HEC, USAID fundraising event for varsities staff concludes

The Higher Education Commission (HEC), in collaboration with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), organized a workshop for fundraising and resource mobilisation for the staff of 11 public universities.
The closing ceremony of the three-day workshop, attended by 28 participants, was held here at the HEC Secretariat on Friday.
The workshop was designed to help universities strengthen their ability to sustain their operations and diversify income. The resource persons addressed the issues like optimization of human resources and economic difficulties and resource constraints for education.
The one-third of the total revenues of Pakistan’s public sector higher education institutions comes from non-government funds, such as tuition fees, college affiliation fees, exam fees or hostel charges. Only a small share of public university revenues is generated through contract research, commercial ventures, fundraising, endowments or other philanthropic sources.
Speaking to the participants, Dr. Riaz Hussain Qureshi, Adviser (Human Resource Development) HEC stressed that the involvement of local community is essential for generating scholarships for needy students.
The workshop was organised under the USAID-funded Merit and Needs based Scholarship Programme that funds scholarships for talented but needy students pursuing higher education at 11 Pakistani universities.
Through this programme, USAID has funded more than 1,800 scholarships for Pakistani students since 2004, thus helping to double the number of gifted but financially needy students studying at participating 11 institutions. The programme has also supported establishment of University advancement office at HEC.