October 10, 2002	Thursday	Sha’aban 3, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: The government has no plan to privatize any public sector university or increase the fee of such institutions.

This was stated by the federal minister for education, science and technology, Prof Attaur Rahman, while presiding over a meeting at the Higher Education Commission on Tuesday night, a press release issued here on Wednesday said.

No such plan is even under consideration, all apprehensions are based on disinformation or misunderstandings, he added.

Prof Atta said the finances required for improving the educational standards would be provided by the government.

The universities will not be asked to generate money to fund such programmes, he added.

“Plans are under process to raise the salaries of the faculty so that brightest people are attracted towards the teaching profession. Plans are also being prepared to provide more facilities for research, faculty training, scholarships, etc.”

To achieve these ends, the government has substantially increased the funding to higher education sector, he added.

The issue of the Model University Ordinance was thoroughly discussed at the meeting where the minister was also apprised of the views of some other stakeholders.

The minister formed a six-members committee of vice- chancellors of various public sector universities to come forward with recommendations about changes which they feel should be made in the Model University Ordinance.

The focus of recommendations and the ultimate aim is to improve the quality of education, the minister added.

The committee will submit its report within next 24 hours.

The meeting was attended by the vice-chancellors of about all the public sector universities throughout Pakistan. Some members of the Steering Committee on Higher Education were also present at the meeting.

The meeting was the first of the series of meetings which the education minister would hold with various stakeholders in connection with issues related to the Model University Ordinance.