Government faces severe backlash after HEC’s budget cut

Ahsan Iqbal, the Minister for Planning and Development, has guaranteed the Vice-Chancellors (VCs) of public universities that the higher education budget will not be decreased next year.

Ahsan took to Twitter to call the Finance Division's decision to lower the Higher Education Commission's (HEC) budget by half "ridiculous," assuring that HEC funding will not be cut. His comments came only days after the government hinted at cutting HEC financing for the next fiscal year from Rs. 65 billion to Rs. 30 billion.

The Finance Division released a circular earlier this week noting that the provisional Indicative Budgetary Ceiling (IBC) and updated projections for 2021-22 total Rs. 65.25 billion, with budget estimates for grants connected to the HEC being Rs. 30 billion for 2022-23.

It instructed HEC to produce its budget statement for 2022-23 in accordance with stated estimates and submit it to the director of the Finance Division's budget wing for entry.

The decision did not go over well with the stakeholders. The VCs of public institutions published a joint statement on Thursday, expressing their dissatisfaction with the lower IBC for higher education.

They voiced fear that the reduction would make it hard for institutions to pay salaries and pensions, let alone cover all of the costs associated with running the university.

The Vice-Chancellors emphasised that Pakistani universities are already under severe financial strain as a result of stagnant financing in recent years, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

They said that public universities would be left with little choice but to substantially raise student fees and boost student intake beyond capacity, claiming that the consequences would bring the sector to its knees and badly erode the quality of learning and graduates.