HEC Chairman highlights importance of knowledge-based economy for national development

ISLAMABAD: Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Sunday highlighted importance of a knowledge-based economy for enlisting the country among comity of developed nations.

The government, he said, was giving due attention and making sufficient investment in the higher education sector aimed at imparting quality education to younger generation and making them useful citizens of the country.

Talking to PTV, he said all available resources were being utilized to promote the culture of higher studies and the enrollment percentage was increasing considerably and steadily.

At present, he said, access to high education rate was 8.6 per cent. According to a report, there were only 5.1 per cent students aged 17-23 years were enrolled in higher education in 2011.

Replying to a question, Dr Mukhtar said a significant development was taking place in the fields of research, science and technology. More than 8,000 research publications were published in the country last year, he added.

He said the HEC was extending different incentives in the research field to facilitate experts for achieving required results.

Efforts were being made to promote higher education in different areas of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa so that students of those provinces should also have opportunities at par with others, he added.

To a question, the HEC Chairman said foreign scholarships were provided to brilliant students purely on merit without any influence from anywhere.

He said,"Foreign professors themselves visit Pakistan and conduct tests and interviews, after which the students recommended by them are given scholarships only."

Answering another question, Dr Mukhtar said 95 per cent students returned after completing their higher studies from abroad and joined their respective departments in Pakistan. "Those who do not return and violate the agreement are dealt with in accordance with law," he added.