HEC to help expand employment opportunities for PhDs

Capacity building programmes to be conducted for young PhD graduates

ISLAMABAD: After highly qualified scholars facing the abyss of unemployment protested near the Bani Gala house of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the higher education commission has come up with a plan to get these scholars jobs.

“HEC recognizes difficulties being faced by the unemployed doctorate of philosophy (PhD) [holders],” read a statement issued by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Thursday.



The statement added that the commission has held several deliberations with representatives of the unemployed PhDs and other stakeholders to evaluate the problem and institute steps to create opportunities which would provide employment for the scholars. The HEC said that they will review the eligibility criteria under the Interim Placement of Fresh PhDs (IPFP) programme to strengthen the placement of PhD graduates in all HEC-recognised universities in the country.

The higher education body will also conduct capacity building programmes for the development of young PhD graduates on essential soft skills such as measures to assess and determine capacity building needs.

It will also evaluate the possibility of expanding its programme to include research and development organisations apart from exploring positions at affiliated colleges -- through the corresponding affiliating university.

The process is expected to be completed within 30 days.

For this purpose, the HEC said that it will compile data on current faculty recruitment practices in higher education institutions (HEIs) with reference to regular vis-à-vis visiting, contractual, daily-paid and subject-specialist faculty.



This data will be analysed and HEIs will be advised on the admissible ratio of regular vis-à-vis temporary faculty, the periodical convening of selection boards, and completion of the recruitment cycle within a period of 90 days.

Moreover, compliance of the policy guidelines will be linked to the varsity’s funding and ranking. This exercise is expected to be completed within six weeks. Furthermore, the HEC said that they will review the eligibility criteria for international post-doctoral fellowships to include both employed and unemployed PhD graduates — subject to approval from the competent authority.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2018.