Research efforts and challenges in Pakistan

Research efforts and challenges in Pakistan:

This blog is launched to provide a research discussion platform for those who want to share their research experiences or those who has some problems in their research. Mostly initial research students have lot of problems like in topic selection, problem definition, bibliography, papers selection and so on. This platform will help them to plan and manage their research study more efficiently; we will act like a consultant for you.

As far as my research experience (Computer Science and Software Engineering) is concern so,

1.     The first thing that I have noticed here in Pakistan is that there is a lot of gap between industry and academia, which arise many challenges to the research students like those who do not have prior industrial experience remain un-touch with industry and ultimately their research remain theoretical and not market oriented.  Due to this gap researchers face problems in data collection and validation of their research because when industrial and academic linkages are not present no one agrees to provide data and implement your research.

2.     Universities research students have very less support for their research studies. There are very few Universities who provide support and grants for higher education, research and development.  Similarly, Higher Education Commission of Pakistan has also limited resources for supporting Pakistani research Scholars nationwide and abroad.

Besides these challenges, we cannot ignore the efforts of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and National ICT R&D Ministry of Information Technology, Pakistan in past few years.  

Higher Education Commission (HEC) efforts:

HEC invest millions per year on R & D. A short description of the activities and programs are mentioned below. Detail description and statistics are given on the HEC Site. www.hec.gov.pk

1.     HEC offers several overseas, indigenous, and need base scholarships for Masters and PhD Programs per year to encourage research ethnicity.

2.     Academic Linkages

a.     Pak-US Joint Academic & Research Support Program

b.    HEC-BC INSPIRE Strategic Partnerships 2010

c.     Pakistan Program of Collaborative Research (PPCR)

3.     Grant for Organizing Seminars/ Conferences/ Workshops

4.     National Digital Library: Collection of over 50,000 e-books available for researchers.

But still total output of the research is very low. According to a report research output in IT and Engineering in 2010 was just 233 papers.

National ICT R & D Program:

National ICT R&D is funded by the Federal Government and the telecomm companies operating in the region are the key contributors.

ICT Vision is to enhance the research activities up to international standards and transform Pakistan economy into a knowledge based economy by promoting efficient, sustainable and effective ICT initiatives through synergic development of industrial and academic resources.

This vision is realized by pursuing the following goals:

• Provide industry and academia partnership by funding development and research initiatives at ease.

• Make Pakistan a destination for service oriented, research and development related outsourced jobs.

• Use ICT as a tool for creation and development for economically challenged groups of citizens.

• Spread the ICT activities on a national level.

National ICT R & D program is open throughout the year for call for proposals. They provide funds for the successful execution research projects and events such as workshops, conferences and seminars. Till now they have sponsored several research projects and events. ICT Program also offers scholarships at under graduate level.