Salary freeze, tax hike tighten squeeze on professors

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s public universities may face a growing human resource problem as highly qualified faculty members hired under the Tenure Track System (TTS) continue to work without a salary increase since 2021 while also facing a sharp rise in their tax burden.

Details submitted to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and the Senate Standing Committee on Finance show researchers and professors employed under the TTS have not received any raise since 2021. The last recruitment under the system was made in 2020, and since then these specialised faculty members have been experiencing attrition.

The issue also came up in a meeting on Tuesday between Minister of State for Finance Bilal Kayani and representatives of the affected faculty. Participants in the meeting said no final solution was agreed, though the finance ministry promised temporary relief. They said the ministry conveyed that it would support a one-time increase in salaries, but that the increase would be given by excluding certain allowances, reducing the real benefit for educationists.

The TTS was introduced in 2002 as a performance-based, contract-based faculty employment system aimed at attracting high-quality PhD researchers to public universities by offering salaries double those of professors employed under the regular basic pay scale. However, the material submitted to the government bodies stated that these faculty members have seen their salaries remain frozen since 2021 despite strong performance in research, foreign grant acquisition for education projects and improvements in university rankings linked to research publications.

Salary and tax pressures

In 2021, the minimum monthly salaries under the TTS were Rs175,500 for an assistant professor, Rs263,250 for an associate professor and Rs394,875 for a professor. These amounts have remained unchanged since then.

A presentation given to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance last month stated that if regular increases had been applied over the past five years, an assistant professor would now be earning Rs328,000 per month, an associate professor Rs492,000 and a professor Rs738,000.

A briefing given to the finance ministry and the Senate committee stated prices rose by 87% while the tax burden on TTS faculty increased by 81%, yet they received no salary increase. The material also stated that although these professors did not get annual raises, the increment they received was hardly 5% per annum.

The documents noted that TTS faculty were not exempt from the broader tax burden faced by salaried individuals in Pakistan. However, for these employees the impact was more severe because they paid more tax due to higher rates and changes in tax slabs without receiving corresponding salary increases.

By comparison, faculty members employed under the government’s basic pay scales received a 71% increase in salaries, which was still barely enough to offset inflation but remained significantly better than the situation faced by TTS faculty.

Committee recommendations remain pending

The Senate Standing Committee on Finance was informed that around 4,000 faculty members had not received any salary increase over the past five years, raising concern among stakeholders.

President of the Association of Pakistan Tenure Track Teachers (APTTA) Dr Asif Ali said the association had been in discussions with the Finance Division since November last year to seek a revision in salaries. He added that a special task force formed in 2023 and headed by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal had also prepared recommendations in line with the association’s position.

The task force recommended that the TTS salary structure be benchmarked against the Basic Pay Scale framework as applied at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), based on the applicable BPS structure for FY 2025-26, with a premium of 35% over the gross BPS-based salary to be allowed as TTS allowance to ensure competitive compensation.

However, these recommendations were not implemented. An additional secretary finance told the parliamentary committee that while the matter was not a legally binding requirement, the government supported the proposed adjustments and the case was under process. He said efforts were being made to expedite the matter, although no definitive timeline had been finalised.