Importance of Practical Courses for a Professional Degree: A Case of Library & Information Science (LIS)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to seek the opinion of Pakistani library professionals employed in different types of libraries and organizations about importance of practical courses, theory courses and practical-cum-theory courses they had studied for the fulfillment of their professional degree. It is a survey research based on a structured questionnaire. The survey reveals that the library schools of Pakistan design and develop their courses of their own accord to fulfill the local needs but they also follow the curriculum designed by the Higher Education Commission (HEC). While designing curricula, the international standard and uniformity is taken into consideration and the core courses to be taught in the first year of Masters program remain more or less same in all library schools. The theory and practical courses are also the part of curricula and imparting practical education is given due consideration. The professionals identified some courses in which more practical factor should be included so that the graduates should not face problems after joining the professional field.

Keywords: LIS education; Practical Courses; Theory-Practical Ratio; Curriculum; Pakistan; Curriculum Development

DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-8-20

Publication date: April 30^th 2019