FAISALABAD: The vice chancellors’ committee had requested the federal government to continue extending support to the universities across the country as head of the federation and urged the provincial governments to make their contribution in their respective budgets for universities.
The committee held an emergency online meeting in the wake of the reports of a major cut to the HEC funding in the Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget. Chaired by Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan, Chairman Vice Chancellors’ Committee and Vice-Chancellor, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, the forum was attended by the vice chancellors and rectors of all the public sector universities.
The university heads emphasised that the government must pay due importance to higher education sector in its efforts through “Education Emergency” in the country. They said the government’s plan to cut the HEC’s recurring budget to Rs 25 billion for the year 2024-24 against Rs 65 billion in the previous financial year will jeopardize the future of students, as the universities are already suffering a shortfall of Rs 60 billion.
In his remarks, Dr Iqrar Ahmed Khan said the report of government’s plans to cut HEC funds for the Year 2024-25 has sent shockwaves throughout the academic community, as any such move will force the public sector universities to shut down. He expressed his apprehension that the already financially strapped universities will not be able to survive, and the future of Pakistani youth will be jeopardized if the federal government ceases to extend required funds.
Expressing their views, the vice chancellors of different universities said that the provincial governments should make contribution to the universities’ finances, however the federal government must continue extending financial support to universities in the provinces for the cause of national development, integration, and unity. They said adequate budgetary allocation to higher education is a matter of national interest, expressing a fear that any cut in the HEC budget will jeopardize the students’ future.
Appreciating HEC’s role in the development of higher education sector across the country, they said any cut to HEC budget is tantamount to making it dysfunctional. They said it is to be a regressive move to dent HEC, which has played a pivotal role in improving access to higher education throughout the country by developing physical and IT infrastructure. They said it is impossible to administer and operate universities without finances, adding that the universities’ survival in fact lies in the government’s support to the HEC.
Addressing the forum, Chairman HEC Dr Mukhtar Ahmed and Executive Director HEC Dr Zia ul Qayyum said that HEC will take up the issue with the Finance Ministry and request for reconsideration of the matter with sympathetic view. They asserted that any cut in the HEC budget will put all the investments made in the higher education sector in the last over two decades in jeopardy.
The federal and provincial governments must jointly put their contributions to end the crises facing the universities, they emphasized. They said the federal government’s funding for the higher education sector is a must to strengthen its efforts for national integration through youth.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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