ISLAMABAD, July 30: For the current fiscal year, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has allocated Rs5.2 billion as recurring grant for the public sector universities and institutes of higher learning.

This amount represents as much as 50 per cent increase has been occurred over the last year’s allocation. The HEC has instructed the universities that they have been authorized to utilise 30 per cent of the increased grant for their operational needs and 70 per cent for enhancement and development of teaching and research activities (such as hiring of teaching and research faculty on contract, tenure track system, educational and research internet, additional bandwidths, strengthening of departmental libraries, teaching aids, chemicals/ glassware/ consumables, internships/fellowships etc.).