Higher education round-up

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan serves as the regulator and facilitator of the higher education institutions in the country.

It is mandated with increasing access to tertiary education, improving quality, and ensuring its relevance with the emerging times. Let’s briefly review some of the activities by the HEC in the outgoing year to have an idea of the higher education affairs in our country.

Going through the official press releases available on the HEC’s website for the last year, it could be seen that the year 2023 ended with the culmination of the National Faculty Development Program Cohort-VIII under the National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE) – the training and development academy established by the HEC in 2018.

The outgoing year (2024) started with a centralised test for computer science and IT graduates – a first-of-its-kind assessment designed in collaboration with the industry giants to gauge the industry readiness of these graduates. The first-ever learning skills assessment test followed in June this year.

In the scholarships domain, which is an instrument of increasing access, international scholarship projects like the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship Program, Commonwealth Scholarships, Chinese Government Scholarships, and Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships for Pakistani students were announced, followed by send-off ceremonies for the successful scholarship winners honouring their achievements. In the national realm, undergraduate scholarships for Balochistan and erstwhile Fata students as well as for the students of Gilgit-Baltistan were offered by the HEC with the support of the incumbent government.

Studies have established that one of the most effective interventions for improving the quality of education is to train teachers. Recognising this fact, the national outreach programme for training faculty as well as university management was also launched with the support of the Higher Education Development Program (HEDP) – a project by the World Bank. Moreover, a training programme for English language faculty in collaboration with the regional English language office of the US embassy was also arranged recently. Capacity Building Training for Quality Enhancement Cells, pre-service training for fresh PhDs, procurement procedures training for procurement professionals in the higher-education sector, and training for HEC officers by Franklin Covey are some of the highlights in the training and development area by the HEC in 2024.

No country can progress without investing in women. Hence, for women empowerment and gender mainstreaming, a dedicated Women Empowerment Mentoring Program (WEMP) was launched at the HEC and in women's universities of the country in a much-lauded launch ceremony. Collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders are the keys to success. A Letter of Intent between the HEC and the University of Utah was thus signed expanding academic cooperation under the Higher Education System Strengthening Activity which is supported by USAID. Similarly, the HEC has also signed a number of MoUs with different agencies during 2024. Some examples are an MoU with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to promote safe and effective social media practices, an MoU between HEC and DAAD for academic cooperation, and another one with the Pink Ribbon for breast cancer prevention awareness.

In 2024, the HEC launched Maktaab – a student life cycle solution for universities which will have lots of data for effective decision-making. Similarly, Microsoft Co-Pilot Learn for Educators was launched, and the HEC has also initiated Phase 3 of the digital learning and skills enrichment initiative (DLSEI) offering scores of courses offered by Coursera. This initiative alone can contribute massively to the skills development of the youth of our country.

On the development side, considering the successes of its first phase, the Pak-UK Education Gateway Phase-II was launched at the HEC. Similarly, for regional integration measures, the Pak-Sri Lanka Faculty Exchange Program was announced under the Pak-Sri Lanka Higher Education Cooperation Program. Moreover, the PM Innovation Award, the Pakistan Youth Leadership initiative, and the launch of a digital learning portal under the Green Youth Movement (GYM) project are some of the development initiatives executed by the HEC.

For discussions and deliberations, a roundtable to deliberate on raising research funding through corporate social responsibility (CSR), a one-day conference on Applications of AI in Agriculture, and a two-day conference on Iran-Pakistan academic cultural dialogue were arranged by the HEC.

The HEC also arranged several vice-chancellor conferences where the academic leaders vowed to improve the quality and governance of HEIs and a couple of National Youth Conventions were also arranged by the HEC wherein the prime minister and the army chief addressed the youth. A dedicated awareness session for the prevention of blasphemous activities on social media was also arranged by the HEC which was attended by most of the universities virtually.

Periodic public alerts were also available for students. Students seeking admission to universities were advised to check their accreditation status in advance – that is: if the offered programme is accredited by the relevant professional council, and the university campus (or sub-campus) is recognised by the HEC. Degree attestation tip videos including deeni asnad were also made available by the HEC media team and most recently, the HEC launched its dedicated podcast as well.

To sum it up, a lot was done in 2024, and a lot will continue to be done in 2025. We, as individuals in society and government, just need to appreciate the good that is happening around us as a nation and keep striving for excellence in whatever we are doing. In the words of Robert Frost: “The woods are lovely, dark and deep/ But I have promises to keep,/ and miles to go before I sleep”

The writer is a Tsinghua alum and a gold medallist in public policy. He can be reached at: engr.mmrehman@gmail.com