Senate Chairman Syed Nayyar Hussain Bokhari on Wednesday assured all-out support from the government for sustaining and enhancing the levels of higher education in the country.
He expressed these views during a meeting with a 10-member delegation of vice chancellors of various universities at the parliament house. Bokhari said the higher education institutions were the real hub of empowering the people to form a knowledge-based economy by generation of valuable human resources, which could act as an engine of growth for ultimate progress of the country.
The vice chancellors apprised the chairman about impediments faced by them in higher education sector and proposed workable solutions. They told him that lack of adequate funding and ownership for higher education were critical as the universities were facing budget constraints and even lacked funds for salary payments as well as for development expenditures.
“Universities are trying to produce hope in the society by imparting knowledge. These cradles of higher education serve two-fold purpose i.e. acceleration of economic growth and human resource development,” said the delegates.
“We are not only dependent on the national exchequer, but also are engaging industry and philanthropists to help develop our youth in order to be amongst the world-competing institutions of higher learning,” they said.
Bokhari told the vice chancellors that the government was cognizant of the fact that investment in higher education always regenerates. “This sector is vital for the country’s socio-economic development and building Pakistan into a progressive country in the comity of nations,” he added.
Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Javaid Leghari told the Senate chairman about its 10-year performance and outlined its national focus. He said that in order to build Pakistan, universities can act as engine of growth and must be placed at the centre stage for building economy, community and leadership in the country by producing highly capable human asset.
Talking about performance of the HEC, he told the chairman how it has increased enrolment of 1.5 million (2011) in higher education. The vice chancellors of various universities told the chairman that taking Pakistan ahead required searching solutions to socio-economic problems. Economic imperatives include increasing exports, enhancing innovation, increasing tertiary enrollment and percentage of GDP spent on higher education.
They said only 1.7 percent of GDP was being spent on education out of which 12 percent spent was allocated to higher education. They said social imperatives included delivery of justice, education, health and equity and this all required highly capable human resource, so investment in higher education was vital to produce skilled manpower to address socio-economic woes and for the country to take off.
