Govt Announces New Criteria for HEC
The Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives, Ahsan Iqbal, presided over a meeting on Thursday in Islamabad to examine the performance audit framework and upcoming HEC initiatives.
Senior officials from the ministry and Chairman HEC, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad, were also present at the meeting. Member S&T, Dr. Najeeb Ullah, gave the forum an update on a number of current and upcoming initiatives in the Science & Technology sector.
In light of the six characteristics and related KPIs for standardisation, the Federal Minister emphasised that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) must uphold quality standards in the higher education sector.
These include:
- Quality and impact of research and innovation
- University-industry linkages
- Technology enablement
- Corporate governance
- Community service
- Graduate quality and employability
The Federal Minister gave the relevant authorities the go-ahead to establish corporate-level innovation labs at various universities and to equip the innovation labs that already exist with all the necessary amenities.
In order to improve student capability, the federal minister further instructed HEC to incorporate entrepreneurship and export-led growth as course topics in all institutions’ degree programmes.
Projects under PSDP pertaining to science and technology were also thoroughly discussed at the meeting. The Minister for Planning promised to provide all help necessary for the projects’ approval and funding release.
Govt Announces New Criteria for HEC