ISLAMABAD:Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Traiq Banuri on Thursday said that he wanted to introduce reforms to put the commission on modern lines, ensuring quality of education in universities and transparency in disbursement of research grants.
“My perspective is quite often and the issues facing the commission were quality, accountability, and autonomy. These are three domains which I have been focusing to bring improvement as this is quite important for the betterment,” he told a group of senior journalists at a luncheon.
Briefing the media about the initiatives, Banuri said that accountability was his main focus as the budget of the commission was limited and he desired that the funding being granted to different universities and research excellence centers be appropriately utilized.
He said “My all efforts and energies are being focused on curving misuse of funds and in this regard I approached all relevant institutions to provide details of utilization of funds for which all agreed except one research institute in Karachi.”
The HEC provides Rs 03 billion grant to 30 Research Centers of Excellence every year, of which around 33 percent goes to only one center in Karachi.
He said basically, he wanted that the audit should be conducted of this grant just to ascertain this huge amount was being spent in right direction. He also called for appropriate allocation of funds to universities as per set criteria so that quality of education could be ensured.
Similarly, the chairman pointed out some issues in scholarships programme, saying that there should also be a proper mechanism and check.
Currently, HEC is implementing a programme under which 90,000 scholarships were being awarded while in the next phase the number would reach to 127,000, he said and added that from day one he was endeavoring to reform the scholarships award system so as to facilitate the brightest students.
Replying to a question, he said “Accountability is the main focus of the PTI government and I have been following the same goal.”
Banuri said under his reform agenda, the professors working in different universities would also be facilitated in shape of promotion, job structure and other relevant facilities.
He said the universities should be given autonomy and their decisions should be taken by syndicate. The students should also be aware of their rights.
The HEC chairman said that his point of view was only to resolve these issues as a head of the commission to make the organization exemplary and purposeful.