ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday said the Higher Education Commission (HEC) should link annual grants to the performance and achievements of public-sector universities.
According to an official statement, the prime minister made these remarks after reviewing the presentation made by HEC Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman. The HEC should serve as a catalyst in promotion of quality education, Mr Aziz said, adding that "we must adopt a proactive policy towards higher education."
The prime minister said the HEC should work on acquiring public-private partnership for promotion of research projects. Private sector universities, concerned with research subjects, should be approached to provide relevant input to make the research objective, practical and productive, he added.
He said the HEC should work on a single system of examination both in public and private universities. Earlier, Dr Rehman briefed the prime minister on the objectives, goals and achievements of the HEC. The commission in the past had not been given attention it required, he added.
He said, "we need more people with PhD in all disciplines." Highlighting the goals of the HEC, the chairman said, the commission was focusing on good governance and management of universities, capacity-building of faculties and revision of the curricula.
University education in the country has generally been the duty of the public sector, but now the commission is encouraging civil society and private sector to join hands, he added.
Dr Rehman said the HEC was focusing on improving the quality of faculty through its various scholarship programmes and by offering them opportunities to acquire PhD-level education.
The HEC chairman also informed that the commission had set up a digital library with 20,000 journals in different disciplines. This library provides students with access to the latest research being done elsewhere in the world. The HEC is focusing on Nursing School Plan developed by it to train graduate nurses to meet domestic and international demand of nurses.