Category: National

ISLAMABAD: Prof Dr Tariq Banuri, Chairperson, Higher Education Commission (HEC), has stated that the purpose of HEC is to invest in students and help them attain success.

This he said while addressing faculty and students of Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), Rawalpindi on Thursday. Addressing the female students, he said, “Whatever you want to become, HEC is here to support you.”

Outlining his future vision for the uplift of higher education sector, he said he will follow the policy devised by the Steering Committee on Higher Education, which led to the inception of HEC, and pursued by his predecessors. “There is no policy change, as from the day one HEC has a clear set of objectives including focus on access, quality and relevance,” he explained, adding that HEC will however evaluate the outcomes of programmes initiated by HEC in order to assess deficiencies and fix the gaps.

The Chairperson outlined the targets he has specified in his vision statement. “I want to see at least 10 universities fully autonomous at the end of my term, as this will be a start to the process of giving autonomy to higher education institutions,” he said. He announced to make National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE) operational, which will organise various courses and conduct trainings for university faculty. Refresher courses will be organised for in-service teachers, he added. He maintained that new faculty members will be trained to improve their pedagogical skills. He said his targets include ensuring that a growing number of Pakistani faculty members become internationally recognised. He further said that other initiatives to be taken in his term include devising a transparent system using Information Technology, pursuing gender parity in faculty as well as student enrolment, and revival of learned societies.

Appreciating his predecessors, he said, “My predecessors have invested a lot in a large number of areas and my task is to build upon their achievements.” Referring to HEC efforts to enhance access to higher education, he said the number of universities before the inception of HEC was 59, while now 188 universities are operating in the country. He informed the participants that only 2.3 per cent of the college-age population was enrolled in universities before the establishment of HEC, where the current percentage is nine per cent. He said the female enrolment has also reached 48 per cent from 36 per cent.

He felt, however, that the area of quality has suffered and it needs to be given due attention. “This is a national crisis that needs to be addressed urgently,” he stated. He underlined the need for relevance in research and recalled earlier efforts in this regard e.g. Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation, Business Incubation Centres etc. He also stressed the need for increased budgetary allocation for education, especially higher education. He said 0.1 per cent of GDP used to be allocated to education which was raised to 0.3 per cent. He said educationists believe that four per cent of the GDP should be allocated to education sector and one per cent to higher education.

The Chairperson said trainings will be held for potential academic leaders as well. He said HEC will invest in the capacity building of university faculty and staff in addition to taking steps for improved governance of universities. Being the first Chairperson who is a Social Scientist, he said Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects have great importance, but equal importance has to be given to Social Sciences and Humanities. He said the focus on development of human capital. “Pakistan needs scholars of great stature in all spheres of life,” he emphasised.

Answering questions from media persons, he said, “autonomy cannot be attained with a single stroke of pen, as milestones will be set for universities to go through a process and acquire fully autonomous status.” He said HEC will mobilise funds for promoting higher education in backward areas. He added that investment will be made to develop programmes leading to gender parity, apart from investment in governance and Information Technology and revival of learned societies.

Earlier in her welcome address. Dr. Samina Qadir, Vice Chancellor, FJWU expressed her pleasure that the Chairperson chose the university for his maiden, direct communication with academia. She said FJWU was established in 1998 and it has 25 departments with 4873 students. She maintained that the university offers eight PhD, 15 MPhil, 13 Masters, and 25 undergraduate programmes. She said the university offers a total of 61 degrees. She also shed light on the funds awarded to the university by HEC.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has strongly resented the move of the outgoing government to adjust the financing of Rs.180 billion commercial loans in power consumers tariff through a surcharge as it would put additional burden on the business community and bring great miseries to the common man.

It called upon the caretaker government to withdraw this decision in the larger interest of the economy. Sheikh Amir Waheed, President ICCI, said that the outgoing government had taken commercial loans of Rs.180 billion to reduce the circular debt which has been built in the consumers’ tariffs which was not a wise move.

He said Pakistan was generating most of the electricity through furnace oil that was the major cause of rising circular debt and high cost of doing business. He said the costly energy has made our exports uncompetitive in the international market.

He said Pakistan was spending billions of dollars annually on the import of oil for electricity generation and this practice was putting additional pressure on the forex reserves of the country as well.

Sheikh Amir Waheed urged upon the policymakers and the government to reduce the heavy reliance on thermal power and focus on indigenous energy sources including hydro and alternative sources.

He said this approach would lead to generation of cheap energy, reduce production cost, facilitate better growth of business activities and enhance exports, encourage new investment, create more jobs, promote industrialization and strengthen the economy.

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office spokesperson Dr. Mohammad Faisal says Pakistan is committed to peace and security in Afghanistan and fully supports Afghan President’s peace initiatives.

Speaking at a weekly briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, he said there is no military solution to decades’ long Afghan conflict and Pakistan hopes that Taliban would grab opportunity of unconditional peace talks with Afghan government.

He said United States Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Ambassador Alice G Wells had a useful visit to Pakistan from first to third of this month in which detailed discussions and meetings were held with high ups of the country.

During a meeting at Foreign Office, the two sides discussed the bilateral foreign relations as well as regional situation especially in Afghanistan.

Foreign Office spokesperson also said Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Turning to Pak-Russia ties, the Foreign Office spokesperson said relations between both the countries are advancing in various fields, including security and defense.