Higher Education Reforms and Tenure Track in Pakistan: Perspectives of Leadership of Regulatory Agencies

The researchers shed light on the interaction of tenure track as higher education reform with the socio-cultural context of public universities in Pakistan. The paper postulates on the perception of leaders of central and provincial regulatory bodies on this intervention. The researchers adopt a qualitative research design, and the data were obtained through semi-structured interviews and relevant documents. All of the participants hold top leadership positions in regulatory bodies. The study revealed that there were many challenges before the implementation process of TTS began in public universities. The process remained slow due to a lack of alignment of TTS content with the structure and culture of public universities. Interviews were analyzed using the interpretive phenomenological analysis. The researchers utilized institutional and structural perspectives to explain the phenomenon of TTS content and process in the contextualised settings of HEIs in Pakistan. The research study found that the leaders of HEC, the content of policy guidelines of TTS, the culture of higher education institutions (HEIs), the administrative structure of HEC and implementing HEIs as major factors influencing the implementation of TTS. It suggests policy recommendations that the performance evaluation and eligibility criteria need to be determined according to the nature of the work of faculty members. Leades of HEC should give autonomy to leadership of universities to decide matters of their faculty members, and they develop a mechanism of strong accountability for university leaders and managers for effective implementation of higher education policies.