- As digital natives, young people are adept at using new technologies
- Prestigious certification of Tabani’s School of Accountancy is a rare accolade from ACCA worldwide
Interview with Mr. Farhan Saeed — a renowned faculty member
PAGE: Tell me something about yourself, please:
Farhan Saeed: I am an educationist by profession; have invested over 36 years in the field of education as both a lead faculty of management accountancy besides being a key management person in the leading institutes of Karachi offering professional qualifications like ACCA-UK, CIMA-UK, CA-ICAP and CMA-ICMAP.
Alhamdulillah, I have taught over 3,000 students since 1999 of which most of them have completed their academic journey and presently are working in well-reputed organisations across the country and worldwide as well. Apart from being a faculty, I have also enjoyed working in some administrative roles, as Head of Academics, Head of Examination Department, Campus Head, Manager Education & Administration, Incharge Evening Program and Vice-principal.
PAGE: What is your take on the quality of accounting & finance education in Pakistan?
Farhan Saeed: The quality of accounting & finance education in the country is far better here as compared to most of our neighbouring countries in terms of results produced, skills embedded and worldwide recognition in the job market.
We are fortunate enough to have with us some excellent institutions and universities imparting first class education especially in Karachi and Lahore with international affiliations and quality endorsements to their credit. These institutions are offering their courses in line with the ever-increasing demand in the industry for accounting and finance professionals to take day-to-day challenges of internal and external factors affecting the progress of a business.
Today’s finance world demands more competitive, specific, innovative and tailor-made skills for survival in a globalised business environment. The main target of these schools of accountancy and finance is to produce future business leaders equip them with sufficient knowledge and skills to compete in ever-changing market assertively. As far as global professional accountancy education is concerned, we have a good record of accomplishment reflecting into some extraordinary results in ACCA exams with numerous nationwide and global positions clinched by our young students trained and prepared here by these business and accountancy schools of which mine, Tabani’s School of Accountancy (TSA) is top of the line. TSA has been endorsed by ACCA-UK as a Platinum Status institute in Pakistan, a rare quality certification by ACCA in the world.
I must admit one thing here, fortunately or otherwise, this glorious success in accounting and finance education mostly comes from the efforts and investments of our private sector and industrialists.
List of prominent colleges and universities of the country of this category does not show a vibrant presence and the involvement of our government/public sector that itself speaks louder the status of education in our priority table at national sphere.
PAGE: What is your perspective on interest manifested by students and their future prospects?
Farhan Saeed: As an educationist, I have seen big changes in the general behaviour of my present-day students comparing with their counterpart of yesteryears. In those days (1999-2015), most of the students were found self-starter, booklovers, keen in learning new things by research, spent time in making their own notes by sitting in the libraries, played games in the fields, paid respect to their elders, sensitive and were very keen in knowing their mistakes, admitted them diligently and showed respect in getting corrected. These days, things have changed.
Now students prefer communication through Snapchat & Instagram instead of email and traditional social media platforms such as Facebook, they are multi-taskers, more hi-tech and digital natives, usually independent, confident, compassionate and thoughtful, future focused, blunt, prefer interactive classroom engagement over the old chalk and talk teaching approach. These behavioural changes of two-time zones also reflect in their learning behaviour as well.
Students prefer study materials in short and simple style now, mostly in soft copy format, prefer lectures in prerecorded videos over detailed notes that they can watch easily whenever needed on their gadgets. They do not jolt down important points during a lecture but prefer all this stuff be provided to them in soft copy format. They want facilitators now, not the teachers in their classes.
Education have shifted from teacher-centric, to curriculum-based to learner-focused now. But, the change in the behaviour or learning pattern of present-day students does not mean a hopeless situation for our future. No, not at all, our future is safe in their hands as these students are more concerned about their earnings, they know the value of money, they are responsible and caring as well to take care of matters they’re assigned.
PAGE: Why is it that our neighbouring country is deemed better in accounting & finance education delivery vis-a-vis us globally?
Farhan Saeed: Success is the destiny of those who work hard. Unfortunately, not only education in accounting & finance, statistics of growth indicators of our neighbouring country have surpassed us in almost every field of life. For example, take their GDP that’s 10.55 times higher than us, their population, market size, exports and industries etc. are far better performing domestically and internationally. Even in education sector, they have invested their resources pretty well catering market demand globally not only for today but in the yesteryears as well.
We used to study subjects like economics, accountancy and financial management from the books penned by their authors. According to Gartner, their spending in information technology (IT) sector is projected to reach $138.9 billion in 2024, compared to $122.6 billion last year, with a double-digit growth rate of 13.2%. These vital signs clearly shows they are performing well in accountancy & business education than us.
Internationally, their graduates and qualifiers are more in demand and well placed in the leading organisations; IBM, Mastercard, Reckitt Benckiser, Nokia, Adobe, Google a few of them headed by them as CEOs. I feel this recognition does not come from the policies of their governments, but it is the outcome of the efforts of their vibrant youth. We can see their digital presence everywhere.
PAGE: Every citizen is under compulsion to cut corners. Has it taken its toll on education sector?
Farhan Saeed: I think, Yes! Unfortunately, here too short cuts, unfair means, guess papers, selective studies, important notes, crash courses etc. have been introduced to get the students pass the exams without even bothered about understanding the concept and learning the topic thoroughly.
Students avoid taking long lectures, in-depth studies, case studies, book reading and even attending regular classes. These lacking have also been ignored and compromised on commercially at institute level, because student is a valued customer now.
No disciplinary action is now taken at higher secondary and professional studies levels to compel a student to be regular and punctual, follow the rules, appear in internal exams, submit assignments, research case studies. This negligence results into producing incompetent human resource that is harmful for the company as well as for the country.