In this blog post, some of the major challenges confronted by the institutes of higher education in Pakistan are discussed in detail. The aim is to provide the policymakers and educational leadership with a deeper insight into the problematic areas in the higher education sector in the country for reforms and improvement. These challenges are outlined here: 1. Management of human resources 2. Role ambiguity 3. Performance appraisal 4. Interpersonal communication 5. Mushroom growth of the universities 6. Legal and judicial activism 7. Lack of accountability 8. Lack of autonomy 9. Financial crunch 10. Lack of automation/digitalization

This blog post takes stock of the gravity of financial crisis in the universities with focus on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The write-up is aimed not only at spotlighting the agonies of the employees but also providing guidelines for the university’s top management how to guard themselves against such eventualities in the future.

The Higher Education Department (HED), Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for the first time, in the history of public sector universities in the province, has delineated some useful Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for effective performance appraisal of the Vice Chancellors of public sector universities. This is a remarkable first step towards a broad-based, deep-rooted and wholesale development on the landscape of higher education in the country. This blog post takes a look of the ins and outs of these KPIs.