Exploring the tenure track system and basic pay scale system of academic professionals working in public universities: a qualitative approach

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has introduced many productive schemes to ensure that higher education maintains its high standards of quality and excellence (Khan, T.A., Jabeen, N.: Tenure track system in higher education institutions of Pakistan: Prospects and challenges. Educational Res. Reviews. 6(9), 605–621 (2011)). The Tenure-Track System (TTS) was introduced in Pakistan in 2002 to improve the quality of education by hiring highly qualified faculty in higher education institutes, especially public universities. Another system is the Basic Pay Scale System (BPS). It governs how much an employee gets as salary or wages depending on their grade, experience, position, or tenure within an organization and the effort expended to accomplish a particular work. The study aims to make the comparison between these two compensation systems and to know the challenges faced by the faculty members working on both systems to know a way forward to improve the systems for faculty members. The nature of the study is qualitative, and the researcher has contacted twenty faculty members (ten faculty members working on BPS and ten working on TTS) to do in-depth face-to-face interviews in four public sector universities with the academic professionals working on BPS and TTS. Participants in the survey will comprehend that their names will be kept private by receiving a clear explanation. The results indicate that TTS faculty members receive higher salaries and clearer promotion criteria but face greater job insecurity and workload compared to their BPS counterparts, who benefit from job security and pensions but have lower salaries and less transparent promotion paths. Additionally, TTS faculty members reported challenges related to research funding and publication requirements, while BPS faculty members expressed concerns over limited career progression opportunities. Overall, the study highlights the need for a unified compensation system that combines the strengths of both TTS and BPS, ensuring fair remuneration, job security, and support for academic research. This would enhance faculty motivation and performance, ultimately improving the quality of higher education in Pakistan. The study contributes to the understanding of faculty compensation systems and provides practical recommendations for policymakers and educational administrators.