legal Education may be transferred to the HEC to strengthen its Legal Education Project.
Some suggestions:
Higher education systems everywhere are in a constant state of change. In particular, the changes in the socio-economic context caused by the impact of globalization have inevitably led to changes in the higher education sector. To check the declining standards of legal education critical actions are required by all concerned.
1. Setting up of a Legal Education Reform Commission.
The setting up of a ‘Legal Education Reform Commission’ is absolutely necessary because it
will scrutinize the functioning of law schools and examine all aspects of legal education
including the contemporary trends in other countries. The recommendations of the commission
may be placed before all stakeholders and consensus may be developed for reforms in legal
education.
2. Removal of Dual Control
Currently the HEC, PBC, the universities and various boards of governors jointly administer and
control the legal education. The PBC, being a elected body, is not in a position to prescribe
standards of legal education, whether alone or in consultation with universities. Legal education
is an academic subject and the universities must be given exclusive authorization to prescribe
various courses with the support of the HEC. It is proposed that all Law Faculties and Law
Colleges jointly form a curriculum review committee comprising of the senior members of their
respective Boards of Studies/Boards of Faculties. This will be a modified form of the existing
NCRC functioning under the HEC. The new NCRC will be a body that may meet annually under
the HEC, or without the HEC, and deliberate upon new schemes/ techniques to meet the needs
of legal profession and the market. The committee may prescribe minimal core courses for all
law students. The rest may be left to the local needs and requirements of the concerned
university. The power to recognize law degrees may still continue to be vested in the PBC.
3. A Five-Year Consolidated Law Degree Programme.
A multidisciplinary approach to a law degree is much needed. Thus, apart from the major
subjects in law, a student should be required to take supportive minors of sociology, economics,
logic, political science, history of philosophy etc. This interdisciplinary approach will certainly
improve the standards of legal education and better law graduates will be able to meet market
requirements. The HEC has already committed to the PBC to introduce a consolidated fiveyears
Law degree programme after twelve years of education by the year 2008.
4. Better Employment Prospects
The improvement of Legal Education is dependent on better terms and conditions of service for
law teachers. The universities and other law colleges offer inadequate salary packages to law
teachers as legal education is being treated as par with other disciplines. However, law is a
professional subject in great demand, and cannot be treated at par with other sub-sectors or
disciplines of education. Thus it may be possible to get a good chemist, botanist, historian or a
political scientist with the present salary package but it is extremely difficult to employ a bright
person as law teacher at the same package. The result is that there is a constant erosion in this
area. Realizing this aspect of legal education, the S.A. Rehman Commission (1958-59)
proposed an attractive package for law teachers. It is unfortunate that this aspect of the
recommendation was always ignored not only by the policy-makers but also by the PBC.
source: www.supremecourt.gov.pk/web/subsites/scp50/Articles/6/1.pdf
Higher Degrees in Law and Research Activities
The programmes for higher degrees in law are not fully organized. Only a few public sector
universities offer Masters Degree in Law. These programmes differ from university to university.
PULC is offering an LL.M degree and has also started a PhD programme. The University of
Peshawar is offering an LL.M. programme only but has recently prepared courses for Ph.D. degree programme. Karachi University is offering only an LL.M degree programme. The International Islamic University, Islamabad is offering an LL.M in Shari’a.
The NCRC in Law of HEC has prepared guidelines and courses for an LL.M. degree programme
which have been circulated to all the universities for comments. These recommendations are based on the HEC Minimum Quality Criteria for M. Phil./Ph.D. level studies in Pakistani Universities. Legal research amongst the faculty members and students is non-existent. In almost all institutions imparting legal education, students are not exposed to any kind of research and legal writing. In most of the public sector institutions, there is no full-time faculty. The research culture is missing and no genuine or quality research is carried out. Only two public sector universities are publishing legal research journals, which are further not HEC recognized/indexed.
source: supremecourt.gov.pk/web/subsites/scp50/Articles/6/1.pdf
universities offer Masters Degree in Law. These programmes differ from university to university.
PULC is offering an LL.M degree and has also started a PhD programme. The University of
Peshawar is offering an LL.M. programme only but has recently prepared courses for Ph.D. degree programme. Karachi University is offering only an LL.M degree programme. The International Islamic University, Islamabad is offering an LL.M in Shari’a.
The NCRC in Law of HEC has prepared guidelines and courses for an LL.M. degree programme
which have been circulated to all the universities for comments. These recommendations are based on the HEC Minimum Quality Criteria for M. Phil./Ph.D. level studies in Pakistani Universities. Legal research amongst the faculty members and students is non-existent. In almost all institutions imparting legal education, students are not exposed to any kind of research and legal writing. In most of the public sector institutions, there is no full-time faculty. The research culture is missing and no genuine or quality research is carried out. Only two public sector universities are publishing legal research journals, which are further not HEC recognized/indexed.
source: supremecourt.gov.pk/web/subsites/scp50/Articles/6/1.pdf
LEGAL EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN-A REVIEW
Legal Education in Pakistan is in a colossal mess at all levels. The lack of attention by both
universities and professional bodies has tremendously affected the existing horrendous standards of legal education. Therefore, there is an urgent need to take stock of the situation. It needs fundamental transformations to make it more market oriented and to bring it in line with international standards. In this paper, an effort has been made to give an overview of the existing situation and also discuss the reforms which the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has initiated immediately after its formation in 2002.
The Law Degree Programme:
Students who wish to have an LL.B law degree are required to have a bachelor’s degree spread
over fourteen years of education which is then followed by a three-year law course. The Punjab
University Law College (PULC) from this year has started a five-year consolidated law-degree
programme called BA-LL.B. degree programme, which is offered along with the existing three-year law degree programme. The students in this programme are admitted after completing twelve years of education. The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), a private sector university, has also started a five-year law degree programme called ‘Law and Policy’ joint degree programme leading to BA-LL.B. Only in two universities out of all public sector universities (Peshawar and Gomal), a pre-law course at bachelor’s level is prescribed and graduates with a ‘pre-law’ course are given preference over other graduates at the time of admission in Law Schools/Colleges. There is no Law School Admission Test in any university in Pakistan except at LUMS which has introduced a ‘Scholastic Aptitude Test and /or ‘LUMS’ Admission Test’. Invariably all Law Schools/Colleges follow the conventional or Annual System of teaching and examinations. The University of Peshawar in the year 2000 introduced the semester system of teaching and examination but discontinued it last year because of practical difficulties such as the large number of students and non-availability of faculty. The PULC has also introduced the semester system for those admitted under the five-year consolidated law degree programme.
Legal Education Providers:
Legal education is generally provided through public sector universities and also by
private institutions which adhere to the curriculum and the standards prescribed by the Higher
Education Commission (HEC) in consultation with the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), a statutory body which regulates the legal profession and to some extent, legal education. There are at present approximately fifteen public sector Law Schools/colleges in Pakistan. The number of private sector law schools/ colleges affiliated with public sector universities is more than
seventy. (University of Punjab-25, BZU Multan-15, University of Peshawar-13, Islamic University Bahawalpur-7, Khairpur-5, Jamshoro-3, Gomal-2, Baluchistan-1). Apart from these, there are a number of law degree awarding institutions that run external degree programmes in collaboration with foreign universities. The HEC’s role is like a facilitator to provide a podium to all public (and private) sector institutions and the members of the Legal Education Committee of the PBC, to sit together and to review the curriculum every three years. This is done through a committee called the National Curriculum Review Committee (NCRC). The recommendations of the NCRC (Law) are then deliberated upon by a joint meeting of the representatives of the universities and the members of the PBC (Legal Education Committee). These recommendations are then forwarded to the universities for adoption of the proposed curriculum and its implementation. Under Section 10 of the Higher Education Commission Ordinance, 2002, HEC’s mandate includes the formulation of policies, guiding principles and priorities for higher education institutions. It can also prescribe conditions for the manner in which higher education institutions function. The PBC is consistently making efforts to improve the standards of legal education and it was due to PBC’s unyielding hard work that the universities imparting legal education were forced to adopt the Three-Year LL.B degree programme. Under Section 13(j) and (k) of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, the functions of the PBC include the promotion of legal education and also the prescription of standards of such education in consultation with the universities. It is also authorized to recognize universities whose degree in law shall be accepted as qualification for enrolment as an advocate.
The revision of curriculum is not working as far as legal education is concerned. Most of the leading institutions ignore the significance of these meetings and instead send their junior nominees to participate in these deliberations. The enforcement mechanisms are left to the universities and various law colleges. The HEC certainly cannot go beyond this point as the universities areautonomous and independent in their functioning and internal management is exclusively the responsibility of the universities.
Revision of the curriculum does not mean the revision of the syllabus alone. The curriculum review includes the preparation of curricula and course material (content definition, teaching tools and the production/printing of course material), their dissemination and the training of teachers/tutors to teach them. It is a critical exercise which addresses issues as to how to support a higher education system that is characterized by quality, diversity and equity of access; and contributes to the development of intellectual scholarship that is appropriate to meet the country’s social, cultural and economic needs.
Having stated the role of the HEC and the PBC, let us briefly look at the role of the universities. The functioning of the public sector universities is marred by mis-management, unresponsiveness of the academicians, widespread politics, unbound pressure groups (of teachers, administrators and students) and unprofessional conduct. Much of the productivity of universities is wasted to resolve these issues and thus policies remain ad hoc. The main task of improving the standards of legal education is that of the academics who do not pay due attention and are unable to carry out their responsibilities. In many institutions there is no permanent teaching faculty. The teaching as well as administration of these law colleges is in the hands of practicing lawyers who due to their professional commitments are unable to do justice to legal education. In the University Law Faculties and Law Colleges the academicians are not focused and are deeply influenced by the ‘academic environment’ of their respective universities. This out-and-out apathy of the academicians has practically destroyed the system of legal education in Pakistan.
source: www.supremecourt.gov.pk/web/subsites/scp50/Articles/6/1.pdf
universities and professional bodies has tremendously affected the existing horrendous standards of legal education. Therefore, there is an urgent need to take stock of the situation. It needs fundamental transformations to make it more market oriented and to bring it in line with international standards. In this paper, an effort has been made to give an overview of the existing situation and also discuss the reforms which the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has initiated immediately after its formation in 2002.
The Law Degree Programme:
Students who wish to have an LL.B law degree are required to have a bachelor’s degree spread
over fourteen years of education which is then followed by a three-year law course. The Punjab
University Law College (PULC) from this year has started a five-year consolidated law-degree
programme called BA-LL.B. degree programme, which is offered along with the existing three-year law degree programme. The students in this programme are admitted after completing twelve years of education. The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), a private sector university, has also started a five-year law degree programme called ‘Law and Policy’ joint degree programme leading to BA-LL.B. Only in two universities out of all public sector universities (Peshawar and Gomal), a pre-law course at bachelor’s level is prescribed and graduates with a ‘pre-law’ course are given preference over other graduates at the time of admission in Law Schools/Colleges. There is no Law School Admission Test in any university in Pakistan except at LUMS which has introduced a ‘Scholastic Aptitude Test and /or ‘LUMS’ Admission Test’. Invariably all Law Schools/Colleges follow the conventional or Annual System of teaching and examinations. The University of Peshawar in the year 2000 introduced the semester system of teaching and examination but discontinued it last year because of practical difficulties such as the large number of students and non-availability of faculty. The PULC has also introduced the semester system for those admitted under the five-year consolidated law degree programme.
Legal Education Providers:
Legal education is generally provided through public sector universities and also by
private institutions which adhere to the curriculum and the standards prescribed by the Higher
Education Commission (HEC) in consultation with the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), a statutory body which regulates the legal profession and to some extent, legal education. There are at present approximately fifteen public sector Law Schools/colleges in Pakistan. The number of private sector law schools/ colleges affiliated with public sector universities is more than
seventy. (University of Punjab-25, BZU Multan-15, University of Peshawar-13, Islamic University Bahawalpur-7, Khairpur-5, Jamshoro-3, Gomal-2, Baluchistan-1). Apart from these, there are a number of law degree awarding institutions that run external degree programmes in collaboration with foreign universities. The HEC’s role is like a facilitator to provide a podium to all public (and private) sector institutions and the members of the Legal Education Committee of the PBC, to sit together and to review the curriculum every three years. This is done through a committee called the National Curriculum Review Committee (NCRC). The recommendations of the NCRC (Law) are then deliberated upon by a joint meeting of the representatives of the universities and the members of the PBC (Legal Education Committee). These recommendations are then forwarded to the universities for adoption of the proposed curriculum and its implementation. Under Section 10 of the Higher Education Commission Ordinance, 2002, HEC’s mandate includes the formulation of policies, guiding principles and priorities for higher education institutions. It can also prescribe conditions for the manner in which higher education institutions function. The PBC is consistently making efforts to improve the standards of legal education and it was due to PBC’s unyielding hard work that the universities imparting legal education were forced to adopt the Three-Year LL.B degree programme. Under Section 13(j) and (k) of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, the functions of the PBC include the promotion of legal education and also the prescription of standards of such education in consultation with the universities. It is also authorized to recognize universities whose degree in law shall be accepted as qualification for enrolment as an advocate.
The revision of curriculum is not working as far as legal education is concerned. Most of the leading institutions ignore the significance of these meetings and instead send their junior nominees to participate in these deliberations. The enforcement mechanisms are left to the universities and various law colleges. The HEC certainly cannot go beyond this point as the universities areautonomous and independent in their functioning and internal management is exclusively the responsibility of the universities.
Revision of the curriculum does not mean the revision of the syllabus alone. The curriculum review includes the preparation of curricula and course material (content definition, teaching tools and the production/printing of course material), their dissemination and the training of teachers/tutors to teach them. It is a critical exercise which addresses issues as to how to support a higher education system that is characterized by quality, diversity and equity of access; and contributes to the development of intellectual scholarship that is appropriate to meet the country’s social, cultural and economic needs.
Having stated the role of the HEC and the PBC, let us briefly look at the role of the universities. The functioning of the public sector universities is marred by mis-management, unresponsiveness of the academicians, widespread politics, unbound pressure groups (of teachers, administrators and students) and unprofessional conduct. Much of the productivity of universities is wasted to resolve these issues and thus policies remain ad hoc. The main task of improving the standards of legal education is that of the academics who do not pay due attention and are unable to carry out their responsibilities. In many institutions there is no permanent teaching faculty. The teaching as well as administration of these law colleges is in the hands of practicing lawyers who due to their professional commitments are unable to do justice to legal education. In the University Law Faculties and Law Colleges the academicians are not focused and are deeply influenced by the ‘academic environment’ of their respective universities. This out-and-out apathy of the academicians has practically destroyed the system of legal education in Pakistan.
source: www.supremecourt.gov.pk/web/subsites/scp50/Articles/6/1.pdf
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