A parliamentary panel on Thursday while taking serious notice of non appointment of Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST) chairman has recommended to the government for making early appointments at all public sector organizations (PSOs) operating without heads.
The Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology which held here under the chairmanship of Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan to discuss the role and responsibilities of the PCST and the number of sanctioned posts and reasons for delay in appointment of MD.
The committee, while discussing the matter of delay in the appointment of PCST head and ministry's failure to make appointments on other sanctioned positions said this was a matter of serious concern and the minister must attend the next panel meeting to brief about the pertaining matters in the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The committee also discussed matters related to other attached departments of the Ministry of Science and Technology operating without heads and the issue pertaining to initiation of Dual Degree Programme (DDP) under a joint venture with the University of Lancaster and enrolment of 2,532 students without prior approval of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
The meeting was attended by Senator Nuzhat Sadiq, Senator Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah, Senator Hidayat Ullah, Senator Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo and senior officers from the Ministry of Science and Technology, NUST, NIE, PCRET, PCST, PCRWR, PSQCA, PNAC, PCSIR, CUI along with all concerned. The officials of the PCST briefed the committee members on the role and of responsibilities of PCST.
The committee was informed that PCST plays an advisory role to the federal government on all matters relating to development of science and technology in Pakistan. It undertakes policy research, organises study groups or task forces formulates policy proposals, monitors and evaluates science technology and innovation policy for achieving targets for overall development of science and technology in the country.
PCST also takes measures for effective collaboration among academia, research and development organizations and industry for development of indigenous products or technologies. The panel, while showing serious anger over the dismay state of affairs prevailing in the organization said that it was so strange that the last annual session of the PCST was held three years ago in 2017, while as per rules and regulations two sessions were mandatory annually.
The committee also expressed serious anger over the non appointment of 13 positions for technical officers, saying sanctioned positions of technical officers were 19 but the PCST was working with six officers.
The committee said that a proposal must go from the entire forum to the Ministry of Science and Technology for the early appointment of the PCST head and recruitments against the positions of technical officers must also be made at the earliest. It was asserted that it must be determined that officers recruited by the ministry must have technical know how. Salary structure must be revamped.
While discussing the issue pertaining to initiation of Dual Degree Programme under a joint venture with the University of Lancaster and enrolment of 2,532 students without prior approval of the HEC, the panel was informed that this was an effort to upgrade the university education system. But the HEC proposed to set up nine new mega universities called Universities of Engineering, Science and Technology Pakistan (UESTP).
The PC1 of four UESTPs were approved by the ECNEC in February 2008, chaired by the PM. The plans for establishment of UESTP were to be abandoned due to non-willingness of the foreign universities to work in Pakistan for security and other concerns.
In line with the core objective of quality improvement of higher education in Pakistan, the CIIT took an initiative to start the Dual Degree Programme (DDP) at undergraduate level in collaboration with Lancaster University (LU) UK. This idea was taken from the PC-1 Form for the UESTP Project as approved by the ECNEC.
Several extensive consultations and several meetings were held with Lancaster University and the CIIT formally informed the HEC about launching DDP program in October 2009. The DDP, at CIIT Lahore Campus was launched in September 2010 whereas HEC constituted a committee in October 2012 to make recommendations for the accreditations and recognition of the DDP.
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