August 03, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 30, 1429

HYDERABAD, Aug 2: Higher Education Commission Chairman Professor (Dr) Attaur Rehman has said that only education provides strong base for development of a nation and faculty development is the main achievement in higher education.

He announced Rs4 billion for the university of Sindh for faculty development and infrastructure and advised for submission of the PC-I within one month.He was inaugurating the newly constructed building of Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering University of Sindh Jamshoro funded by HEC on Saturday.

He said that out of this amount, Rs1.8 billion would be allocated for faculty development to send 200 youth abroad for PhD and Rs2.2 billion would earmarked for buildings and infrastructure.

Addressing the university scholars, the HEC chairman appreciated Sindh university’s achievements in higher education and said that the university played a leading role in introducing reforms specified by the HEC for higher education.

He praised efforts undertaken by the university vice-chancellor, Mazharul Haq Siddiqui. He said that 100 per cent increase in number of admissions was reported in the university and same was the case with faculty development.

“We are living in knowledge based society and the country would be lagging behind other nations without resources,” he said.

He said education is the road to success and it was an area to achieve targets of development in democracy, law and order as well as economy.

He said that only 11pc of allocated funding was being spent on higher education.

He said that Korea, China and many other countries were spending more on lower education than higher education.

He said the real problem in higher education was not the infrastructure but shortage of qualified faculty with PhDs. “Out of 16,000 faculty [members] we have, only 3,500 are PhD teachers in universities,” he said.

He said for international ranking of universities more weightage was given to knowledge, PhD, research output and for that purpose universities should follow international path.

He said that HEC had been spending more than 60 per cent funds for faculty development and to send faculty members abroad for PhD.

Though it was not the job of a foreign country to give scholarship to our students, because it was up to our government to give scholarships to our own children from its own funds, he said.