ISLAMABAD – Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Tuesday announced that itis suspending its practice of ranking universities, after many questionswere raised on the credibility of the process used to rank them.
Addressing a press conference, Chairman HEC Dr Tariq Banuri said that theCommission would no more rank universities in the country, as it is not thejob of a regulator. There are many other institutions for such jobs, headded.——————————
Expressing concerns over the declining quality of higher education and 20percent cut on budgetary allocation for HEC; he said that the future ofstudents has been put on stake, besides squeezing universities overexpenses.
Against the demand of Rs 82 billion, the government allocated Rs 65 billionfor higher education, while Pakistan is already spending the lowest i.e.0.25 percent of the GDP on higher education, said Dr Banuri.
Expressing serious concerns over the quality of education, Dr Banuri saidthat many stakeholders met him have raised the same concerns as it is notonly poor but has been on the decline.
Chairman HEC, while admitting that there are several programs of lowquality on the Commission’s website, announced to review all universities’programs and stop those not meeting the standard criteria. He furtherresolved to pursue a strict policy on plagiarism and spare nobody findinvolved in such practices as per the policy. There is a dire need to scaleup training and capacity building of faculty, future leaderships/studentsand administration staff, he said.
He further stated that there is a need for better utilization ofinformation technology, as it can help in improving governance inuniversities and improve transparency. He said that there is a need toconsolidate an educational database.
The Chairman also said that a job portal would be set whereHEC/universities would be able to match skills and jobs to decreaseunemployment levels.
He said that he would try to give autonomy to at least 10 universities bythe end of his tenure.
Dr Banuri said that though confusion was created after the passage of the18th Constitutional amendment, it has been overcome to some extent by theCouncil of Common Interest (CCI). However, there is need of a socialcontract with the government, to stop interference in HEC affairs and notundermine its autonomous status, as without this the Commission would notbe able to meet its challenges.
He further said that students’ rights need to be protected and cater to theneeds of next generation. He maintained that a number of measures have tobe taken in this regard e.g. ensuring quality of education and research,capacity building of faculty and imparting practical knowledge to students.