November 29, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 18, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Nov 28: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has an effective monitoring system to check development projects in utilisation of funds. This was stated by Dr Sohail Naqvi, HEC executive director, while concluding the second day of the third vice-chancellors (VCs) meeting in Islamabad.

Dr Naqvi requested the universities to use the funds given by the HEC without delay. He encouraged them to work in consortium, have greater interaction between faculty members and students.

The old universities must help new ones in their development. He also emphasised that training of faculty and administration in running the affairs of universities, was extremely important.

Mary Linda Armacost, international consultant on higher education, gave a presentation on leading transformational change for senior level administration.

She requested the vice-chancellors to be vision-oriented after implementation of the tenure-track system, semester system and should not compromise on quality assurance.

Secretary-General Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Prof John Tarrant highlighted the ACU and informed the vice-chancellors that there were 500 members and they were growing in numbers. He invited Pakistani universities to become its member.

He emphasised on globalisation of education, mobility of students and faculty.