It's important to note that HEC can only file a suit for recovery before a civil court, as per directions of the bench
ISLAMABAD: I would like to bring to your notice some facts regarding a news item published by The Express Tribune on October 6, 2014, entitled, “HEC makes little headway on many fronts”. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) undertakes all its responsibilities very seriously. With reference to the allegation of failure in recovering money from scholars, the commission is not facing any failure in this regard. It is pursuing the cases of the defaulters as per the standard operating procedures approved by the National Scholarship Management Committee according to the law. It is important to note that the HEC can only file a suit for recovery before the civil court, as per the directions passed by the honourable bench, headed by the chief justice of of Pakistan.
The commission, under section 10 (N) of the HEC Ordinance, decided to select a new testing body through an open competitive process. At its 29th meeting, it authorised a sub-committee, including a few technical members having expertise in assessment and testing services, to review and prescribe a regulatory and statutory framework for the monitoring and quality assurance of such a testing service. The committee will review and finalise the proposals presented before the aforementioned meeting and after finalisation, the advertisement will be placed. Hence, work is in progress in this connection.
The issue of students’ fees is considered a very delicate one all over the world, over which extensive research has been done in recent decades. It is accepted worldwide that interfering with fees will only lower the quality of education provided. Students of less-developed areas are being provided fee reimbursement through the Prime Minister’s Youth Initiative, while other students who cannot afford, fees are eligible for need-based scholarships and the Fata/Balochistan scholarships. In order to further evaluate the extent to which the fees charged by higher educational institutions should be regulated, the HEC is constituting a committee comprising vice-chancellors from both public and private sectors, representatives of other important stakeholders and members of the civil society. The committee will undertake a review of all facets of the subject and prepare recommendations for the commission. Furthermore, the HEC has framed Recruitment Rules 2009, duly approved and notified by its governing body. All prevailing recruitments are being made in accordance with those rules. Moreover, it may be further clarified that there are at present 161 public and private universities in Pakistan and not 240 as mentioned in the report.
Aayesha Ikram
Director Media/Publications
Higher Education Commission
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2014.
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