ISLAMABAD, July 16: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has decided to hire eminent educationists and researchers having PhD degrees to work in public-sector universities to improve the level of research in the country, an official statement said.

The project aims at engaging 20 eminent PhD degree holders from universities, centres, degree-awarding institutions and R&D organizations to make recommendations for improving standards of research.

It is hoped that this scheme would help in creating a sizeable body of scholars to improve the quality of education and boost R&D activities in universities, degree-awarding institutions and research centres of Pakistan.

It is anticipated that the scheme will improve research activities in universities and research centres by utilizing services of experienced scholars. It would also exploit the full potentials of the existing infrastructure available for research in universities and research centres.

The educationists would be hired on contract basis for two years. Their services would be handed over to different universities, research centres and degree-awarding colleges and institutions to utilize their capabilities in enhancing education standards.

This trained manpower will be helpful in initiating MPhil/PhD teaching in different universities and research centres thus further strengthening the existing programme of human resource development.

The scheme would bring significant qualitative improvement at higher education level and availability of specifically trained manpower would be stimulated through the development initiatives in different fields.

It would not only be helpful in improving the quality of teaching and research in the universities but also be helpful to overcome the acute shortage of trained manpower.