ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Minister of State for Education Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman on Wednesday directed the Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) to design a new website with the proposed name of “Learning Opportunities Abroad” and linked it with the websites of HEC and Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.
He was chairing a meeting of HEC’s new developments including scholarship Programmes, Criteria For M.Phil And PhDs, Facilities for the Special Students, Pakistan Chairs Abroad, Collaboration with Different Countries Regarding Higher Education, and over all achievements of HEC.
He said the new website would contain all the information including available scholarships, destination available for studies to the accreditation of foreign universities etc.
The minister said “it would give a comprehensive account to the Pakistani students about the opportunities available in the world” adding it would also help the local students immensely as they would have easily accessible information at hand.
The Minister also directed the HEC to write letters to all the embassies in the country and asked them to provide information regarding the scholarships available in their respective countries for international students.
Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar briefed the minister regarding the scholarship programmes monitored and facilitated by HEC. He said that around 2654 students have been sent on scholarships from 2009 till date, through different agreed programmes among countries and HEC.
He added that there is no lapse of scholarship for the year of 2016 but there is always a room for improvement.
The Chairman HEC told the minister about the criteria of selection of PhDs and added they have recently conducted a study in which they have identified areas in which PhDs are required.
For example textile, sports, logistic, transport and supply chain these are among the few areas which need experts. He also said that they have already started implementing that study in true letter and spirit.
Talking about the facilities for the special students, Chairman HEC said that as per the direction of Minister of State, HEC have shared draft with all the universities. After getting the input from the universities, the policy would be adopted officially.
Moreover, he informed about the Pakistan Chairs Abroad, and said that there are 14 Chairs of Pakistan Abroad including Germany, Egypt, Turkey and China etc. There are several chairs which are vacant, he added.
These chairs are mainly looked after by the Cabinet Division with the collaboration of HEC. They also discussed the criteria of sending suitable candidates for the position of chairs abroad.
Talking about the collaboration of HEC with different countries the minister said that “while collaborating with countries like Romania and Belarus in education, we should keep their expertise in mind.”
“Like Romania is very good in medicine and agriculture so we should learn these things from them”, he added. HEC overall performance, Human Resource Development and Research and Development areas were also discussed in the meeting.
The minister proposed to give grant of Rs 2 Billion to the public sector universities, out of this grant, universities would create their own endowment funds.
This grant would increase by Rs. 1 billion in every 10 years. The grant would be for the need based financial assistance/loan.
Student after getting the job would pay back to the University, of 10% of his/her annual salary. A renowned and credible agency would be hired for the assurance of the return of the money.
The meeting was attended by the Federal Secretary Humanyon Khan, Additional Secretary CADD Qaiser Majid, Joint Education Advisor Rafiq Tahir, Chairman HEC Dr. Mukhtar and officials of the ministry and HEC.
