Higher Education 8 projects worth Rs. 8 billions approved by CDWP
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ISLAMABAD, Aug 5 (APP): The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has prioritised higher education, and approved eight projects worth about Rs 36 billion, which include PhD scholarship programme under the US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor, establishment of university sub-campuses in districts and AJK Women University.
The meeting was chaired by Minister Planning, Development and Reform Prof Ahsan Iqbal, which was attended by senior officers of the provincial governments and ministries concerned.
Prof. Ahsan Iqbal said, “We are committed to developing top quality higher education system for transforming Pakistan into a Knowledge Economy.”
He said that establishing university campuses or sub-campuses in every district will benefit thousands of students of the far-flung areas since it would provide them equal opportunities to higher education.
He said, 10,000 Phds will be produced in next ten years to provide Pakistan high quality human resource for next decade.
He also instructed the HEC to establish a task force on “Higher Education & Employment” to align academic programmes of universities with job market, and regulate programmes on basis of job opportunities, development priorities and research needs.
He directed HEC to develop procurement standards for ensuring quality in purchase of laboratory equipment by the universities.
The HEC proposed eight projects, which got the nod of the
CDWP. These included PhD scholarship programme under the US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor worth Rs26.694 billion with an FEC of Rs25.90 billion, and aims at educating 10,000 PhDs in the American universities in ten years.
The second important projects is the establishment of university campuses and sub-campuses in districts, which would cost Rs4.587 billion, and was recommend to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
Others projects included establishment of the AJK Women
University Baagh worth Rs 886 million with an FEC of Rs131 million, provision of new facilities and infrastructure for main campus of University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, at a cost of Rs 1.2 billion, strengthening of academic and professional facilities at the University of Peshawar worth Rs820.63 million having FEC of Rs489 million, strengthening of the Institute of Biotechnology at Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, worth Rs588 million with FEC of Rs53 million, strengthening and expansion of the Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences (BUITEMS) Quetta worth about Rs1 billion and strengthening of academic and research programs at National University of Modern Languages (NUML) Islamabad with a cost of Rs747 million with the FEC of Rs 302 million.
For the last project, Prof Ahsan Iqbal instructed cost rationalisation without compromising the standard of education.
