November 28, 2007	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 17, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Nov 27: Speakers here on Tuesday stressed the need for cross registration of qualified faculties in the public and private universities to enhance education standard in them to an international level.

They were speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the third Vice- chancellors’ Committee meeting.

About 64 heads of the public and private universities from all over the country are attending the three-day meeting. The participants will discuss the core issues including development of the higher education sector in the country.

Dr Ishrat Hussain, Chairman National Commission for Government Reforms and Committee for Development of Social Sciences and Humanities, stressed the need for cross registration of highly qualified faculties in such universities that lacked the privilege.

Sharing resources is the need of the hour and cross registration has been the practice in the universities of different countries in the world, he added.

Talking about the issues being faced by social sciences and humanities disciplines, he said the universities had started giving more significance to social sciences disciplines than before which was evident from the fact that an amount of Rs4.5 billion was available for these disciplines.

There is a growing awareness that while science and technology was essential for development, social sciences were also essential to produce good human beings, he said. Dr Ishrat also stressed to increase the research work in social sciences.

“Our universities now should try to stand on their own feet by developing their own financial resources as most of the universities in the world are earning a lot and not depending upon the governments, said Federal Minister for Education and Science and Technology Dr Shamsh Kasim Lakha.

He further said besides the higher education sector, college education should also be taken on priority bases. He was of the view that the colleges were not delivering the expected results. Besides providing education facilities, universities need to put efforts in strengthening their civic roles and social responsibilities, the minister added.

Pakistan is amongst the few countries of the world where public and private sector universities have access to 40,000 e- books and 23,000 electronic journals, said Chairman of the Higher Education Commission Dr Attaur Rahman. Our universities have also been connected through video conference, he added.

Under the HEC scholarships, talented students are going abroad for higher studies, who on their return are being appointed in the universities of the country, he said. Dr Atta asked the universities not to tolerate plagiarism. Teachers must not be cheaters, he said. The HEC will fund universities for developing ‘technology parks’ which would help the industrial sector, he said.