ISLAMABAD – The Higher Education Commission (HEC), which is going to be axed in the name of implementation of the 18th Amendment, is the only successful education initiative in Pakistan’s history.
Following are the achievements of HEC since its establishment in 2002:
More PhDs have graduated from Pakistani universities in the last nine years than in the first 55 years of the country’s existence. Research output (as measured by published papers) has grown six folds since 2002, from 815 to 5,086 in 2010.
Two Pakistani universities are now ranked among the top 300 science and technology institution of the world. Pakistan has invested more than Rs 97 billon for the development of universities since the formation of HEC, a twelve fold increase over the Rs 7.5 billion spent in the 1978 to 2002 period by the University Grants Commissions.
Projects worth over Rs 35 billion have been approved for support of engineering universities, more than 1,000 foreign PhD scholarships have been awarded in engineering along with more than 500 indigenous PhD scholarships. It was HEC that set up the Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN), one of the most sophisticated computer networks in the world linking all universities.
Video-Conferencing Equipment is operational in 74 Institutions and expanding rapidly. In Balochistan, four new universities have been developed and made operational, as compared to two that existed in 2002. Fifty seven PhD scholars from the University of Balochistan are currently studying in AIT Bangkok due to the linkage established by HEC.
During the last eight years, HEC not only contributed in the higher education sector but it also earned international credibility, with the World Bank approving a $100 million support programme in 2008. Recently on March 24, the World Bank approved $300 million for HEC. All this investment is likely to be taken away if HEC is devolved.
Also, USAID was finalising a project that would give a $250 million-support to HEC, focusing on establishment of Centres of Excellence in Water, Energy and Agriculture.
