Dr Tariq Banuri to head HEC

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has approved the appointment of Dr Tariq Banuri as chairperson of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

This was stated by Balighur Rehman, Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training, before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education and Professional Training here Monday.

After months’ long rigorous process and clearance from the anti-corruption authorities, the Prime Minister being controlling authority of HEC, approved summary for appointment of Prof Banuri as fourth permanent head of HEC.

Dr Banuri has vowed to enhance the quality of education in the country. Talking to The News, he said his focus will be investment in faculty and students.

Dr Banuri said he will speak to media in detail after formally taking charge. “The higher education sector is facing quality issues and I have a desire to improve the this sector but the details of my vision will be shared after a few days,” he said.

The newly appointed HEC Chairman thanked the Prime Minister Abbasi and members of search committee for posing trust in him.

Dr Banuri was already providing free consultative services to Pakistan government in the area of climate change and to Mehran University in the area of water.

Dr Tariq Banuri has broad experience in government, academia, civil society and the international system. He recently served as Director, Division for Sustainable Development, at the United Nations. He started his career in the Civil Service of Pakistan, went on to receive a PhD in Economics from Harvard University, and joined the United Nations as a Research Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research, a model that he adopted in setting up Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Pakistan which he served as its founding Executive Director.

He was also member of the Board of Governors of State Bank of Pakistan, member of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council and Member/Secretary of the Presidential Steering Committee on Higher Education, and a Coordinating Lead Author of the Nobel Prize winning Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He was also member of Steering Committee on Higher Education Reforms which contributed a lot in establishment of HEC in 2002. Lately, he was affiliated with University of Utah, US, as Professor in Economics.

During the last week of the January 2018, after the approval of Prime Minister of Pakistan, being controlling authority of HEC, six-member Search Committee headed by Syed Babar Ali was notified by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training which proposed a panel of four eligible candidates, Dr Banuri being on the top, for approval of the controlling authority. It is learnt that the parliamentary committee also sent a summary containing the name of Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, former HEC chief, who was facing charges of corruption and plagiarism but the Prime Minister approved the appointment from the list provided by the duly appointed Search Committee.

Dr Kaleemullah Bareach, President, Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Associations, appreciated the upholding of merit by the Prime Minster despite pressure. Talking to The News, he hoped that Prof Banuri will take all stakeholders into confidence before making policies. He also expressed his optimism that era of corruption will end in higher education. He assured the cooperation of FAPUASA in solving pending issues. Murtaza Noor, National Coordinator Inter-University Consortium, and Dr Shehzad Ashraf, President, FAPUASA, Islamabad Chapter, greeting the newly-appointed Chairperson hoped that Dr Banuri would play pivotal role in bringing about positive reforms in higher education sector which severely suffered in the last four years. They assured their full cooperation in addressing the problems being faced by higher education.

Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Directory, SDPI, said that at last right person for the right job has been chosen. He said that the man is full of innovative ideas and I am hoping he would turn HEC around. He said that his personal wish was that Chair HEC should neither be a beneficiary, not a victim of the system and Dr Banuri meets this criteria.

Aqeel Bokhari, President, Academic Staff Association, Quaid-i-Azam University, welcomed the merit-based appointment hoping that this principle will be applied in all future appointments in higher education during his era. He said that hype had been created in the appointment process and expressed his optimism that Dr Banuri would come up to the expectations of academia.

Mome Saleem, Coordinator of Reclaim Green Islamabad, an environmentalists group in the city, has also expressed happiness on the appointment. She said that merit is rarely considered in the affairs of the state so it was so thrilling to see upholding of merit in education sector.

“This is really a very good decision by the PML-N government during its last days. The selection is non-controversial, non-political and purely merit based,” said National Coordinator Inter University Consortium and Working Group on Higher Education Reforms, Murtaza Noor.