BPS Upgradation

Brief prepared by Dr. Idrees Khawaja, Rizwan-ul-Haq and Mahmood Khalid is attached below. Anyone can read and add comments -- there is a ready made system for comments at bottom of page. RESOLUTIONS will be posted on blog. DISCUSSIONS can also be carrried out via Google Group Mailing List.

Brief on up-gradation of teaching and research staff

Up-gradation of the research and teaching posts, based on HEC’s service structure were recommended by the Syndicate on December 02, 2011 and was approved by the PIDE Senate on June 25, 2012.

Up-gradation is a complex matter and calls for making decision on a number of issues. As up-gradtion is based on HEC’s service structure, understandably all upgraded employees will be required to teach. Moreover separate compensation for teaching will not be available to the upgraded employees. This raises several issues.

· Would all the upgraded researchers be interested to teach?

· Can everyone teach?

· What if an upgraded researcher does not want to teach or is not allocated a course by any academic departments?

Perhaps the answer to the questions raised above is to have greater research load for those who are not interested to teach or are not asked to teach. This raises the following questions:

· What will be the equivalence between a teaching a course and producing a paper. In what kind of journal! HEC recognized? As first author!

· What if most of the upgraded researchers prefer to produce more research rather than teach a course. This may lead to insufficient teaching faculty, forcing the academic departments to rely on visiting faculty. Thus the expected saving in the lecture fee currently being paid to visiting faculty may not come about.

Monetary impact of up-gradation

The gross monetary impact of up-gradation computed by the treasurer is Rs.16.9 million per annum. Assuming that 10 staff members will opt for tenure track and that the upgraded researchers will not entitled to separate compensation for teaching, the net impact of up-gradation is likely to be Rs. 8.0 million per annum.

Up-gradation also raises the question about the entitlement of the upgraded employees to different monetary allowances. The question is whether the upgraded employees will be entitled to allowances available to a BPS scale in PIDE or the allowances typically available in public sector universities. Some allowances that are available in PIDE but may not be available in most of the public sector universities include:

· BPS 20 & above: Monetization of transport facility, Orderly allowance

· BPS 18 & above: Medical allowance @ 35 percent of basic pay (typically in public sector universities this allowance is lesser, Quaid-i-Azam university is an exception in this regard), Landline telephone at residence, Newspaper allowance.

· Office facilities: Will the upgraded employees be entitled to office facilities currently attached to each BPS scale. For example currently employees in BPS 19 and above enjoy air conditioning facility in office. Will this facility be available to those upgraded from BPS 18 to 19?

Recommendations:

1. All research and teaching staff may be upgraded. One time waiver may be exercised in favor of those who are not eligible for up-gradation as per HEC criteria. (The number of such employees is very small).

2. All researchers who are assigned a course by the academic department may be required to teach at least one course.

3. All upgraded employees must carry some research load in addition to teaching.

4. Researchers who are not invited by any of the department to teach may be required to produce relatively more research.

5. To make different tasks comparable, all kinds of tasks performed by teachers and researchers may be translated in terms of credit hours. All teachers and researchers may be required to work for certain number of credit hours. For example publishing a research paper in HEC recognized journal can be treated equivalent to a certain number of credit hours. Other examples of tasks performed by researchers which can be treated equivalent to certain number of credit hours include; working as Dean or HOD, performing administrative tasks in the academic departments other than working as Dean/HOD, producing briefs like Business Barometer/Macroeconomic brief periodically, and organizing PSDE’s AGM as Secretary/Joint secretary.

6. All allowances currently allowed to a certain BPS scale may be admissible to the employees upgraded to that scale. This would be a departure from the practice prevalent in a typical public sector university. But then PIDE is also different from a typical public sector university. Salient differences include; even the teachers at PIDE are expected to produce research compulsorily, all staff is required to be present in office throughout the office hours and employees are not entitled to summer vacations.

The bottom line is that PIDE needs to an equal monetary package to both the researchers and teachers. Failure to do so will lead to continuous demands for switch to teaching from research and vice versa.

Idrees Khawaja Rizwan Ul Haq Mahmood Khalid