Proposed Sindh Higher Education Commission will do everything the HEC does

K-P has a provincial higher education commission, and Punjab and Balochistan soon will.

KARACHI: Despite the passage of more than two years since the federal government passed the 18th Amendment that devolved education to the provinces, Sindh is still waiting for its chief minister, Qaim Ali Shah, to give a nod to the Sindh Higher Education Commission (SHEC).

The provincial education department forwarded a proposal for the body to the chief minister four months back, but has yet to hear a response from the province’s chief executive.

The department has already prepared a draft copy of the bill, and is currently seeking the input of experts before it sends it to the provincial law ministry for vetting.

“By the time the SHEC proposal gets [Shah’s] nod, the consultative and vetting process will be complete and the bill will be about to tabled in the Sindh Assembly,” said officials within the education department.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has already set up its own Higher Education Commission, while Punjab and Balochistan are going ahead with a similar plan.

While speaking about various bottlenecks in the process in Sindh, officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said that the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and other federal bodies were opposing the formation of the SHEC. “They argue that Sindh lacks the capacity to govern higher education institutions. [Various] university administrations also oppose the proposal, fearing increased intervention in their affairs,” said one official.

According to the draft bill, the chief minister will be supervising SHEC affairs. The body will be headed by a chairman, and comprise secretaries of education, information technology, planning and development and finance departments, as well as chairman of the chief minister’s inspection and enquiries committee and the director general of colleges.



The bill also proposes that six other members be nominated to the commission, including three who have international repute, as well as, a rector or vice chancellor of public sector university, and two eminent people from the private sector.

The SHEC will have the authority to formulate policies, guidelines and priorities for higher education institutions in the province as well as monitor and evaluate their performance. The commission will also set up an accreditation committee. Currently, the federal body, the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HECP) accreditation committee attests degrees and transcripts awarded by degree-awarding institutions in Pakistan as well as abroad. It also “determine[s] the equivalence and recognition of degrees, diplomas and certificates awarded by institutions within the country and abroad.” The proposed SHEC will also advise the provincial government over granting charter for degree-awarding status to new public and private institutions, and will have the authority to recognise degrees, diplomas and certificates.



Perhaps most importantly, given the fiscal crunch experienced by public universities in Sindh, the provincial higher education commission will be responsible for reviewing and examining the financial requirements of public sector institutions. It will also establish an endowment fund. Officials added that the HECP will be only responsible for controlling institutions that were earlier under the purview of the federal government.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2012.