Impact of ICT on performance and productivity of students and universities in Pakistan

Abstract

The current research finds the effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on research students' and universities' performance and productivity in Pakistan. ICT has changed teaching, learning, as well as the research process (in data analysis, storage, processing, publication, and dissemination). ICT has also improved access to academic and research materials for research students and research supervisors (taken as representative of universities). However, it depends upon the extent and nature of use of ICT, how much effects the performance and productivity of research students and universities. The aims of the present study were: to find out the extent of utilization of ICT by research students and research supervisors for general academic and research activities; to assess the performance and productivity of research students; to find out the performance and productivity of universities; to analyse the impact of ICT devices on the performance and productivity of research students; moreover, to analyse the impact of ICT devices on universities’ performance and productivity. The study was restricted; to ICT as use of desktop, laptops, internet, multimedia, and smartphones in the sciences and social science faculties of public sector sector universities in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, university performance was measured by academic performance of research supervisors and annual ranking scores (as determined by the “HEC and the THE World University Ranking”), university productivity was taken as research productivity (research supervisors’ research productivity and annual reports of universities), and those research supervisors were selected who were supervising the M.Phil./MS/PhD research students at least for 03 years and their research students who were about to x complete research.. The study used quantitative just as qualitative research methodologies. The participants in this study were 6,807 research students, 914 research supervisors, and 16 directors ORIC and QEC. The sample of 600 research students and 300 research supervisors for this study was chosen using a mixed method multistage sampling approach. Questionnaires, interviews, annual reports, and universities’ annual rankings scores were used to gather the data. The data were then examined by using the mean, median, mode, standard deviation, simple linear regression. Moreover, line graphs and Q-Q plots were also drawn. Qualitative data was analysed by using thematic analysis. This survey found that research students used ICT at low and research supervisors at average extent. It is concluded that performance of research students and research supervisors, just as academic productivity of research students significantly influenced by ICT. Despite this, ICT had no evident impact on the research productivity of research students and research supervisors. The survey found that research students and research supervisors did not use ICT effectively for academic and research activities. As a result of increased ICT usage, research students' and universities' performance improve. However, it was shown that as the usage of ICT rose, the research productivity of research students and research supervisors did not increase. The study recommended that university administrators should check whether ICT infrastructure is being used appropriately to attain an exceptionally high degree of productivity and performance among research students and research supervisors, as well as provide incentives (certificates, awards, and scholarships) to encourage research students and research supervisors to increase their research productivity. Future studies may be conducted to examine the extent of ICT usage by research students and research supervisors for their academic and research activities after the pandemic, as the working situation shifts from traditional teaching and learning to online