Minister proposes provision of Rs2 billion to public universities

Islamabad

Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training Engineer Muhammad Balighur Rehman has proposed the provision of Rs2 billion to the public sector universities to create endowment funds.

“Of this grant, the universities will create own endowment funds. This grant would increase by Rs1 billion in every 10 years. It will be for the need-based financial assistance or loan. The students after getting job will pay the money back to their respective universities by giving 10 per cent of their annual salary. A renowned and credible agency will be hired to ensure the return of the money,” he told a meeting of the Higher Education Commission regarding the new developments in higher education here on Wednesday.

The agenda of the meeting included scholarship programmes, criteria for M.Phil and PhDs, facilities for the Special Students, Pakistan Chairs Abroad, Collaboration with Different Countries Regarding Higher Education, and over all achievements of HEC.

Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar briefed the minister regarding the scholarship programs monitored and facilitated by HEC.

He said around 2654 students have been sent on scholarships from 2009 till date through different agreed programs among countries and HEC.

Dr Mukhtar added that there is no lapse of scholarship for the year of 2016. But there is always a room for improvement.

The minister directed the HEC chairman to design a new website with the proposed name of “Learning Opportunities Abroad” which would be link to the websites of HEC and Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.

“This new website would contain all the information starting from the scholarships available to the destination available for studies to the accreditations of foreign universities etc. it would give a comprehensive account to the Pakistani students about the opportunities available in the world. It would help the local students immensely as they would have easily accessible information at hand,” he said.

The minister directed the HEC to write letters to all the embassies here and asked them to provide the information regarding the scholarships available in their respective countries for international students. 

The HEC chairman told the minister about the criteria of selection of PhDs, he said that they have recently conducted a study in which they have identified areas in which PhDs are required.

“Textile, sports, logistic, transport and supply chain these are among the few areas which need experts. We have already started implementing that study in letter and spirit,” he said.

He said there were 14 chairs of Pakistan in universities abroad, including in Germany, Egypt, Turkey and China, while several chairs were vacant.

“These chairs are mainly looked after by the Cabinet Division with the collaboration of HEC,” he said.

Talking about the collaboration of the HEC with different countries Minister of State said that while collaborating with countries like Romania and Belarus in education, we should keep their expertise in mind.

The meeting was also attended by federal secretary for federal education and professional training Humanyon Khan, CADD additional secretary Qaiser Majid, joint education advisor Rafiq Tahir, and officials of the ministry and HEC.