The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is making efforts to produce up to 1,000 PhD scholars each year under its indigenous scholarship schemes, to meet the growing needs of the country.
This was stated by the HEC Executive Director Professor Dr S Sohail H Naqvi during a video conferencing interaction with PhD supervisors and scholars of Islamia University Bahawalpur.
The academic activity was attended by HEC Advisor Prof Dr Muhammad Riaz Hussain Qureshi, Chairperson Inter University Consortium for the Promotion of Social Sciences and Vice Chancellor the Islamia University Bahawalpur Prof Dr Muhammad Mukhtar, Project Director HEC Ms Saima Naurin, Deans, faculty members and PhD scholars from the Islamia University Bahawalpur.
Dr Naqvi said that HEC, since its inception, has introduced various indigenous scholarship schemes to create a critical mass of highly qualified human resources in all fields of studies to conduct research on issues of national importance.
He underlined the importance of compliance of the quality assurance criteria in PhD programs.
He said that HEC would not compromise over the quality of PhD programs and a zero tolerance policy was already being followed in this regard.
He also emphasized on the need to increase inter university collaboration for undertaking joint PhD programs and availing existing facilities.
He urged PhD scholars to ensure timely completion of their theses. Responding to a question, he said that academic research should have direct relevance to socio-economic problems of the country and universities should play a proactive role in preserving local culture and history.
Prof Dr Mukhtar lauded the contribution of HEC for improving teaching and research methods in the higher education sector of Pakistan during the last decade.
He said that the indigenous PhD program one of the most effective and successful programs which had been helpful in enhancing the capacity of Pakistani academic institutions to work on problems of national significance.
