HEDP project: HEC, World Bank Mission conclude talks on implementation progress

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has concluded a series of meetings with the World Bank Evaluation Mission to review the implementation progress of the HEDP (a $400 million Higher Education Development in Pakistan) project before its closure in June 2025.

The HEDP project supports strategic research, quality assurance, IT initiatives, and capacity building.

The project has facilitated initiatives such as industry-academia collaborations, the establishment of Quality Enhancement Cells in Affiliated Colleges (QECACs), and improvements in IT infrastructure, including establishing data centres and student lifecycle management systems.

The HEDP also facilitated the formation of two policies, including their implementation named Undergraduate Education Policy (UEP) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) policy.

More than 4,500 college faculty staff were trained to implement UEP across Pakistan.

The management of the Office of Research Innovation and Commercialization (ORICs) and Business Incubation Centres (BICs) were also trained to develop quality research proposals and successful execution of these projects.

Under this project, HEDP awarded 142 different types of research projects; some of them are completed, and the remaining are in the completion stage. It has also contributed to faculty training and financial support for over 100 higher education institutions to promote self-sustainability.

The HEDP started its operations in 2019 with a focus on improving the overall higher education infrastructure in Pakistan by enhancing the quality of education, enhancing the teaching-learning practices, and implementing the latest ed-tech solutions in universities, particularly establishing two Tier 3 certified state of the art data centres called Astrolabes, implementing Maktab a comprehensive and customizable ERP-SLCS, data-driven services, capacity building in research-commercialization practices, and facilitating remote learning, and sustainable women empowerment and mentoring programs by NAHE through HEDP.

Initially, 16 women universities were focused, and 190 mentors and 625 mentees were trained.

Furthermore, NAHE has also engaged 162 resource persons out of a pool of 369 to impart training to university faculty and management staff. 657 university faculty and 707 management staff are already trained while more trainings are already planned.

HEDP has achieved 96% of its PBC target and disbursed $305.9 million to the government of Pakistan. As per the last World Bank mission, the project’s overall rating is satisfactory.

On the last day, the mission met with the chairman HEC and shared the progress of HEDP project and upcoming activities to be completed by June 30, 2025.

The chairman assured the mission to complete the remaining activities by June 2025.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025