A Pakistani Ivy League University in the Making?
By Akhtar Mahmud Faruqui
Editor
Pakistan Link

( Beaconhouse National University is Pakistan’s first not-for-profit Liberal Arts University, founded in 2003 to provide tertiary education in the arts, design, architecture, media, humanities and social sciences, business and information technology. It was established through significant donations from a number of benefactors including the Kasuri family, the Dawood family, Dr Parvez Hassan, Mr Izzat Majeed and the Government of Punjab, to name a few.

BNU’s mission is to foster empowered and impactful global citizens in a diverse, socially sensitive, cross-disciplinary, liberal arts environment. BNU retains its identity as an apolitical, equal-opportunity, truly national higher-education institution, fast-emerging as a world-class Liberal Arts university.

Below is a piece highlighting the establishment of the university and written earlier during its formative phase.)

ABC’s Nightline program years back was a pack of distortions about a country that remained steadfast in its support for the US. Entitled ‘The most dangerous country in the world,’ the program conveniently ignored the country’s march in different fields and the progressive outlook of Pakistan society.

Yet, there was one positive comment that seemed to have unwittingly slipped from Ted Koppel’s lashing tongue: Some of the world’s best schools are in Pakistan! As the compliment was paid the ABC camera panned across a classroom full of young boys and girls. Their uniforms looked familiar. Was it a Beaconhouse School chapter? I was not sure. Yet the compliment - ‘some of the world’s best schools are in Pakistan’ - reechoed in my ears, and justifiably so. My own son, Jahanzeb, had studied at the PECHS Chapter of Beaconhouse. He was later to win a full university scholarship and excel in studies on migration to the US. His entrepreneurial successes were applauded by Forbes Magazine years later.

Over the years, the Beaconhouse School System has seen marked growth. Its branches dot the country’s landscape, and their number precipitously multiplies. Founded by Mrs Nasreen Kasuri and Mian Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, the System is the largest private network of schools with well over 40,000 students This wholesome trend testifies to the fact that private schools today play a complementary, nay, catalytic role in strengthening the education sector in Pakistan. They have a chain-reaction effect and, in this enterprise, Beaconhouse’s example stands out, thanks to the painstaking strivings of Mrs Kasuri who has been at the helm of the School System since its inception.

A write-up in Pakistan Link earlier furnished validation of Beaconhouse’s sustained growth: “With the largest private network of schools in Asia, it was only a matter of time before the Beaconhouse School System was ready to take the quantum leap into the higher education sector. The Beaconhouse National University Foundation (BNUF) has been recently established with the express purpose of setting up the Beaconhouse National University at Lahore.”

The Foundation and its Boards of Trustees and Directors comprise members whose commitment to education and idealism are exemplary: Dr Moeen Qureshi (former Prime Minister of Pakistan), Dr Malik M. Hasan (Chairman and CEO, Healthnet and Founder Malik and Seeme Hasan School of Business - CSU- in the US), Lord Robert Maclennan (Member, House of Lords, United Kingdom), Dr Parvez Hassan (Founder Member, Lahore University of Management Sciences - LUMS), Mr Kasim Kasuri (Founder and CE of Beaconhouse -Informatics), Mr Shamim S. Khan (Principal, Aitchison College, Lahore), Mr Shahid Hafiz Kardar (eminent economist and former Finance Minister, Govt of Punjab), and Mrs Nasreen Kasuri (Founder and CE Beaconhouse School Systems). There were more heart-warming details: “Some live on traditions, we create them. What do we offer? Exciting programs in School of Visual Arts, School of Liberal Arts, School of Social Sciences, School of Architecture and Design, School of Information and Technology, and School of Media and Communication”.

In the United States, the Hasan Family Foundation is responsible for the promotion of the Lahore-based Beaconhouse National University. Dr Malik M. Hasan and Mrs Seeme Gull Khan Hasan make an enterprising couple: together the two form the vanguard of any effort aimed at promoting the Pakistani community in the US or the cause of Pakistan at Capitol Hill. They rub shoulders with President Bush and the First Lady and are an asset to Pakistan and the Pakistan-American community. The Malik and Seeme Hasan School of Business (CSU) in Colorado is a living testimony to the couple’s innate stirring to promote education. Thanks to Mrs Hasan’s initiative, I found myself seated in Mrs Kasuri’s Lahore office to learn more about the Beaconhouse National University.

“Pakistani expatriates are a target community,” Mrs Kasuri informed. Young Pakistani boys and girls living in the US, or the UK can study at the University and gain familiarity with the Pakistani culture and traditions during their stay in Lahore. They can have an “in-depth look at the cultural diversity of this part of the world. We will have special courses for them. They could return to the US, the UK, or wherever they come from after spending a few semesters at the Beaconhouse National University. I see no problem in the transfer of credits earned during their stay at the BNU,” she confidently claims. The University would also be an ideal place for students hailing from the SAARC countries.

The interview is interrupted by a call from a Sindh branch of the Beaconhouse. The principal has been threatened by the parents of a student who has not done well in a test. Mrs Kasuri promptly assures the principal of the school’s support in a soft but firm tone. “The school is behind you,” she declares. There is no display of affectations, no admonitory grunts, no high-sounding sermons. I realize what makes the Beaconhouse such a singularly important institution in the country.

A number of accomplished academics share Mrs Kasuri’s zest to make the BNU an institution of excellence. Professor Saleema Hashmi, who has been associated with the National College of Arts for 30 years, is one of them. She shares her resolve with rare perspicacity: BNU offers Pakistani Americans the opportunity “to discover something they know second-hand to know as first-hand, and to tap into the rich cultural, emotional and intellectual reservoirs of the country.

Founder and Chairperson of Beaconhouse Group Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri was given the honorary ‘Living Legend Award’ by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in recognition of her invaluable role towards the development of the education sector in Pakistan for over four-and-a-half decades

“We are hoping they earn credits in the US. Once the American universities have a look at the courses offered by BNU, I see no problem in the transfer of credits. Speaking for my own schools, this could happen immediately.” BNU is “a new vision, a fine vision that encourages an inter-disciplinary approach which is lacking in Pakistan.

“There is no liberal arts university in the country. Subjects are offered but students cannot cross-register. BNU will offer students the opportunity to study different subjects which are not available in other universities. Kuch khwab haen. Itnae saal fanoon lateefa maen guzara,” she thoughtfully remarks. The present time is the most exciting in the history of Pakistan arts - younger artists are making a name in the international world! She talks of a “long, painful journey in gathering a young dynamic faculty.” Daughter of a distinguished Pakistani, late Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mrs Hashmi is hopeful that the “finest artists will be associated with our strivings.”

Another devoted lieutenant of Mrs Kasuri is Navid Shahzad who is demonstrably inspired by the Beaconhouse founder. “What is distinctive about Mrs Kasuri is that she instinctively grasps the crux of the issue and does not hesitate to entrust someone with responsibility. I was given a complete carte blanche and never treated as an employee.” Navid, who taught poetry and drama at the Punjab University for thirty years, joined Mrs Kasuri’s group in 2001. She prepared the feasibility report, planned eight schools which were to be operational in three phases: the “first six are up and running,” she says. “We are in the process of making history,” Navid exuberantly claims. The BNU is patterned on the American system of education. It would facilitate inter-disciplinary studies. The faculty members would also comprise scholars from abroad. “We are trying to attract Fulbright scholars to serve as faculty members.” The goal is to make BNU an “innovative, progressive, and dynamic university with a strong base in liberal arts.”

“Pehli martaba Pakistan maen aek degree offer ho rahi hae. Theater, TV aur film maen yeh apni naueat ki pehli degree hae,” she informs in chaste Urdu. Navid speaks English with enviable perfection but chooses to speak in Urdu. Her choice does not come as a surprise. Lahore is the cultural center of Pakistan. It is hard to deny that the people of the Punjab have played an all-important role in the farogh (promotion) of Urdu.

“Adab ham sari zabanon maen parhatae hain. Comparative Literature ka mazmoon ham introduce kar rahaen haen. ‘Literature and the visual narrative’ pehli martaba MA kae liyae offer kiya ja raha hae.” Another subject ‘Literature and the Dramatic Performance’ is to be taught by Madeeha Gauhar and Zia Mohyeddin. Post-colonial literature too will be under the spotlight. In 2004, the Department of Women Studies (Gender Studies in US) is planned to make its debut.

The BNU courses will have special attraction for students from the Gulf, Malaysia, and SAARC countries. Pakistanis who find it difficult to make it to the US in the post-9/11 period would also find the University curriculum of singular appeal. As for Pakistani Americans, the University could be an ideal choice. “BNU offers expatriate children the opportunity to retrace their roots. They should explore their roots.”

Even mainstream American students could be tempted to come to BNU. “As a superpower, Americans are isolated and insulated from the rest of the world. They must see our true face which they can do only if they come here. Who will teach them calligraphy? Lahore is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. The American has a curious mind. Let him discover what we have to offer. We are looking to forge bridges. Good for both. Every American is not a bully. America must send its ambassadors out. We also need to tell the world that we are not monsters,” observes Navid.

Dr Isa Daudpota, an IT expert who belongs to a distinguished family of educationists of Sindh and is an outstanding academic in his own right, speaks candidly about the BNU. “The effort is to impart quality education over and above what is offered by other universities. The closest to us is LUMS but we offer a more diverse menu. We offer subjects which are not taught in different universities.

“The way to teach would be different. There will be more open discussions. Indeed, it would be discussion-based education, giving a student the chance to design his/ her course. BNU will be closer to an American Arts University.” It will offer training in ‘Films and Media,’ a subject that has suddenly come to enjoy primacy in educational institutions in recent years with the launching of several TV channels. With the Beaconhouse National University graduates entering the scene a wholesome change is likely to take place. Better presentations, better scripts, better talk shows, better techniques, and better producers. A more professional outfit altogether.

The BNU is a non-profit organization. The Kasuri family is represented as a minority on its Board, an exceptional arrangement, that speaks volumes of its sincerity and commitment to promote healthy traditions and academic brilliance. It is for Pakistanis - both within and without - to benefit from the University which has the making of a great institution.

If PINSTECH (Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology) could win accolades and be described as ‘best of both the worlds’ by TIME magazine, thanks to the vision of the late Dr I.H. Usmani, Chairman, PAEC, would it be too much to expect that the BNU would emerge as the equivalent of an Ivy institution - if not today, 10-20 years hence? If some of the best schools of the world are in Pakistan, why shouldn’t we succeed in establishing some of the world’s best universities in the country? – afaruqui42@yahoo.com