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THE POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN UNIVERSITIES IN PAKISTAN: AN AGENCY THEORY FRAMEWORK APPROACH

Date

2024-03-08

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

ORCID

0009-0003-7697-6165

Type

Thesis

Degree Level

Doctoral

Abstract

Universities are important in any society as they help citizens to be more productive and innovative, playing a key role in contributing to research modernization in many ways and assisting societies with a rapidly evolving world. This research examines the relationship between the provincial governments and universities in Pakistan. Specifically, this study analyzes the governments in each of Pakistan’s four provinces and their oversight of the higher education systems within their respective jurisdictions. Following the implementation of the 18th Amendment to the 1973 Constitution in 2010, Pakistan’s federal government provided the provincial governments with control over education, thus changing the province’s relationships with the universities. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of agency theory, this study aims to understand the provincial government’s exercise of influence through the appointment of university leadership and the composition of university governing boards. Furthermore, this research explores the effectiveness of the governments’ communication with universities pertaining to government decisions or legislation that the provincial government initiated about universities after the 18th Amendment. This study argues that each provincial government's influence over the selection of leadership and nomination of governing board members affects the performance of universities in unique ways. This dissertation adopts a qualitative research approach with multiple case studies. Since this study involves a comparative analysis of the relationship between universities and provincial governments after the 18th Amendment, an exploratory multiple-case study design constitutes an appropriate method for exploring the university system of each province. Specifically, this analysis mainly focuses on two indicators of organization autonomy: the selection of leadership and the composition of governing boards. As the main theoretical framework, agency theory provides the foundation for rigorously constructing each case study and analyzing each case under the theoretical framework. In particular, agency theory illuminates the roles of the government as a principal and the universities as agents of the government while each party engages in the selection of leadership and appointment of governing boards. Finally, agency theory reveals the expectations and complicating issues from the perspective of each party. The potential results of this study provide a useful contribution to the literature by providing the first effort to discover the way in which the 18th Amendment altered the relationship between provincial governments and universities. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for provincial and federal government legislators within Pakistan as well as international researchers, organizations, and policy analysts who seek to improve their understanding of Pakistan's university system. This study also provides recommendations for improving the government-university relationships in each province to enhance the effective and efficient utilization of public resources.

Description

Keywords

University autonomy, government-university relations, Pakistan, Agency Theory.

Citation

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy

Program

Public Policy

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DOI

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