Islamabad
A group of parliamentarians from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) visited Higher Education Commission (HEC) Secretariat on Monday to discuss HEC initiatives for promotion of higher education in the tribal areas.
HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed briefed the visiting Parliamentarians in detail about Commission’s core activities, particularly different initiatives for Fata region.
The meeting was attended by Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training Muhammad Nazir Khan, Muhammad Jamalud Din, Alhaj Shah Jee Gul Afridi, Nasir Khan, Sajid Hussain Turi, Ghalib Khan, and Syed Ghazi Ghulab Jamal. Executive Director HEC Dr. Arshad Ali, Member (Operations and Planning) HEC Dr. Ghulam Raza Bhatti and other senior management of the Commission were also present.
Briefing the parliamentarians on HEC’s core aims in general, and initiatives for promotion of higher education in Fata in particular, the Chairman said that HEC is committed to ensuring development of Fata through increased access of tribal students to higher education.
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed said that so far 6,633 Fata students have benefited from Prime Minister’s Fee Reimbursement Program for M.Phil and Ph.D studies, while 2750 students from Fata have been awarded scholarships under HEC’s program for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
He informed the guests that over 3,000 student from Fata have also been provided scholarships under HEC Merit and Need-based Scholarship Program, while a number of scholars have also availed foreign scholarships for PhD studies as well as Cuban Government’s scholarships for medical studies. He further said that so far 1,800 Fata students have been provided laptops under Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme. “HEC believes in a holistic approach towards development and ensures that quality is not compromised at any level,” he said.
Addressing concerns of parliamentarians over location of Fata University, the Chairman said that location for establishment of Fata University had been controversial for years, however HEC proposed that the University campuses should be set up in each Agency once the University is established. “Our proposal was admired and now we have Fata University on the ground,” he said while assuring that campuses of the University will be established in each Agency.
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, while describing HEC’s overall endeavours for promotion of higher education in the country, said that HEC has made remarkable progress in increasing access rate, ensuring equity, improving quality, and focusing on relevance of education and research in the country. He revealed that before the inception of HEC in 2002, the number of higher education institutions was only 59, but now the number of universities has reached 180.
He further said that HEC is working on establishment of university campuses in every district. He said HEC is following no-compromise policy on quality of education, for which universities’ faculty requirements are being fulfilled through various capacity building program. Similarly, he said, strict measures are being taken to curb plagiarism. He also informed the lawmakers that number of journal publications has reached 10,000, which was around 800 in 2002. He said only 11000 faculty members of Pakistan’s higher education institutions are PhD while Pakistan currently requires more than 30,000 PhD faculty. “HEC is following the target through its various scholarship and human resource development program,” the Chairman affirmed.