Abstract
The British initiated formal art education in Pakistan, but at the time of independence, only a
few tertiary-level formal art education options were available. Later, art departments were established in universities, but the pursuit had never been a policy preference. Art remained a privilege, for both education and
career. This paper reports the findings of a study conducted to gauge Pakistani stakeholders’ perception of Art
as a higher education option, eliciting data from a premier art school in the country. The study was designed
to determine if stakeholders perceive the institute as elitist and how do they evaluate the institute’s academic
quality. A mixed-method approach was used for data collection: including surveys, focus group discussions,
and semi-structured interviews. Research participants were classified into four major groups: the institute’s
students, parents, alumni, employers, as well as students of competitors. SPSS was used for quantitative data
analysis and text analysis to identify major themes of interviews. Data indicate that the institute is perceived
as elitist by all the respondent groups. The perception is consolidated by demographic data, including residential areas and the family income. Communication Design programme was identified as the most popular
whereas Fine Art as the least popular. The study confirms the hypothesis that art education is considered
elitist, so is the institute. However, the thrust is more social than intellectual. Policy and social support, as
well as intellectual enhancement, are imperative for the acceptability of Fine Art as a career choice among
youngsters. Resource allocation is imperative for improved Communication Design programmes which, in
turn, can improve graduates’ employability, at the national level as well as at the international level.
Huma Baqai, Maria Hassan Siddiqui. (2020) Art and Higher Education in Pakistan-A Perception Study, Journal of Education & Social Sciences, Volume 8, Issue-1.
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