Quantitative Growth and Qualitative Development: An Overview from Pakistan (2002-2009)

Higher education has two-fold mission. First is to train people for practical and technical work. Second is to foster public engagement. Following this, universities are committed to educating professional for moral and societal responsibility. In 21 century University adopts a general mission of service to the public supported by new research discoveries. Globally, many national universities are now discovering that research based public service and outreach activities can improve society at local and regional levels. The quality of higher education around the world depends on quality of research produced by educational institutions. The recent development in quality of research frameworks developed by different researchers focused on evidence-based research. The current study was intended to explore quantitative growth and qualitative development of randomly selected social sciences disciplines in the recognized public sector universities of Pakistan located in Capital, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa and Balochistan during 2002-2009 regarding research publications by faculty members. From the universe of sixty eight, twenty universities were drawn through proportionate stratified random sampling from entire country, three universities from capital, six from Punjab, four, five and two from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa and Balochistan, respectively. From these selected universities 97 social sciences departments were randomly chosen for data collection. The current research study was conducted by using quantitative approach of social science research method and the data was collected through survey method. The unit of analysis was individuals (heads of the departments). Uni-variate analysis was implied to provide general description of various variables. The significant increase was seen in quantitative indicators such as departmental growth, degree programs offered, student’s enrollment and passed out and number of faculty members. On the whole, data analysis explores that there is a tendency of improvement in all indicators of higher education in social sciences in Pakistan.


Introduction & Literature Review
The interaction of global and national forces is constantly diversifying the scenario of Higher education. These rapid changes have raised the issue of quality of knowledge produced by centers of higher learning. Educational Institutions for higher education are facing increased competition due to globalization and they are competing with each other by claiming themselves as quality providers. Therefore, quality has become the salient feature for the success of any educational institution in current contemporary world.
The idea of knowledge is related with institution of higher learning having an objective of excellence in specialized fields mentioned by Encyclopedia Britannica [1]. Societies can take advantage from knowledge by obtaining and relating exiting knowledge. It is not sufficient to transfer knowledge by local and global institutions but the objective is to achieve or develop sustainable knowledge base by absorbing, understanding, interpreting to adapting in its true essence stated by Cohen & Levinthal [2]. Research and teaching has become two important aspects in the universities of the world today to meet the challenges of changing globe. Currently universities are heavily engaged in teaching larger number of students in diversified educational disciplines explained by Umashankar & Dutta [3].
Education is a fundamental requirement for any society in this changing contemporary epoch. A strong educational system of any country has the capacity to develop social, economic, cultural and scientific advancement stated by Mohanthy [4]. Therefore, investment in learning leads to investment in human capital which resultantly strengthens physical and social capitals of any country.
Moore & Farris [5] stated that the rationale of Higher education is not to teach certain disciplines of physical and social sciences but it has multidimensional purposes such as social, economic and cultural. At higher level, education can be broadly categorized in to natural and social sciences. Social sciences deal with knowledge in finding out socio--economic and environmental aspects of society. The whole society serve as laboratory for social scientist in contrast to natural sciences where a particular object is studied under controlled conditions.
The term social science refers to all branches of study that deals with human behaviors. The modern social science is emerged as a scientific discipline during 18th century mentioned by Rosenberg [6]. Social science is mainly linked with research which provides knowledge on societies, interaction among societies and complex human behaviors. Social science research is crucial in policy formulation. It is necessary to build strong institutions in higher education for social sciences that can provide detailed knowledge about exiting socio-economic conditions of the country and devise proper mechanism for evaluation of policies and programs at all levels for realistic planning.
The purpose of higher education in social sciences is to reflect the wider aims and benefits of society as well as individual. Society is made up of different social groups containing individual, therefore, higher education in social sciences should be develop in a manner which caters for individual aspirations and goals as well as shared societal objectives at large.
Higher Education encourages sustainable knowledge base and critical inquiry among individuals and social groups about societal problems and issues through trainings for the development of practical and professional skills necessary to compete in globalize environment as described by the researcher in figure below.
It is believed that social sciences emerged in 19th century's twin revolutions namely French and Industrial revolution. Scientists, philosophers, politicians and other thinkers during these revolutions started warning human beings about the dangers of increasing imbalances in their cultures. The destructions of 20th century have posed challenges. Hence social sciences came up as a necessary subject. Europeans started making colonies in America and other parts of the world. The new education system was introduced in colonies. Pakistan the important colonies of British rules in sub-continent that came under these changes. One of the oldest universities, The University of Punjab, Lahore was developed under colonial rule. Different subjects of physical and social sciences were initiated.

Social Sciences in Pakistan
The World Bank [7] indicated that Pakistan a country of 162 million people had low enrolment at higher education because of low spending and investment on social development due to debt burden. In 1947, Pakistan has two universities with few enrolments at higher levels. Higher education institutions and the student's enrolment are increased in number between 1999-2000 and 2006-07. Table 1 shows that total enrolment in higher education stood at 3.21 million in 2006-07 within 120 institutes of public and private sector universities adopted from HEC & MoE [8].
Bashir & Aitken [9] stated that in Pakistan various changes have occurred in education system specifically in higher education. The beginning of Higher Education Commission shaped new policies and programmes for the development of higher education system. These efforts are seriously concerned to make improvements in the current situation of higher education system.
According to the table 2 the highest number of universities is located in Punjab and Sindh. A large number of public sector universities exist in Punjab and greater number of private universities exists in Sindh. However, Azad Jammu & Kashmir has the lowest number of public and private universities. Nearly 3.8% students were enrolled in higher education and the government is now firmly devoted to improve the enrolment ratio to 6% by year 2010 by World Bank Report [10].
Although the social sciences are more than two centuries older in most Asian countries, including Pakistan, the term "Social Sciences" is new, and teaching and research in the several disciplines covered by it have been introduced recently. At independence Pakistan inherited one established institution Punjab University at Lahore. Founded in 1882, it provided courses in only three social sciences subjects i.e. Economics, Political science and History (Braibanti, 1966). Gradually Nine public sector universities have been established with 50 social science departments till 1983. The distribution of Economics departments were 18%, History 16%, Political Science 14% and the remaining 52% were Psychology, International Relations, Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Work stated by Ahmed [11].
There was total (15,644) social scientist working in the country by 1983. 30%, 19%, 11% were economists, political scientists, historians and educationists respectively. Mostly were engaged in public organizations and were male mentioned by Karamat [12]. The distribution of qualification of theses social scientist was 1% PhD and Mphil each and the remaining were masters stated by Ansari [13]. Development of various disciplines of social sciences in Pakistan is unbalanced. The discipline of Economics is highly development as compared to the underdeveloped discipline of Anthropology. Large number of universities is state funded but there is very few privately financed research and training institutions said by Inayatullah [14].
Traditionally university is considered as an institution of Higher Education which awards degrees itself. The value of degree is attached with the quality of knowledge produced by an institution. A university is built around the concept of knowledge in all areas of life with the objective of learning and excellence in specialized fields. Cobban [15] indicated that the progress of higher education in Medieval to Post-modern period revolves around three main stages with different missions. Research and teaching was emerged during Pre-Nation State Stage, nationalization of universities was came up during Nation State Stage wherein public service objective was the core objective of universities, while internationalization of universities were emerged due to globalization.
Research has critical importance in Social Sciences. The quality of higher education around the world depends on quality of research produced by educational institutions. The recent development in quality of research frameworks developed by different researchers focused on evidence-based research mentioned by Kezar & Eckel [16].
Toth & Montagna [17] stated that the social scientist recognizes realistic scientific research in formulation of social, economic and educational policies and practices. He advocated experimental design research that comprised of quantities approach of research. He focused that research should be objective, precise and practical. He further elaborates that correlation and has an important role in education, mainly in social science research by stating: "Correlation and descriptive research is essential in theory building and in suggesting variables worthy of inclusion in experiments". The six guiding principles have shown in figure highlights important elements of research research. These guiding doctrines maintain logical investigation stated by Stanley & Porter [18]. The guiding Principles of research are presented by the researcher in the figure 2 given below.
The important element of research that ensures its quality is its scientific nature. The research design must be definite, clear and based on empirical investigation. The conceptual framework of research should be relevant to its social context. Most important of all elements involved in research are critical inquiry and systematic reasoning throughout the research process.
Coll & Eames [19] explained that this expansion and the complication of the global higher education system indicate a clear demand for more structured systems of management in higher education. As managing in universities today involves making educational provision and social organization compatible with the demands of the international economic system (Morley, 2003). The core objective of higher education institution is to satisfy academic requirements and expectations. Hence the outcome of the higher education is the quality personnel to fulfill the needs of national development. Chadwick [20] also stated that the issues of quality are central part of planning process of university management. Owlia & Aspinwall [21] also indicated that higher education is currently operating in that society wherein the role of quality is critical.
Globally universities are confronted the competition to become hubs of quality for teaching and research. Currently universities are heavily occupied in the task of being teaching a large number of students in specialized fields of learning mentioned by Umashankar & Dutta [22].
Quality at institution covers all activities that ensure policy formulation with concrete objectives and realistic planning stated by Welsh & Dey [23]. Some of new research is conducted on the formal structure of academic institutions. The studies show that universities and colleges are the components of recognized educational system in producing knowledge indicated by (QAA [24]. The two components of formal academic structure are the selection of academic departments and the degree programs offered. Both are interdependent to each other (Braxton & Hargens, 1996). The academic structure is presented in figure 3 below in a diagrammatical form by the researcher.  The higher education academic structure is founded on the diversification of degree programs at different levels along with the quality of disciplines in which they are offered. However the national development and rapid social change are heavily dependent on the quality of education being imparted by the institutions of higher education. The positive social change confirms stability, social solidarity and academic authority in the society.
Stanley & Porter [25] stated that the quality of education depends upon research produced by educational institutions. The recent development in quality of research frameworks developed by different researchers focused on evidence-based research.
Social science is mainly linked with such research which provides knowledge on societies, interaction among societies and complex human behaviors. It has a crucial importance in policy formulation of any country. It is necessary to build strong institutions in higher education for social sciences that' can provide detailed knowledge about existing socio-economic conditions of the country and devise proper mechanism for evaluation of policies and programs at all levels for realistic planning.
The idea behind higher education in social sciences is to reflect the wider aims and benefits of society as well as individual. Society is made up of different social groups containing individual, therefore higher education in social sciences should be develop in a manner which carters for individual aspirations and goals as well as shared societal objectives at large. Higher Education encourages sustainable knowledge base and critical inquiry among individuals and social groups about societal problems and issues through trainings for the development of practical and professional skills necessary to compete in globalize environment.
The research function of academia remains a prime source of knowledge and innovation at national, regional and international levels. Current issues facing research linked with relevance of the subject matter. There is a need to develop subject curricula with it focus on the theoretical base and practical implementation of knowledge and skills by involving all stakeholders of higher education research at all level. National research universities constitute centers of excellence and act as hubs for national research development. The research-based university has the capacity for research training, and can reproduce its own capacity while also supplying qualified analytical competence to other institutions. The diagrammatical presentation given below indicates social science research model that enables researchers to understand inquiring techniques, methods of exploring critical issues scientifically. Different elements involves in research nexus enables teachers and students to multiple quality knowledge by sharing ideas which is shown in figure 4 representing social sciences Research Model.
Research is poorly represented in most of the university structures of developing countries. Substantial competence exists, but actual activities remain uncoordinated. The absence of university research institutes is partly explained by the undeveloped state of post-graduate education. There is also a strong tradition of individual publication of monograph mentioned by Zaidi [25].
The amount of work as consultants with government or private clients is still very small. These are all interacting factors. Most faculties have a committee on research coordination, but it does not function well. There is no provision for the recruitment or assignment of staff specifically for research, although a vacation is built into the conditions of service stated by Baloch [26]. This is not to imply that the social scientists lack interest in research simply that teaching pressures in terms of number of courses and credit hours assigned to each faculty member largely exclude it. This may change the establishment of university research centers. Hussain [27] stated that it is practically impossible at present to make the distinction between basic and operational research. Most of the researches conducted at universities are basic in nature, done on the department's initiative discipline-based rather than interdisciplinary; and descriptive-historical rather than analytical. Although operational research is minimal, the basic research could have operational value if the public agencies concerned cared to make use of it, and if there were adequate institutionalized links between university research and policy-makers. However, the attitude of policy-makers is slowly changing as academics become involved in contract research and participate in government committees.
At present most teachers and students go to the West for studies at PhD level. This is, in one sense, welcome and beneficial, because the graduate is exposed to a different intellectual climate. But in most cases they learn techniques of research and become acquainted with theories which have little bearing on the problems of their own country. The development of research facilities and a research atmosphere at home would help to overcome this problem. The promotion of advanced studies should not stop with Ph. D. programmes in the universities. Opportunities should be extended to the affiliated colleges which employ over two thousand teachers in the social sciences, most of whom have no access to higher training in the subject of their choice. They lack proper library facilities, and the money to pay for such studies. A possible solution would be to provide senior research fellowships, reserved for teachers of affiliated colleges only.
Hafeez [28] stated that unless social science teaching is related to research, its quality cannot be expected to improve. This needs teacher-student ratio has to be kept at a reasonable level. A research infrastructure has to be built up in the colleges and universities, and links established between different social sciences disciplines. Social scientists have major responsibility in the rebuilding and reconstruction of any society in the globe. Development of disciplines has been unbalanced because of institutional slowness, inadequate machinery for promoting and coordinating their development, and the fact that some of the social sciences are inadequately related to user needs. This, however, may be changing as a consequence of a several reasons, which are the expansion of university education and the concomitant pressure of student numbers, the increase of social science personnel, and a greater appreciation on the part of government for social science study at higher level.
Universities and social scientists need better links with research users and policy-makers. The use of university social science research by government agencies has so far been minimal, largely because the necessary institutional machinery is lacking. All the universities have student societies for the social sciences. But they are poorly organized and inadequately geared to the intellectual needs of their members. Some of the societies publish an annual magazine, but often with more articles by staff than by student contributors -more because of poor student response than of staff monopoly of space. One or two societies show more initiative, but their efforts are sporadic and have little influence on the genuine pursuit of knowledge mentioned by Inayatullah [29].
Heavy teaching loads and large classes impede research. There are no arrangements for the release of staff for research, apart from a holiday at the end of every 36 months' service. A semester system instead of the present academic year system might give staff more opportunities for research. But research skills must also be improved, and an atmosphere more conducive to research could be created within the universities by providing more funds, recognizing and rewarding publication, and by fostering greater partnership in community or government-sponsored projects. Apart from supplying graduates the university should be regularly involved in policy, problem-solving, research and planning. Most of the research conducted by government is based on donor agenda; the government should also give local social scientists marginally more honor in the universities.
There are different stages in social science research in Pakistan. Every stage has its own distinctive and distinguishing features. These features are presented in figure 5 developed by the researcher.
Pakistan has a weak social science tradition, thus its universities are producing very little significant research in this field. The state's Islamic ideology has impacted the research content, perspectives and research methodology. Many social scientists found it difficult to show outstanding ideas in different disciplines of social sciences in Pakistan. Only few had made prominent contribution in relevant theory. But most of them are continuously using western theoretical models on the Pakistani conditions, without scientifically inquiring and reasoning upon the theory itself [25]. There is a need to fill the gap between social sciences and empirical studies. So far, Studies undertaken in Pakistan have been based on western hypotheses and methodological framework. Therefore, results are mostly ineffective and incompatible to the local conditions. For conducting applied research social scientists should develop a theoretical frame work by implying indigenous knowledge best suited to local needs. Hence, there is a need of suitable environment in which the researchers and stakeholders can interact and develop research programs suited to the needs of country.
The primary focus of the present research was to study the quantitative growth and qualitative development in social sciences disciplines in selected public sector universities of Pakistan during 2002-2009.

Research Hypothesis
Expansion of social sciences disciplines and the impact on quality of research.

Research design
The current research study was conducted by using quantitative approach and survey method was used for data collection. The current study used cross-sectional survey method as it helps researcher in collecting data in a specified instant of time. A questionnaire comprised of close ended and matrix questions which was used as research instrument to collect data from the respondents. The instrument was pre-tested before conducting the real research by using participating pretesting method. In this method researcher approach the selected respondents and conduct interview with them rather than asking the respondents to simply fill out the questionnaire. Respondents were actually involved in an interview setting where respondents are asked to give feedback about the nature of questions, wording and order. The questionnaire was tested by the experts from different universities of Pakistan and finalized in the light of their experienced suggestions and comments. The collected data was analyzed by using suitable statistical technique. Uni-variate analysis was carried out to find out the various emerging trends. While a bi-variate analysis was undertaken by using the Chi-square and Gamma to determine an association or relationship between different categorical variables in the selected samples of the data reflects a real association between these variables in the population.
Three different methodologies were used for data collection due to massive work load in order to complete the research study timely. Firstly, questionnaires were dropped at different social sciences departments along with reference letter for the permission to conduct research duly signed by the head of the department of the researcher's respective department after taking appointments. After dropping questionnaires researcher's and research team members conducted many visits to different departments and followed up several times to get duly filled questionnaires back. Secondly, questionnaires were dispatched to focal persons to collect relevant information needed for the present study. The researcher herself followed up the respondents by multiple telephonic conversations for timely availability of information. Focal persons sent back completed questionnaires by mail. Thirdly, researcher also interviewed some of the respondents to get proper information. Most of the respondents were very kind, supportive, showed their keen interests in such type of study and also gave humble suggestions and comments to improve the current research study.

Area of the Study
The study was conducted in the recognized public sector universities of Pakistan located in Capital, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtoon khawa and Balochistan. The area of the research study was very vast and spreads all over Pakistan and it was very difficult and impossible for an individual researcher to collect valid and reliable data. Therefore, researcher hired a research team on payment to collect data from public sector universities. However focal persons (faculty members) from different universities were also requested to help in collecting and validating the data. The members of the research team was properly trained for the clarity and understanding of each aspect of questionnaire in order to eliminate any ambiguity in field work.

Sample Size
Using Proportionate stratified random sampling technique, at first stage of sampling public sector universities were selected from capital and four provinces of Pakistan using the list of HEC recognized universities. Higher Education Commission enlisted seventy public sector universities out of which 14 are located in capital, 21 in Punjab, 6 in Balochistan, 2 in Azad Jammu &Kashmir (AJK) and 13 each in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtoon khawa. From the universe of sixty eight, twenty universities were selected through proportionate random sampling from entire Pakistan excluding the universities of AJK i.e., three universities from capital, six from Punjab, four, five and two form Sindh, Khyber Pakhtoon khawa and Balochistan respectively. The relative size of the two samples (3 universities from capital and six from Punjab) reflect this proportion. However universities from each stratum were randomly selected. On the second stage of sampling, thirteen social sciences disciplines were randomly selected from Council of Social Sciences list. These disciplines are Agriculture Economics, Anthropology, Communication Studies, Economics, Political Science, Sociology, Education, History, International Relation, Pakistan Studies, Psychology, Social Work, Women and Gender Studies. In these selected universities 97 social sciences departments were selected for data collection. In the current research unit of analysis was individuals and information gathered from heads of the departments. All the heads of departments related to selected disciplines were approached for acquiring required information through pre-designed questionnaire.

Field Work
The field experience during data collection was very challenging, tough, costly and time consuming. In social sciences, researcher has to face multiple obstacles mostly related to respondents' level of co-operation, nature, attitude and level of satisfaction about various inquiries. The entire process of data collection was lasts for 6 months starting from November 2010-April 2011. Three different methodologies were used for data collection due to massive work load in order to complete the research study timely. Firstly, questionnaires were dropped at different social sciences departments along with reference letter for the permission to conduct research duly signed by the head of the department of the researcher's respective department after taking appointments. Secondly, questionnaires were dispatched to focal persons to collect relevant information needed for the present study. The researcher herself followed up the respondents by multiple telephonic conversations for timely availability of information. Thirdly, researcher also interviewed some of the respondents to get proper information. Table 3 shows the number of new department and qualification of faculty members in different department of social sciences, Faculty plays central role in all higher education institutions to improve quality of education and research. There is a global shift towards great diversity of research in various disciplines of knowledge because teaching and research are more approachable to social problems than any other things. it is a process of transforming higher education from educators to learners. The quality of faculty leads to quality of students. Hence qualification of faculty became as issue of great concern as they produce knowledge and learners in their respective institutions. Therefore quality of higher qualification of faculty members became the salient feature for the success of any educational institution in this contemporary world.  There is a prominent increase in MA/MSc faculty members in all selected social sciences disciplines during 2002-2009. There is an increase in almost all disciplines except Education and IR while Social Work has no faculty member having MS/Mphil degree. There is a significant increase in PhD local faculty members in all selected social sciences disciplines. However there is a rate of decrease in faculty members having PhD foreign degree in all disciplines expect a reasonable increase is observed in the disciplines of Pakistan Studies, Political Science, Psychology and Gender Studies during the reported period (2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)). The discipline of social work in all three selected departments has no faculty member with PhD foreign degree.

Results & Discussion
Overall the rate of qualification of teachers in the selected departments of different social sciences disciplines shows a moderate increase which reveals a positive trend towards improvement. However some of the disciplines show phenomenal rise in the qualification of teachers as compared to other during 2002-2009.
Research is an interactive process among educators and learners as both questioned, understand, acquired, produced and implemented knowledge in their respective fields. The research function of academia remains a prime source of knowledge and innovation at national, regional and international levels. Quality of research under current study is measured with following indicators i.e. dissertations produced at MS/Mphil and PhD level by students, number of research papers produced and published in HEC recognized journals and the number of conference (national & international) papers presented by faculty members in selected social sciences disciplines during 2002-2009. Table 4 indicated the number of research publication and dissertations by faculty member and students in social sciences faculty. Throughout the world quality of institutes for higher degrees either in physical or social sciences is mainly dependent on research produced by them. National development of any country depends on the quality of research produce by its educational institutions.   0  0  0  0  0  0  1  3  0  0  1  2  0  0  0  7   Sociology  0  141  168  3  6  10  11  12  24  2  4  2  3  6  18  410   Gender Studies  0  0  0  0  0  2  0  0  12  1  2  2  0  1  5  25   Total  340  901  740  46  91  142  157  283  356  22  60  159  34  107  231  3669 The comparative analysis of pervious data between different disciplines with the current research shows that in the discipline of anthropology, there were eight faculty members by 2001 including three having foreign degrees and five master degree holders. In the case of dissertations by 2001 only few PhD theses were produced (Tarar, 2005). The current research shows that the number of faculty members up to 2003 were nine, out of them three were masters, two were PhD local and foreign each.

Conclusion
The significant increase was seen in quantitative indicators such as departmental growth, degree programs offered, student's enrollment and passed out and number of faculty members. On the whole, data analysis explores that there is a tendency of improvement in all indicators of higher education in social sciences in Pakistan. The discussion has been done so far finds out that phenomenal increase was seen in quantitative indicators such as departmental growth, number of faculty members, students' enrollment and passed out but as far as qualitative development was concerned, a moderate rate of improvement was observed in qualification of faculty members, dissertations and research publications. The current study was limited to only public sector universities which are heavily dependent on government for funding of academic and research activities. On the whole data shows, moderate tendency of improvements in all indicators of quality of higher education and research in social sciences in Pakistan.