Steps taken to alleviate unemployment of PhDs

Islamabad : In an effort to create employment opportunities for PhDs, the Vice Chancellors have committed themselves to reviewing profiles uploaded on the website of Higher Education Commission (HEC) website.

Recently, Shaheed Benezir Bhutto University Banazirabad has decided to offer jobs to 22 PhDs out of the 105 CVs in relevant disciplines. Similar decisions are likely to follow as other universities complete their recruitment formalities.

In this regard, Dr. Tariq Banuri, Chairman HEC convened a meeting of all relevant Programme Coordinators at HEC to review the recommendations made by representatives of the unemployed PhDs. The meeting led to a number of decisions including launch of an exclusive research grant program which will be open to unemployed PhDs on competitive basis.

The applicants will have to affiliate themselves with a university on an honorary basis in order to apply for the grant. Besides that, a Committee would be established which will be to chaired by Dr. Farrukh Iqbal, Director, IBA Karachi to undertake an in-depth analysis of teacher-student ratio in various programs and recommend guidelines and standards for the enhancement of quality. The Commission has already collected data on unemployed PhDs and has set a target date of 31st January, 2019 for the launch of a consolidated Academic Jobs Portal.