‘Higher education in serious crisis’

The Human Rights Commission Pakistan in its latest report has said the higher education in the country is in “serious crisis” and has discussed the issue of the devolution of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to the provinces after the 18th Amendment.

“Since, the passage of the 18th amendment in April 2010 and devolution of the education sector to provinces, higher education seems in a serious crisis in the country. Punjab Higher Education Commission and Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association remained at loggerheads throughout the year 2016,” reads the report recently launched in Islamabad.

According to the report, universities in Balochistan have a long list of complaints against the HEC and that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa commission is yet to take shape. Under the 18th Amendment, the provinces are to establish their own education commissions but only Punjab and Sindh have done so in the six years since. Balochistan, KP and Gilgit-Baltistan are yet to make progress in this regard.

The devolution of the HEC has not been addressed yet due to the negligence of the authorities concerned, leading to more and more confusion and a cold war between the federal and provincial HECs.

According to sources, the rules say that the HEC’s functions cannot be devolved to the provinces without an amendment in the HEC act.

A few years ago, the federal law ministry in its legal opinion said the formation of Punjab and Sindh HECs was illegal. Meanwhile both the provincial HECs are functioning, with the argument put forward that the functions of the HEC had been devolved and the central commission is only responsible for ensuring the standard of higher education. The Lahore High Court recently allowed the Punjab HEC to appoint vice chancellors in provincial universities.

Talking to Dawn, officials in the education ministry said the six year delay in making the decision is concerning.

“The matter should be resolved once and for all in the interests of students,” an official of the ministry said.

In its report, the HRCP said Pakistan was at the bottom of the QS higher education ranking of 2016-17. The country does not have one university which ranks in the top 500 universities in the world in the Times Higher Education (UK) ranking.

The matter were also taken up in the last meeting of the Council of Common Interest which directed the concerned committee to expedite its process of completing recommendations of the final decision.

Nust, Beihang University China sign MoU

The National University of Sciences and Technology (Nust) and the Beihang University, China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for strengthening connectivity and promoting cooperation between the two countries in education and research in navigation technologies.

Under the MoU, the partner universities will endeavour to create sustainable synergy in terms of technological innovation transfer and international collaboration.

The agreement was signed by Nust Rector retired Lt Gen Naweed Zaman and Beihang University President Prof Xu Huibin at the ‘Thematic Session on Connectivity of Development Policies and Strategies of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation’ in Beijing, China.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2017