Islamabad
Higher Education Commission (HEC) has proposed an amount of Rs25 billion for financial year 2016-17 to run its ongoing and new initiatives in line with Vision 2025 and government of Pakistan priorities.
The information made part of the draft PSDP 2016-17 proposal shared in National Assembly Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training held in HEC secretariat on Wednesday. The Committee was briefed in detail by Chairperson HEC Professor Dr Mukhtar Ahmed about the current projects and future plans of HEC.
The committee, chaired by Colonel (r) Dr Amirullah Marwat was briefed on allocation grants to public and private sector during 2015-16, proposed development projects of HEC in the PSDP for financial year 2016-17, Prime Minister Fee Reimbursement scheme for backward districts, overseas scholarship schemes and steps taken for promotion of higher education in FATA. Minister of State for Federal Education Baleegh-ur-Rehman and HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed also attended the meeting.
The committee was informed that HEC received Rs70.98 billion as regular grant and Rs12.91 as additional funding from the government in the financial year 2015-16. An additional funding of Rs10.600 billion was allocated for Prime Minister Lap Top scheme whereas Rs1.8 billion for Prime Minister Tuition Fee Reimbursement Scheme. Under recurring Grant, 68 per cent of funds were distributed to provincial HEIs, 17 per cent to national research and other programmes and 15 per cent to federal HEIs.
He said during 2015-16, Rs2,000 million were allocated for promotion of research, Rs3,000 million for tenure track system, Rs625 million for Pakistan Education and Research Network, Rs935 million for Digital Library, Rs650 million for Inter University Academic Activities, Rs450 million for Technical Assistance for Capacity Building, Rs598 million for different university programmes, in addition to Rs42.2 billion recurring grant for different categories of universities, including engineering, medical, agriculture, general, etc.
Dr Mukhtar shared that there are total 135 higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country including 85 universities, 12 Center of Excellence, 12 Area or Pakistan Study Centers and 26 other institutions with total enrolment of 643600 students.
Referring to the outcome of Fee Reimbursement Scheme, the chairman said that scheme covers tuition fee, admission, laboratory, registration, examination, library, and research related expenditure for MS/MPhil and PhD studies. He said that initially 59 districts were covered under the scheme, while currently students from 114 districts are benefitting from this initiative, adding that a total of 94,751 students have so far benefitted. Areas included under the Scheme are all districts of Balochistan, whole of FATA and Gilgit-Baltistan, Southern Punjab, Interior Sindh, and selected districts of Punjab, KPK and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Terming HEC’s overseas scholarship scheme for MS/ MPhil and PhD a flagship programme, Dr. Mukhtar said that since its inception in 2002, the Commission has initiated various HRD scholarship programmes from undergraduate to PhD and post-doctorate level for development of human resource in different fields for socio-economic development of Pakistan. He said that total 8787 overseas scholarships were awarded to Pakistani students with 59 per cent of them belonging to less developed areas. He said that there are 60 defaulters of these scholarships. Among 40,000 total faculty members of HEIs, he shared that only 10,000 are PhD. “According to world standards, we are still short of 30,000 PhDs in our higher education institutions,” he said.
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed underscored the scope of Aghaz Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package and said that 600 scholarships including 200 overseas and 400 indigenous are being awarded to students from all districts of Balochistan. He said that HEC is taking stringent steps for promotion of higher education in Federally Administered Tribal Areas, including establishment of a university. He said that HEC scholarships are awarded in accordance with the quota prescribed by the Government of Pakistan.
He added that specific programmes have been initiated for students hailing from less developed areas of the country. He said that HEC is encouraging universities through various initiatives to promote a research culture in the country. He maintained that different measures are afoot to strengthen academia-industry linkages so as to derive outcome of research carried out in universities.
The chairman also informed the committee about proposal of building a fund for promotion of research entitled ‘Change Maker’ specifically for research on novel ideas to provide solutions. Highlighting the importance of commercialization of research, the Chairman said that Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialization (ORICs) established in many universities are playing their due role to market research of faculty and students.
Answering to different questions raised by the committee members, Dr Mukhar said that there are 9 universities in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa without regular vice chancellors. He said that he has raised the concern before the KPK government and it has been ensured that Vice Chancellors will be hired in next two weeks. The chairperson said that in the follow up of Prime Minister directives to reach every district of Pakistan, HEC is in constant negotiations with the Provincial Higher Education Commissions.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Amirullah Marwat assured HEC of their complete support. He also assured HEC of their support to take action against illegal campuses of universities so that future of students could be safeguarded. He directed the HEC for releasing parent and student alerts after every three months to inform the masses about illegal universities, their campuses and programmes.
Other members of the committee who attended the meeting included MNA Muhammad Nazir Khan, MNA Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhatti, MNA Shaista Pervaiz, MNA Amra Khan, MNA Surriya Asghar, and MNA Dr. Imran Khattak.