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It frames higher education as central to national development, notes Pakistan’s historically limited PhD production, and evaluates the HEC’s efforts to raise research standards. Findings indicate little qualitative improvement, and the paper proposes practical measures to further enhance PhD thesis quality across Pakistani universities.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/evaluation-of-the-improvement-in-the-quality-of-phd-theses-produced-during-2001-2012-a-case-study-of-pakistani-universities/595887/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/evaluation-of-the-improvement-in-the-quality-of-phd-theses-produced-during-2001-2012-a-case-study-of-pakistani-universities/595887.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Fans","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-21","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the main purpose of the study?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"To determine whether the quantitative increase in PhD theses produced during 2001–2012 in Pakistan also resulted in improved thesis quality.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why was the Higher Education Commission (HEC) established?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"To improve the higher education and research sector, given Pakistan’s lag in producing PhDs and to promote excellence in research quality.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What do the study’s outcomes suggest about thesis quality development?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The outcomes highlight little development in thesis quality despite the reported quantitative growth.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595887,1792171116,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":41},5909892330395,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Evaluation of the Improvement in the Quality of PhD Theses Produced during 2001-2012:  \nA Case Study of Pakistani Universities  \nMuhammad Ahsan*, Mumtaz Akhtar** Rafaqat Ali Akbar***  \nand Muhammad Munir ****  \nAbstract  \nIt goes without saying that the national development of every country greatly depends upon the development of higher education and research. Unfortunately, Pakistan is lagging behind in this area. This can be judged from the fact that since the creation of this country in 1947, Pakistani universities have produced very few PhDs. Therefore, at the dawn of twenty-first century, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was established to improve this sector and since then thousands of students have completed their doctorate programmes and many more are in the pipeline. In quantitative terms, it is a tremendous and commendable development in such a short span of time. However, it is important to establish if this increase in quantitative terms has translated into an increase in quality as well. This is the main focus of the present research. Unfortunately, the outcome of this research highlights that there has been little development in this area. On the basis of these findings, the paper also suggests some measures for further improvement.  \nKeywords: Higher Education, PhD theses, quality of research, research improvement, HEC  \n* Research Consultant, UK. Email: [ahsan736@msn.com](ahsan736@msn.com)  \n**Director & Professor, Institute of Education and Research, University of the Punjab, Lahore.  \n***Chairman & Professor, Department of Elementary Education, Institute of Education and Research, University of the Punjab, Lahore.  \n**** Research Scholar.  \nBackground to This Issue  \nHigher education plays a key role in the development of every country. Therefore, since the creation of Pakistan, this issue has been of prime concern among respective circles, e.g., government authorities, policy makers and planners, educationists as well as the general public. The University Grants Commission (UGC) was established in 1974 to address this issue. The UGC came into existence by an Act of Parliament and the basic objective of this institution was to improve the standard of higher education, assessing and fulfilling the financial needs of universities, building institutional capacity and cohesion in the respective institutions in the country (Pakistan, 1974, p. 13) . However, because of a lack of financial and administrative powers, this institution remained weak and largely ineffective University Grant Commission (University Grant Commission, 2000, pp. 3-4; Parveenet al, 2011, pp. 260-67; Sheikh, 1998, pp. 40-52; Nordic Recognition Information Centre, October 2006) . For this reason, in 2002, the government established a new institution named the Higher Education Commission (HEC) . In fact, the establishment of HEC was a revolutionary step in the development of the higher education sector of Pakistan. Since its inception in 2002, the HEC has achieved more in one decade than the total achievements made during the previous 55 years. It is noteworthy that there was only one university (i.e., University of the Punjab, Lahore) in 1947 when this country was created (Chouhan, 2008, pp. 29-48) . However, in early 2013, there were 147 universities and recognised degree awarding institutions working in public and private sectors ofthis country (Higher Education Commission, 03rd April 2013) . This is a very encouraging development in the higher education sector of Pakistan.  \nIt needs not to be emphasised here that the HEC has changed the entire fabric of the higher education sector of Pakistan. The progress made during the past decade can be judged from the situation that by the end of 2002, the university enrolment which was only 135,000, reached 360,000 by the year 2007, i.e., almost triple in a short period of time. Similarly, the research publications in the nationally and internationally recognised journals also increased four time","cbCailLWUXc2aiKX","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCailLWUXc2aiKX","pdf",178410,12,"English","# Abstract\n# Background to This Issue\n## Higher education institutions and policy evolution\n## Quantitative growth versus research quality concerns","[{\"question\":\"What is the main purpose of the study?\",\"answer\":\"To determine whether the quantitative increase in PhD theses produced during 2001–2012 in Pakistan also resulted in improved thesis quality.\"},{\"question\":\"Why was the Higher Education Commission (HEC) established?\",\"answer\":\"To improve the higher education and research sector, given Pakistan’s lag in producing PhDs and to promote excellence in research quality.\"},{\"question\":\"What do the study’s outcomes suggest about thesis quality development?\",\"answer\":\"The outcomes highlight little development in thesis quality despite the reported quantitative growth.\"}]","Evaluation of the Improvement in the Quality of PhD Theses Produced during 2001-2012 - A Case Study of Pakistani Universities | PDF",1792082049]