STAFF REPORT
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, Rana Tanveer Hussain, on Wednesday visited the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Secretariat in Islamabad.
HEC Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed briefed the Minister on Commission’s performance during the last 20 years, different challenges faced by the country’s higher education sector, and actions being taken to improve the quality of higher education.
The briefing included an overview of HEC’s performance since its establishment in 2002, especially in the areas of academia-industry linkages, improving the quality of education and research, enhancing access to higher education, encouraging the diverse population to pursue higher studies, increasing female enrolment in higher learning institutions across all disciplines as well as financial challenges that have hampered the proper growth of higher education sector as per international standards.
HEC role in promoting higher education
The Minister acknowledged the fiscal pressure that HEC is facing and appreciated its performance despite all kinds of challenges. “We are here to support you. Education is one of our top priorities, and I will make sure that the higher education sector does not suffer because of financial constraints.”
The Minister, however, emphasized introducing more stringent steps to ensure quality at all higher education levels. He said that the institutions of higher learning should be regularly monitored, and any institution that violates the quality parameters should be strictly advised to fulfill all basic requirements.
He said that future funding must be linked to the performance of universities, and the universities should be advised to enhance the quality of their teaching and research. “Our higher learning institutions must focus on enhancing students’ skills, and special measures should be taken to impart technical education as per latest industry trends.”
Quality of higher education
The Chairman informed the Minister that “since its inception, HEC has not only helped increase the number of higher education institutions to 249 but has also put in a serious effort to ensure the quality of education being imparted and increase volume and quality of research in Pakistan. Our universities are now technologically equipped as per the modern standards, and Pakistan is emerging as a rising star in Asia”.
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed also elaborated scholarship projects HEC has been offering to make education accessible for students, particularly those from far-flung and less privileged areas. He also highlighted the international scholarship opportunities provided by HEC that enable Pakistani students to pursue higher studies at the best universities in the world.
HEC Pakistan on initiatives for Higher Education
“Over 40% of the government’s total investment in the higher education sector has been on human resource development, and we have maintained the most transparent and cautious approach for selecting students. We have allocated funds for need-based scholarships in the recurring budget for universities, so no student who has made it to a university on merit has to discontinue studies due to financial constraints. As a result of all these initiatives, one of the country’s recent achievements is that Pakistan won the greatest number of Erasmus+ Scholarships. At the same time, India remained in the second number,” the Chairman added.
“We have also taken several steps to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among faculty and students, and big funding is being provided to Pakistani startups so that our economy can prosper, and we ensure to contain the shining talent within the country.”
Challenges of HEC Pakistan
Talking about the challenges the higher education sector faced, the Chairman said, “Though we understand the financial challenges that our country is facing, still we request the Government to keep the higher education sector among top priorities while disbursing the funds.”
Members of HEC Pakistan
The Executive Director HEC Dr. Shaista Sohail, Advisor Quality Assurance and Global Engagement Mr. Awais Ahmed, Advisor of Academics, Accreditation, and NAHE Engr, attended the briefing. Raza Chohan, Advisor Planning, Development, and Finance Dr. Muhammad Mazhar Saeed and Director General Human Resource Management Ms. Aayesha Ikram, DG Quality Assurance Mr. Nasir Shah and Director IT Mr. Naveed Tahir.
