LAHORE, July 2: An inter-provincial committee has been constituted to finalize the proposed higher education commission aimed at increasing the scientific manpower for the standard education in subjects like bio-technology, genetic engineering and herbal medicines.
This was stated by Federal Science and Technology Minister Prof Dr Ataur Rahman while giving a briefing on the draft ordinance of the proposed commission during a high-level inter-provincial meeting here at the Governor’s House on Tuesday.
The meeting was attended among others by Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool, Sindh Governor Muhammad Mian Soomro, NWFP Governor Iftikhar Husain Shah, Federal Education Minister Zubaida Jalal, all the provincial education ministers and secretaries, vice-chancellors of all universities and NWFP Information Technology Minister Roshan Khurshid Barocha.
Dr Ataur Rahman briefed the meeting on the procedure of the availability of funds for the promotion of scientific research in Pakistan through the proposed higher education commission.
Governor Khalid Maqbool said the government wanted to improve opportunities for higher education in the country in such a way that could restore the respect of degrees by Pakistani universities abroad.
He said to transform Pakistan into a modern, prosperous and enlightened country it was required to bring the standard of education of its universities on a par with the Cambridge and Oxford universities.
The governor urged the need for encouraging scientists benefiting the country and the nation through research and invention in the modern science subjects, and for devising a formal mechanism for the provision of better facilities to them.
The Sindh governor termed the revelation of Dr Ataur Rehman that out of the 2,700 PhDs in the country only 170 were working as scientists of whom 60 per cent would be retired during the next two years, as a moment of concern for the entire nation.
The meeting agreed that the promotion of those holding PhD degrees in science subjects should be linked to their creative output in research in their respective disciplines rather than their seniority. This was so because those who could not benefit the country and the nation through their degrees or speciality deserved to be called pseudo-scientists and not scientists, it was stated.
The NWFP governor expressed his concern over the fact that only three people could obtain PhD degrees from the engineering universities in the country during the past about 50 years.
In contrast, there were 65,525 PhD scientists in Japan which had less population than in Pakistan, he said.
He said every engineering university must have a centre of excellence offering research in subjects necessary for industrial growth in the country.
Karachi University Vice-chancellor Dr Zafar Saeed Saifi demanded the transformation of his university as the model institution under a pilot project because, he said, eight internationally recognized science institutions were already functioning there.
The meeting decided to include two members each from all the provinces relating to the subjects of medical science and social sciences in the proposed higher education commission.
The inter-provincial committee constituted to finalize the shape of the proposed commission would meet in Islamabad during the next one week.