ISLAMABAD, June 7: An amount of Rs4.47 billion has been earmarked for the newly established Higher Education Commission (HEC) in the federal budget 2003-2004 under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

This allocation will be spent on 186 projects including 90 ongoing and 96 new projects for strengthening of higher education learning institutions.

It may be recalled that the HEC was established after dissolving the University Grants Commission in 2002 through an ordinance.

The total estimated cost of these projects is Rs30 billion of which Rs3.8 billion has already been consumed in the financial year 2002-03 and the remaining amount of Rs26.5 billion has been put forward.

Under the new projects both natural and social sciences disciplines have been given equal importance with special emphasis on incorporation of various information technology development programmes in public sector universities of the country.

One of the major ongoing projects, Virtual University, that was established only last year with an estimated cost of Rs1 billion, has been allocated Rs250 million for the year 2003-04 against last year’s allocation of Rs285 million.

Two other programmes were initiated by the HEC last year, the PhD fellowship for 5,000 scholars and foreign faculty hiring with an estimated cost of Rs6.4 billion and Rs3.2 billion, respectively, but, these could not get any allocation in 2002- 2003. In the PSDP 2003-04 these two projects have been given Rs200 million each.

Of the 96 new projects planned by the HEC for the year 2003- 04, Post Doctoral Fellowship Programme topped the list in terms of allocation with Rs86.4 million followed by the development of Balochistan University with an allocation of Rs54 million.

The development of strong institutions of higher education and quality research are crucial for sustained education and economic development.

The Economic Survey of Pakistan has mentioned that Pakistan’s public and private sector universities, except a few, were confronted with lack of resources, plagued with ineffective governance and institutional weaknesses. Therefore, the government dissolved the University Grants Commission and established Higher Education Commission (HEC) under an ordinance in 2002 to strengthen higher education with a focus on science and technology and research in the country.

The commission has also planned to increase access to higher education from 2.6 per cent to five per cent with substantial contribution from the private sector, establishing endowment funds in engineering universities in the public sector and shifting focus from humanities to science and technology.

The commission is also pursuing to increase allocation to higher education from present 0.39 per cent to one per cent of the GDP by 2005 to increase enrolment from 100,000 to 200,000 students in the same time period.