HEC seeks Rs86bn for universities in next fiscal year

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has asked the federal government to allocate Rs86 billion in the budget for universities across the country for the next financial year, according to HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, who said the government is expected to approve this amount, giving importance to higher education.

Metropolitan University Karachi (MUK) Vice Chancellor Dr Waseem Qazi raised the issue of not giving a grant to MUK, so Dr Ahmed assured him that the university would be given a grant.

Instead of increasing the grant for higher education in the budget last year, it was reduced to Rs25 billion, and this amount was allocated only for federal universities, while grants for provincial universities were stopped, but after strong protests from the provinces, the grant was increased to Rs65 billion by including provincial universities.