$400m higher education project ‘moderately satisfactory’: World Bank

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank has rated the implementation progress of the “Higher Education Development in Pakistan project,” of around $400 million as “moderately satisfactory”.

The project was approved in May 2019 with the development objective of supporting research excellence in strategic sectors of the economy, improving teaching and learning and strengthening governance, in the higher education sector.

The closing date of the project is 30 June 2024.

The components of the project include; nurturing academic excellence in strategic sectors ($104.82 million) supporting decentralised higher education institutes for improved teaching and learning ($89.18 million), equipping students and higher education institutions with modern technology ($52.70 million), higher education management information system and data-driven services ($35 million), capacity building through partnerships, project management, monitoring and evaluation ($24.30 million), improving access and quality of remote learning and support to universities ($94 million).

Official documents revealed that the project has made good progress toward the achievement of its project development objective. Key progress since the last mission includes: (i) additional 28 Innovation Seed Funding (ISF) and 10 Rapid Technology Transfer Grant (RTTG) awarded; (ii) additional 39 Affiliated Colleges (ACs) have enrolled the first cohort of students in the undergraduate programs; (ii) additional 19 ACs have enrolled the first cohort of students in a 4-year Bachelor Program; (iii) additional 1,172 faculty and staff (cumulative: 3,907) in government ACs trained; and (vi) additional 15 higher education institutes connected to Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN). The current disbursement stands at 71.8 per cent (out of USD 400 million).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024