ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: The federal cabinet on Saturday approved a new Model University Ordinance for the constitution and restructuring of the public sector universities for which a fund of Rs16 billion will be allocated in three years.

The ordinance is intended to provide autonomy to the state owned universities, improve their governance and management to enhance the quality of education and arrest the rapidly deteriorating quality of universities. Under the law, the governance and management of the universities will be separated while the vice-chancellors will be strengthened and awarded the power of an effective chief executive officer.

Federal education, science and technology minister Dr Attaur Rehman and Dr Shamsh Kassim Lakha, the chairman of the Steering Committee on Higher Education (SCHE) told reporters here at the PID auditorium that by no means the reform was leading towards privatization of these public universities or enhancing university fees.

They said that the new Model University Ordinance was an integral part of the implementation plan developed by the SCHE, which has been formulated after due consultation with the provincial governors and ministries of education, law and science and technology.

“The approval of the ordinance was the first step towards a long-term reform effort and with the new legislation in place, public universities will now be able to access these enhanced resources and take advantage of the significant innovations,” they said.

The reforms suggested by the SCHE include doubling of state support for higher education in the public sector through increased funding, all university recurring expenses to be funded by the government, increased funding to obviate the need for fee increases, increase scholarships and financial aid for students.

The universities will also be provided policy guidance and supervision by autonomous Senates (Board of Governors) instead of the government and ensuring intellectual freedom. The 16-member senate of each university will also hold university administration and vice-chancellors accountable so as to enhance efficiency.

They also ensured that no downsizing of the faculty was in the offing while the salaries of the faculties will be delinked with the government pay scales.

The finance ministry as well as the planning commission are devising new pay scales for the faculties. However, financial allocations of the universities will be linked to the performance and research.

Explaining, they said that the ordinance will ensure a much improved academic experience for students, teachers and university administrators. They said that the government has already increased the development budget in the education sector from Rs870 million to Rs7 billion while it has released to the higher education commission (HEC) an additional sum of Rs1 billion for the disbursement among the universities on the recommendation of the SCHE. This amount will be used for enhancing salaries and research.

The universities will now have the freedom and additional funding to create and sustain academic programmes of the highest quality by recruiting and retaining top faculty.