HEC decides to establish Pakistan Technology Council

Higher Education Commission (HEC) has decided to establish Pakistan Technology Council (PTC) with the purpose to promoting technological education in the country. Sources in HEC told Business Recorder here on Monday that the decision regarding the establishment of Pakistan Technology Council was taken in a meeting held here on Monday. Sources said that Pakistan needs to have more technological access and the country's universities need to develop their respective curriculum as per requirements of international standards to promote technical education.
Our neighbouring countries like India, Sri Lanka and China are far ahead than Pakistan in technological education, which is based both on theory and practice, as technological education has always been neglected in Pakistan, despite the fact that the subject has now become the basic pillar of the Information Technology, they added.
Sources added that HEC has also decided to have a meeting with heads of Inter University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences (IUCPSS) in Pakistan, a country's first ever inter university alliance formed by nine leading universities of Pakistan on September 15. Member institutions of Inter University Consortium included Islamia University Bahawalpur, Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur, Quaid-e Azam University (QAU), University of Gujrat, University of Balochistan Quetta, GC University Faisalabad, Institute of Management Sciences (IMS) Peshawar, and COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Abbottabad.
"IUCPSS had decided to send a request for the release of Rs 100 million from HEC for establishment of Pakistan Council of Social Sciences Research (PCSSR) in order to improve the research and development activities in social sciences across the country, but it has not put forward any demand formally in front of HEC", sources revealed.
Sources said that during the upcoming meeting with IUCPSS, the final decision regarding the release of Rs 100 million for PCSSR would be taken. The status of the council will be autonomous and will work under the supervision of Board of Directors and Advisory Board, comprising renowned and experienced social scientists from academia, civil society and research and development organisations.
IUCPSS has already presented some recommendations in front of the government that include: social science needs experimentations and proper observation, so laboratories to be established, the overall share of scholarships in social sciences should be increased by HEC and Joint research projects of social sciences among different universities should be initiated.