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IMPROVEMENT OF STATE OF MATHEMATICS IN PAKISTAN

In this report I have tried to avoid the obvious causes for the poor state of mathematics in Pakistan and remedies to improve it. Instead, I have attempted to highlight the causes and remedies in more general terms leaving the nitty-gritty details for later discourses. 1.          MATHEMATICS AND ITS NEED The uplift of our economy requires that we pay due attention to science and technology. For development in science and technology, a sound mathematical foundation is a pre-requisite. Therefore, it is imperative that we develop an adequate infrastructure for a mathematical culture in Pakistan. Mathematics in Pakistan is misunderstood. This misunderstanding does not only exist at the laymen’s level, but at the academic and professional level as well. Unfortunately mathematics is regarded as an additional subject during school and university in order to move on to careers in sciences or engineering. This thinking exists even at the government level in the minds of the polic
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FUTURISTIC VIEW OF PUNJAB HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

                                                                                                                                      Pursuant to the 18th Amendment of the Constitution of Pakistan, the subject of higher education was devolved to the provinces and the Punjab Higher Education Commission (“PHEC”) was established. PHEC shall redefine its mandate beyond “monitoring, evaluating and accrediting” institutions without, of course, going beyond the authority provided by law under the Punjab Higher Education Commission Act 2014 (the “Act”) or interfering with the freedom of universities provided to them by their respective Acts. Indeed, PHEC shall aspire to lead in education and research, and to benefit society through its commitment to excellence. Its mission shall be to improve the quality and usefulness of higher education by providing guidance so that universities can improve their systems in providing knowledge and skills to produce a modern, competent and useful workf
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FOREIGN MATHEMATICIANS AT QUAID-I-AZAM UNIVERSITY

Pak. Math. Soc. Newsl., Issue 2, Volume 5, 2006 The history of mathematics is an enticing but neglected field in Pakistan. One reason for this lies in the nature of intellectual history in Pakistan. Telling the story of mathematics is not a conceptually distinct undertaking from describing the theory of mathematics, though the two presentations appear in different guises. The Mathematics Department of Quaid-i-Azam University, born in 1967, being the only federal and post-graduate department, has played a leading role in establishing traditions in mathematical research in Pakistan. Its contribution in producing a locally educated mathematical workforce in Pakistan has yielded a mathematical culture, which has its own peculiar dimensions and effects. It is worthwhile to look at the history of the Mathematics Department of Quaid-i-Azam University analytically and see its influence on research in mathematics.   The Commission on National Education came to the conclusion in
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RESEARCH AREAS OF PAKISTANI MATHEMATICIANS

Pak Math Soc Newsle, Issue 3, Vol  5, 2006 Production per year of research papers in mathematics has increased with the passage of time. In 1977 the first research paper out of an M.Phil. dissertation at Quaid-i-Azam University was published in an Indian journal. Incidentally it was a paper in the area of Group Theory and its Generalizations.  It was a produce of the first two-year M.Phil. in Pakistan. The author was Qaiser Mushtaq. Many years later, an upsurge in mathematical research even at M.Phil. level was seen. Nowadays, a large number of M.Phil. dissertations contain original research, which students publish in the form of paper(s) with joint authorship of their supervisors.  The production of Ph.D.s has also increased since the first local Ph.D. was produced, again at Quaid-i-Azam University in 1971. With the increase in production of doctoral theses, the number of research papers has thus increased as well. Another factor which has increased the production of
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PROFESSOR GRAHAM HIGMAN IN PAKISTAN

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Pak Math Soc Newsl, 1, 6, 2007 In July 1987, Professor Qaiser Mushtaq organized a unique mini conference on algebra, the first such international activity in algebra in the history of Pakistan. Professor Graham Higman FRS, former Waynflete Professor of Pure Mathematics at Oxford University and former President of the London Mathematical Society, was invited to deliver lectures at the conference. The conference was attended by mathematicians from all over Pakistan and was sponsored by the National Academy of Higher Education, (University Grants Commission) and the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Professor Graham Higman FRS delivered four one-hour lectures. Experts and senior students from all over the country attended the conference. Professor Higman flew to Pakistan from Singapore where he had attended an international conference on Group Theory in June 1987 where many eminent group theorists also attended, and Professor Higman who was one of the keynote sp
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MATHEMATICAL SOCIETIES

Pak Math Soc, Newsl, 4(4), 2005. INCREASE in scientific and mathematical activities led to the formation of groups of persons who met, sometimes regularly, for discussions and exchange of ideas. Some of these groups later emerged as academies, schools, or societies. The first of these well known perhaps were, Plato’s Academy in Athens, or the school of Euclid in Alaxandria, or the House of Wisdom ( Bait ul Hikma ) in Baghdad, or Society of Brother’s of Banu Musa in Baghdad. It is difficult to say where and when the first mathematical society in the modern sense was founded, but the oldest one that still exists is the Mathematische Gesellschaft in Hamburg. It was founded in 1690 as the Kungstrechnungsliebande Societat. Another early one is the Spatalfields Mathematical Society, which lasted from 1717 to 1846. But these were not societies of national stature. The first society of national stature is the Wiksunding Genootschap, which was founded in Amsterdam in 1778. Later the
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HOW TO ASSESS A MATHEMATICIAN

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Dawn, 16th August 2009            Professor Philip Hall (1904 - 1982), FRS, an eminent mathematician was Sadlerian professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge from 1953 to 1967. In daily Telegraph it has been stated that he was the world’s leading group theorist of the 20 th century. Recipient of prestigious the Sylvester Medal of the Royal Society, the de Morgan Medal and the Larimor prize of the London Mathematical Society, he was elected Honorary Secretary and the President of the London Mathematical Society. Hall exercised a profound influence on English mathematics, and an influence which was felt throughout the mathematical world. Hall has published 40 papers in his career of 47 years. Hall’s cumulative Impact Factor, based on HEC’s criterion, is only 19.844. According to the HEC criterion for civil award of Pakistan ( Impact Factor for Tamgha-i-Imtiaz 34 – 49, Pride of Performance 50 – 99, Sitara-i-Imtiaz   100 – 198, Hilal-i-Imtiaz   200), Hall will not qualify even
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