No fund for HEC: Over 70 VCs threaten to resign

Source: Dawn

Date: 17 Sep, 2010

ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: The vice-chancellors of 71 public sector universities have threatened to resign en bloc against the government’s refusal to provide fund for higher education. 

Federal Minister for Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh on Thursday refused to provide funds to the cash-strapped Higher Education Commission. Instead, he asked it to generate its own resources. 

Incensed by Mr Sheikh’s response, the vice chancellors of 71 public sector universities threatened to resign en bloc. They also outrightly rejected the minister’s suggestion to set up a special committee headed by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Nadeemul Haq to determine the universities’ needs, saying in the presence of Higher Education Commission (HEC) there was no need for any committee. 

On the special request of HEC Chairman Dr Javed Leghari, the minister held an emergency meeting with the members of vice chancellors committee on the HEC premises. He was also accompanied by Mr Nadeemul Haq. 

During the meeting, which lasted for a couple of hours, the minister not only refused to make any financial commitment but also appeared dismissive of the issues raised by vice chancellors of 68 state-run universities present at the meeting, a participant of the meeting told Dawn.

At one point after the VCs had spoken about their financial woes, Mr Sheikh told them that the government had more compelling commitments than the higher education sector. 

He was equally non-committal when the future of the HEC’s scholars studying in foreign universities came under discussion. If the HEC continues to remain short of cash, some 4,000 students may need to be called back before they get their degrees. However, the finance minister argued that at the moment the flood victims were more vulnerable than anybody else. In the absence of funds, the HEC has already scrapped all its future scholarship schemes.

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