Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal Thursday assured the vice chancellors and rectors of all public and private sector universities that the government will continue to support and further strengthen higher education sector and increase funding for building a knowledge economy.
All the heads of higher education institutions across Pakistan had gathered in Islamabad to deliberate on the role of higher education sector in the post 18th Amendment scenario as well as discuss various issues related to the quality of education and research. The meeting also discussed mushroom growth of sub-campuses of universities without obtaining No Objection Certificate (NOC) as well as grant of affiliations to colleges without completing required formalities.
The minister emphasised that the continuity of policies was indispensable if one has to develop higher education sector in line with international practices and make the universities become real engines of socio-economic progress. He stressed that no developed country in the world had progressed without a clear roadmap and that is the reason the government has defined very clear goals in its Vision 2025, and education and research have been included in the top-priority areas.
The minister said that the universities should be factories of ideas as well as solutions to problems of the economy and society. He said that the knowledge platform of Pakistan will have to be aligned with the production platform if we have to ensure economic progress of Pakistan, adding that to achieve this objective, the universities will have to play a key role.
Earlier in his presentation, HEC Chairman Prof Dr Mukhtar Ahmed while discussing quality issues said that steps taken by HEC and the universities have led to improvement in quality of higher education, adding that pace of improvement is slow. He said that quality is becoming a major concern.
“Whether it is quality of students, faculty members, research, governance or any other aspect of higher education, there needs to a serious effort to ensure that quality is not compromised at any cost. Even in some cases, steps taken by some institutions are having adverse effect on the quality of higher education,” he added.
