Anas Imtiaz

HEC Facing Serious Financial Crunch

// September 15th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Pakistan

Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman says that the HEC is facing a mojor financial crisis much like the rest of the country. This is a serious setback to the recent progressions in the higher education in the country. He said that all new projects for this year have been frozen while work on previous projects is also being affected. A total of 85 new projects have been frozen. He added that the expenditure on each student has gone up by 30% owing to the recent inflation, increases in salaries and the devaluation of rupee. This effectively means a 30% cut in the budget of universities.

This is most certainly a serious blow to the PhD programs. My friend’s brother who has gone abroad on HEC scholarship is worried for the future of his scholarship and according to him, his funding is likely to stop due to the government’s lack of interest towards higher education.

Six foreign universities were chartered to open in Pakistan, and their future is also in doubt now.

What is disappointing to see is that this issue hardly gets any attention in the media. In fact, this should have been making headlines and featuring on talk shows.

ThaNation once published a related news article here.

Once again, hats off to DAWN News for interviewing the HEC Chairman and featuring this in the headlines of their news where other TV channels are making headlines with the London Fashion Week.

The HEC needs serious attention otherwise it can wither away just like the National Internship Program was scrapped.

Why the HEC is a National Asset

// May 27th, 2008 // No Comments » // Pakistan

May 2008: One of the issues of great national importance, frequently discussed in recent weeks in the media and on TV, emanates from a recent statement made by the honourable Minister of Education Mr Ahsan Iqbal, expressing his view to change the status of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) back to it’s precursor organisation, the University Grants Commission (UGC).

While many positive comments have been made in support of the HEC, there were a few that spewed negative criticism of the latter. In this article, I venture to make some comments based on my own long observations of over 50 years on the subject, in my capacity both as former professor at the University of Karachi and later as senior official at UNESCO, headquarters, Paris.

Education in general and higher education in particular is increasingly recognised as a wealth (human capital) producing industry. This is based on the idea that all economies are essentially knowledge-based, thus attaching considerable importance to its role in the context of national development.

Pakistan’s educational system is cited in several international forums as a major impediment to achieving its potential.

The situation was akin to a chaos in the brickyard of education, where the bricklayers and the brick-makers (the teachers and scientists) lacked the required understanding to construct an edifice capable of providing satisfactory services to its user’s community at the national level. Poor quality of teaching and research in all disciplines of sciences and education in the vast majority of our universities remained abound.

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National Internship Program – The End??

// May 8th, 2008 // 5 Comments » // Pakistan

Our new democratic, elected government of the 160 million of Pakistan has essentially done nothing, nor had any plans in their election campaigns, for promoting the higher education sector. Legal or not, call it dictatorship or martial law, Musharraf regime, perhaps, saw the best time for the development, expansion and growth of the higher education sector in the country. Whether statistics prove it or not (they do prove it though!), all students can claim this without any doubt. The best act was setting up the HEC under Dr. Atta-ur-Rehman.

To nurture these budding graduates the government also initiated the National Internship Program (NIP). This was advertised nicely with lots of banners noticed in different parts of major cities. The program became an instant hit. I know of 6 people (among 25,000 who joined the program) who benefited from NIP and gained valuable experience along with a stipend of Rs. 10,000 a month. So far, so good.

But the new government has stopped the proceedings of NIP. The NIP office itself isn’t sure of the future while the prospective graduates aren’t expecting much either. A member of the coalition government hinted at a television program that they have discovered lots of irregularities in the program and are looking into it. That’s the excuse these guys have for almost every issue. Instead of improving the goods of the previous government, our tradition says to completely stop them and announce them as corrupt practices.

The only thing the new government is looking at is the issue of deposed judges, and in my personal view, that too is the issue of one party with the other being extremely non-serious.

So the government, in reality, is moping around. And playing with the future, our future.