
There are any number of obvious pitfalls to this idea, not the least of these being differences of policy and practice that will inevitably arise between the federal and provincial bodies, to say nothing of the duplication of roles. A draft proposal for the provincial commission is said to have been completed and is due to be presented to the provincial cabinet and if it gets cabinet approval, will be passed to the provincial assembly for ratification. As yet, there is no timeframe for this process, which reportedly has the support of the chief minister (CM) of Punjab. There are to be discussions between the HEC chairman and the CM on the matter.
However, universities need to be more, not less, independent. Certainly standards need to be regulated and maintained, and there needs to be a national template for academic quality control. If Punjab established a parallel HEC why not Sindh, or Balochistan? This is a plan of doubtful worth and requires a critical rethink.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2013.
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