Status of MOOCs in Pakistan: Optimism and Concerns

Dr. Sajid Iqbal Department of Mechatronics and Control Engineering University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore. Pakistan. sajid.iqbal@uet.edu.pk

United Nations (UN) has listed education among its millennium development goals (MDGs).

Dr. Richard Smalley cataloged education and population as the top ten problems, which humanity will be facing over the next 50 years.

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In 2050, Pakistan will become the 6th largest nation in the world by population.

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Macmillan Dictionary defined a MOOC as, “a course of study offered over the Internet which is free and has a very large number of participants” . MOOCs have generated a paradigm shift in online education by presenting free high-quality education to anyone, anywhere with Internet access.

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Enrollment quickly reached 160,000 students from 190 countries; only 23,000 finished it. Since 2012, MOOCs got attention of the universities, media, and entrepreneurs.

2012: Times year of the MOOC

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According to IEEE CS 2022 report, MOOCs are amongst top ten technologies that could change the world by 2022.

More than 35 million people have themselves enrolled in MOOCs, and 2015 enrollments figures are twice higher than that of 2014.

1800 new courses have been announced, taking the total number of courses to 4200 from over 550 universities in 2015.

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In 2012, the CEO of MOOC platform—Udacity, Sebestian Thrun forecasted, “In 50 years, there will be only 10 institutions in the world delivering higher education and Udacity has a shot at being one of them”.

Peter Drucker (the founder of modern management) said in 1997, “The current setup is doomed, at least so far as higher education is concerned. Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics. Universities won’t survive. . . ”

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The advent of MOOCs may seem abrupt, but they are the next stage in the development of Open Educational Resources (OERs).

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Some MOOC platforms are:

Google Course Builder

OER University

Class2Go

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Launched in May 1974, AIOU is the first Open University in Asia (as well as Africa) and second in the world.

The AIOU is the first in the country, adopting the MOOCs system which has emerged as a popular mode of learning worldwide.

VU is Pakistan’s first University based completely on up-to-date Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). VU is noted for its on-line lectures and rigorous programs.

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Fig. illustrates the layout of LEJ Knowledge Hub.

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“ This is probably the most exciting project that I have undertaken in my lifetime, as it can change the landscape of education in Pakistan. . . ”, said Dr. Rahman while expressing his enthusiasm about the implementation of MOOCs in Pakistan. Highlighting the basic problem of higher education, he further added, “The lack of trained faculty was a major hurdle in educating the masses especially in developing world. And joining hands with worlds top varsities such as MIT and Harvard to deliver excellent academic material would greatly help Pakistan”.

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In the same way, Malaysia has become the first country in the world to develop a national policy on credit transfer for MOOCs. The Indian University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines for its MOOC platform, the Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM). This platform would unite Indian higher education, both on-line and offline. Furthermore, the Gazette of India has guaranteed credit mobility for MOOCs as, “No university shall refuse any student for credit mobility for the courses earned through MOOCs”.

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In the same way, Malaysia has become the first country in the world to develop a national policy on credit transfer for MOOCs. The Indian University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued guidelines for its MOOC platform, the Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM). This platform would unite Indian higher education, both on-line and offline. Furthermore, the Gazette of India has guaranteed credit mobility for MOOCs as, “No university shall refuse any student for credit mobility for the courses earned through MOOCs”.

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While stressing the importance of MOOCs, former information minister, Javed Jabbar said, “ They represent an enormous leap in expanding access to information knowledge and education and reducing the vast disparities in the quality of professional capacity building education that currently exists in Pakistan.” He emphasized that the government and private sector of Pakistan should boost awareness and support for massive online courses to make them widely available to the public.

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Fig. shows survey results.

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Despite their advantages, small number of people from developing countries like Pakistan access MOOCs. This paper presents current status for implementing online courses. It also highlights the promise of MOOCs in Pakistan and discusses key questions of higher education. Low literacy rate, lack of infrastructure, and digital divide hinder the implementation of MOOCs in Pakistan. However, using online courses, VU, and AIOU can provide Pakistani youth quality education.

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