The Higher Education Commission (HEC), is an independent, autonomous, and statutory institution of primary funding, overseeing, regulating, and accrediting the higher education institutions in Pakistan.
Preceded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2002 by promulgation of the Higher Education Commission Ordinance 2002, the universities were formerly accredited by the UGC established in 1947; the institution was revised 1974 and came its modern form in 2002 under the leadership of Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS its founding Chairman, with additional executive reforms granted by the constitution. It operates directly under the Prime Minister and is not subservient to the Ministry of Education. Under a new and revised reforms, the HEC is made responsible for formulating higher education policy and quality assurance to meet the international standards as well as providing accrediting academic degrees, development of new institutions, and uplift of existing institutions in Pakistan. The major developments in the higher education sector occurred under the leadership of Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman,FRS, the founding Chairman, during 2002-2008.The remarkable transformation in the higher education sector was acknowledged in an article in the world's leading science journal, Nature, in which Rahman was called a "force of nature"After Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS resigned in protest in 2008 due to the suspension of scholarships of thousands of students abroad by the PPP government, the university development programmes slowed down due to cut in budget and introduction of cumbersome bureaucratic procedures.
The HEC also facilitated the development of Higher education commission of Pakistan in the country with main purpose of upgrading the universities and degree awarding colleges in the country to be focal point of the high learning of education, research, and development Over the several years, the HEC plays an important and leading role towards building a knowledge based economy in Pakistan by giving out hundreds of doctoral scholarships for education abroad every year.
he different higher education policies, priorities, and the need of competition between the political forces in Pakistan led to disturbances in the higher education as well as effecting the UGC ability The inadequate financial funding and policy implementation never matched the need of higher education in the country In 2002, President Pervez Musharraf took over the initiatives in devolving the UGC into Higher Education Commission in 2002.
President Musharraf invited eminent scientist and chemist, Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS, to be its first chair and immediately passed the Presidential Ordinance on September 11, 2002 to establish the HEC Over the several years, the HEC implemented its ambitious uplift program of enhancing access, improving quality and increased relevance of higher education to the needs and requirement of Pakistan. The reforms carried out in science and higher education under the leadership of Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman when he was the Federal Minister of Science & Technology and later Chairman of Higher Education Commission with status of Federal Minister during 2000 to 2008 have been applauded by many international experts and he was called "a force of nature" in an article published in Nature As a result of the many reforms introduced by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman in the higher education sector 4 Pakistani Universities became ranked among the top 300, 400 and 500 universities of the world under the Times Higher Education rankings of 2008. The situation in the higher education sector deteriorated in the subsequent decade with the rankings of all universities slipping badly. Dr Javaid Laghari was the second Chairman HEC from 2009 to 2013 who tried to continue the higher education reforms despite serious cuts in funding and opposition by the government. He is well known for his stand on exposing the fake degrees of many parliamentarians, including Ministers, where he took a principled stand and did not compromise on merit despite being put under intense pressure by the government. We then had Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed and Dr. Tariq Binuri as the chairs. Read complete details about this article in Talibilm.pk
A Task Force was formed on "Technology Driven Knowledge Economy" that is Chaired by the Prime Minister Mr. Imran Khan and has Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS as its Vice Chairman. The group has several key Federal Ministers as Members, including Finance Minister Asad Umar, Planning Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtaran, IT Minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood, and Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr Tariq Banuri. The Task Force has the mandate to promote research in technology fields and to initiate projects that can use science and technology for sustainable and equitable socio-economic development Another Task Force of Prime Minister on Science & technology has been formed with Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS as its Chairman.
Governance in HEC
The HEC is governed and chaired by the appointed chairman who is assisted by the secretaries of education, science and technology, telecommunications, and information technology The Chairman and secretaries are assisted by the additional members who are appointed from the four provinces as well as university vice-chancellors. Other members are included from state and private-sector and executive director of the HEC.
The Chairman of HEC is appointed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan for a four-year term based upon the requests and recommendations send by the Ministry of Education (MoEd) According to HEC Ordinance altered in Constitution, the Prime Minister is the controlling authority of the HEC and the shortlisted names are to be forwarded to Him for the final say
The Prime Minister reserves the right to re-appoint or give extension to the designated chairman. Though the executive director is the administrative head of the HEC, almost every decision in the commission is taken with the consent of the chairman.
Finance and Budget of Higher Education Commission of Pakistan
Science is a lucrative profession in Pakistan and the official science policy in Pakistan plays a major role in the development of budget in the country for fiscal years. Since revitalized in 2002, the HEC's budget increased up to ~340.2% in terms of fiscal period of 2001–06. Around 50%-70% of federal budget is set for the development on science and higher education, particularly distributed to HEC, highest in the financial history of Pakistan
By 2008, as a result of its policy and financial successes, most universities had become strong proponents of the Higher Education Commission. Quality had increased significantly, and several institutions were on their way to becoming world-class institutions. Many expatriate Pakistanis returned from abroad with access to competitive salaries. Besides the Pakistan government funding, a large financial endowment is distributed by the US government as part of its funding to the universities.
Prioritizing the expansion of the higher education in the country, HEC's financial budget is estimated near ₨. 57.8 billion, which is more than that of Pakistan Steel Mills, PIA or any other state-owned enterprises’ allocations. The budget is aimed for development of various areas in higher education.
Achievements
The creation of HEC has had a positive impact on higher education and research culture in Pakistan.
• Established the finest Digital Library in Pakistan: Every student in every public sector university today has access to 45,000 textbooks research monographs from 220 international publishers as well as to 25,000 international research journals - regarded as one of the best digital libraries anywhere in the world.
• Tripled University enrolment from 135,000 in the year 2003 to 400,000 in 2008.
• Promoted research, resulting in huge expansion of international research publications from Pakistan from only 600 research papers /yr. in 2003 to 4300 research papers in 2008.
• During the 56-year period (1947–2003) not a single Pakistani university could be ranked among the top 600 universities in the world. Today 2 Pakistani universities ranked among top 200 World’s Technology Universities
• Four-year undergraduate program introduced so that our degrees are internationally recognized, along with a 3 credit hour research based activity and enforcing a minimum attendance <50%
• About 5000 Ph.D. level scholarships awarded for study in technologically advanced countries (largest program in developing world) and some 3,000 indigenous Ph.D. scholarships have been awarded. The world’s largest Fulbright Scholarship program (US $150 million) launched with joint funding (HEC/USAID).
• Fifty-one new universities and degree awarding institutes and 18 campuses of existing universities established during (2003–2008).
• Sending 1000 Pakistani students to study medicine in Cuba and doing their best to register their degrees by PMDC and soon will send a delegation of members of PMDC, HEC and MNAs
• Seven Pakistan universities became ranked for the first time among the top 250 universities of Asia according to QS World University Rankings 2013.
• Research output of Pakistan increased by over 50% within two years, which was the second highest increase worldwide. According to Scimago world scientific database, if Pakistan continues at the same pace, its ranking will increase from 43 to 27 globally by 2017. In 2017, a Chinese study published in Scientometrics (journal) revealed that Pakistan's research growth rate and time required to double the number of publications is superior than that of USA, China and India.
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