HEC to Take Action Against Universities with Subpar Facilities

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is mandated to control the exponential growth of higher education institutions and to penalise universities and the affiliated institutes that operate without adequate infrastructure.

During a recent visit to the HEC regional centre in the city, Syed Anwar Hyder, senior counsel for the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat, reportedly asked the HEC to play a more effective role in raising university standards so that Pakistani students may take advantage of educational and job opportunities around the globe without difficulty.

According to him, there have been several reports that some private colleges have created campuses without first receiving HEC clearance and without meeting quality criteria, which has caused problems and difficulties for over 10,000 students who have filed court cases in this regard.

He emphasized the significance of setting up statutory institutions to control primary and secondary education in the nation so that the entire educational system, from the elementary level on up to the university level, could be improved and regulated at par with developed nations of the globe.

Mr. Hyder recognised the value of HEC's role in offering a wide variety of students, from undergraduate to post-doctoral level, verification, attestation, and other crucial facilities and services.

The Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN), an online learning management system, and data digitization were among the initiatives taken by the HEC to raise the quality of higher education in Pakistan, according to Javed Ali Memon, director of the HEC's regional centre in Karachi.

In addition to establishing quality standards, providing cutting-edge facilities and counselling to institutions and students, HEC provided grants and cash to universities for the advancement of higher education and research.

It was noted that Pakistani universities were performing well, which was made evident by seeing a clear improvement in their global rankings, and that the commission was focused on getting institutions to follow 21st century norms in order to raise them to world standards.