Varsities grant linked to financial discipline

Meeting decides to merge campuses with lower enrolment as cost-saving measure

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has decided that government grants to universities would be subject to their improved financial discipline in the future.

It was also decided to complete the ongoing process for the appointment of vice chancellors in public sector universities as soon as possible.

These decisions were taken at a meeting on the issues being faced by the public sector universities of the province which was held here the other day with K-P Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retd) Syed Arshad Hussain Shah in the chair.

The participants agreed in principle on the proposal to merge the university campuses having lower enrollments as a cost cutting measure.

Relevant caretaker provincial ministers, administrative secretaries of the provincial departments, the Higher Education Commission chairman and other higher-ups attended the meeting. The participants discussed in detail the financial issues and administrative matters of the public sector universities and reviewed the various proposals in order to steer the universities out of their current financial crunch.

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Both the provincial government and the Higher Education Commission expressed their commitment to working jointly to address the financial and administrative issues being faced by the public sector universities across the province.

Similarly, it was agreed to introduce courses in line with the demands of the modern market and to ensure implementation of the improved educational process as an essential service in the higher education institutions.

Talking to the participants, the caretaker chief minister urged the need for a comprehensive and permanent solution for the financial issues of government universities in the province, adding that his government was working to accomplish this in consultation with all the stakeholders.

The caretaker chief minister made it clear that the province had to prepare and implement viable financial plans to make public sector universities financially stable and self-reliant.

Underlining the need to align the higher education sector with the requirements of the contemporary world, he said that it was imperative to introduce market-based courses instead of traditional education at universities.

The caretaker provincial government is very sincere and committed to taking all possible steps for this purpose, he remarked.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th,  2023.