ISLAMABAD: Higher Education Commission (HEC) has allocated Rs. 2.507 billion for different programs of Public Sector Universities for research purpose during last five years.
Giving details of the programs, official sources told APP that under National Research Program for Universities (NRPU), the total funds allocated to Public Sector Universities for research purpose during the last five years (FY 2008-09 to date) are Rs. 2.233 billion.
Under International Strategic Partnerships in Research and Education (INSPIRE), the Higher Education Commission in Collaboration with the British Council Pakistan launched the Higher Education Partnership INSPIRE Program on May 10, 2010 for the FY 2010-11.
As per terms agreed upon between British Council Pakistan and the HEC, funding for strategic partnership from HEC was 200,000/ year. The project time frame was three years. Total amount allocated as HEC share for three years INSPIRE program was Rs. 0.068 billion.
Total sixteen projects from different universities were supported under the subject program.
Under Pak US Program, the university wise detail of the approved, i.e. allocated Rs.0.134 billion.
The phase 4 of the program is approved from PSDP and Phase 5 from recurring budget of HEC. The unutilized amount mentioned in the column for phase 4 and phase 5 of the program is under process of utilization.
Under Provision of Grant to Public Sector Universities/Degree Awarding Institutions for Maintenance/Up gradation of Scientific Equipment, total amount allocated was Rs. 70,521,348/-(Rs. 0.070 billion).
To ensure the proper utilization of said funds for research purposes, annual report of each case undergoes a process of rigorous peer review form HEC designated focal persons who are eminent scientists/scholar of said subject and on recommendation of these focal persons next installment of the project is released.
The impact of research funding is visible from the unprecedented rise in internationally indexed research publications emanating from Higher Education Institutes in Pakistan.
Scimago, an independent research organization and an international evaluation and ranking platform which analyses scientific outputs of institutions and countries and monitors over 30,000 journals, is considered one of the most credible databases in the world of research has ranked Pakistan from 43 to 27 based on their past performance.
The expected output of research in Pakistan moving up 16 notches, which is the second highest increase worldwide, is primarily due to the innovative higher education policies and reforms undertaken by Govt. of Pakistan through The Higher Education Commission.
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