“What should matter more for universities is their global standing and not their country rankings,” Lancaster University Deputy Vice Chancellor Robert McKinlay told the participants of a seminar by the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) on Tuesday.
The seminar on ‘Internationalisation of Higher Education through Dual Degree Programmes’ focused on the importance of dual degree programmes in the international educational arena.
The seminar highlighted the framework and significance of such programmes with special reference to a case study on a dual degree programme between the British university and COMSATS.
The dual degree programme between the two universities began in 2010. It covers several disciplines including telecom, chemical, electronics, computer engineering and business administration. As many as 2,000 students have registered for the programme.
Dr McKinlay said that the students enrolled in the programme studied in the country of their origin. Students enrolled in the COMSATS dual degree programme were based in Lahore.
The curriculum and assessments were approved by the LU and joint examination boards had been set up to ensure quality assurance. Students received a transcript carrying logos of both universities but they received two separate degrees, one from each university.
Students had access to lectures at the LU via video conferencing, but Dr McKinlay said that there was a need to improve that aspect of the programme.
The programme offers students ‘international’ exposure and an academic degree, but it is also priced steeply.
The four-year dual degree programme for engineering costs Rs920,500 and a degree in non-engineering disciplines costs Rs600,000.
Students are also required to pay an additional £500 (Rs81,686) to the LU in each of the four years, on top of the fees for COMSATS.
“The degree is expensive but it is worth a lot more,” he said, “The returns can be measured in terms of the level of confidence students develop being part of this programme.”
Dr McKinlay said that big companies preferred hiring graduates holding dual degrees, especially from universities with good international rankings.
He said that it was important for universities to invest in and conduct research. “The quality of a university can be determined by the quality of the research it generates,” he said.
Dual degree programmes were being offered in universities in Pakistan, India and Malaysia, said Dr McKinlay, Talks were underway to arrange a similar programme in China. “The LU is one of the 10 British universities where 10 per cent of the students are studying for doctoral degrees,” he said.
CIIT Director Mahmood Ahmed Bodla said that the CIIT ranked third based on research productivity in the HEC’s ranking of more than 130 universities across the country.
He said the dual degree programme offered students in Pakistan an opportunity to study the international curriculum.
The HEC should come forward and encourage dual degree programmes to help provide students with exposure to international educational institutions.
“We want to bring an international academic environment to our campuses in Pakistan,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2013.