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Islamabad, October 03, 2012 (PPI-OT): The Higher Education Commission HEC, provincial governments and Azad Jammu and Kashmir agree to undertake collaborative efforts to enhance quality education in higher education sector of country. This was decided during the 11th meeting of Steering Committee of Provincial Secretaries held at HEC Islamabad which was presided over by Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi Executive Director HEC.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Ijaz Munir Secretary Higher Education Punjab, Ms. Farah Hamid Secretary Higher Education Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Mr. Sher Khan Bazai, Secretary Higher Education Balochistan, Ms. Aftab Inayat Additional Secretary Education and Literacy Sindh, Muhammad Mumtaz Khawaja Additional Secretary AJK, Ghulam Mujtaba Kayani Advisor HEC and Mr. Fida Hussain Director General HEC Islamabad.
The provincial secretaries and representatives pointed out various issues related to quality assurance, financial management and governance of universities in the backdrop of post 18th amendment. . The meeting was called to deliberate on the post 18th amendment roles and responsibilities of the Federal and Provincial Governments in the higher education sector.
The committee reviewed the legal perspective as communicated in the Part I and Part II of the Federal Legislative list in the Constitution and subsequently held detailed discussions on current and future role of the Provincial Government in matters related to funding of the higher education sector, quality assurance system and university governance.
It was decided to get draft policy papers prepared on this issues taking into consideration relevant experiences of various countries and to meet regularly every 6 weeks to move these issues forward. The Committee appreciated the past role of the HEC for the development and improvement of higher education in the country and pledged to work together on evolving a national model that would ensure continuity of reform and improvement in the higher education sector.
Detailed discussions also took place on the expansion of existing 4-year Bachelor (Hons.) programs in colleges that have received an enthusiastic response from the students. It was also agreed that a bridge program would be developed to allow existing BA/BSc. graduates to obtain the 4-year honour degree. During the meeting, there was broad consensus that the true spirit of 18th amendment and uniform standards should be observed in higher education sector of the country.
In consultation with provincial governments, a paper on funding council at provincial level would be prepared by HEC so that effective financial management of higher education sector may also be introduced at provincial level. In addition, international quality best practices would also be adopted in this regard. It was also decided that the meeting and interactions will be organized on regular basis on rotation basis at the provincial headquarters. The next meeting would be held at Peshawar during the mid of November 2012.
For more information, contact:
Aayesha Ikram
Director (Media)
Higher Education Commission
Sector H-9, Islamabad
Tel: 90402404, 90402412
Email: aikram@hec.gov.pk
Website: www.hec.gov.pk