ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday directed the finance ministry to ensure uninterrupted provision of funds to the higher education sector regardless of economic difficulties being faced by the country.

Presiding over a meeting held to review matters related to the Higher Education Commission (HEC), he ordered transfer of financial powers to the HEC executive director to avoid any delay in release of funds, a press release of the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood, Plann­ing Minister Asad Umar, Adviser on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain, Special Assistants to the Prime Minister Dr Sania Nishtar, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Dr Zafar Mirza, Usman Dar and Dr Moeed Yousuf, HEC Chairman Dr Tariq Binori, and former secretary and consultant on institutional reforms Dr Fazal Abbas Mekan also attended the meeting.

The HEC chairman briefed the meeting on reforms introduced by the commission to modernise the higher education sector and issues being faced by his institution.

The education minister said that easy access to higher education for stud­ents, improving the quality of faculty and graduates and uplifting the research standards in accordance with modern needs were the challenges being faced by the HEC.

He said the HEC had formulated a comprehensive reforms programme to address administrative issues besides meeting the requirements of capable human resource.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2020