Six Pakistan universities among top 300 Asian varsities: HEC

HEC Executive Director says two Pakistani universities among top 300 Science and Technology institutions of the world.

ISLAMABAD: Six Pakistani universities have been ranked among the top 300 Asian universities while two Pakistani universities are standing among the top 300 Science and Technology institutions of the world.

This was stated by Higher Education Commission (HEC) Executive Director Professor Dr Sohail H Naqvi on Monday while addressing a video conferencing seminar organised by Government College University Faisalabad (GCUF) in connection with the 10 years establishment of HEC.

GCUF Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Zakir Hussain gave a briefing about the successes of the university. The conference room was packed with deans, directors and other faculty members of GCUF. Muhammad Murtaza Noor Focal Person Inter University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences Pakistan was also present.

Prof Dr Naqvi said that Faisalabad was the heart of Pakistan textile sector whereas GCUF is a hub of the research meeting the demand of industry and playing a vital role in equipping the students hailing from four corners of the country and abroad with modern and quality education. He urged educationists and researchers to maintain good relations with the industry in order to transform knowledge into goods and services by solving the problems of the industries with the help of good research work.

Highlighting the contribution of HEC in 10 years, he said that they had made a spread of higher education to every region of Pakistan with an increase in number of universities campuses in Pakistan from 168 to 258 – including the establishment of 41 new universities, increase in student enrollment at universities from 330,000 to over a million and an increase in enrolled women in universities from 36% to 46%.

There was award of more than 10,000 local and foreign scholarships through a well-defined and transparent mechanism that has made no compromise on merit, award of 2,000 scholarships for the talented youth of Balochistan and FATA, and launch of additional 600 MPhil/PhD scholarships exclusively for the students of Balochistan, he added.

Prof Dr Hussain said the university was bearing a deficit budget of Rs150 million two years ago but because of good financial interventions, the university surplus budget has gone up to Rs480 million this year. He pointed out that the university was standing among the top universities of the country as it had emerged to number sixth university whereas last year the university was at number 19.

He lauded the steps taken on part of the HEC to improve the quality of education for making them at par with international standard by raising the education and uplifting the status of teaching staff with high pay.

He apprised that the university was committed to take any tangible step for meeting the criteria of 33 agendas of the HEC. He said that it was the matter of pride for the varsity that it has 200 PhDs and had hired 70 teachers on tenure track system. He also told the audience about the new campus being set up at Jhang road on 200 acres of land, a few kilometers away from the current campus, to meet the demand of increasing students.