Public sector Universities, SEC facing severe financial crunch: VCs moot told

The vice chancellors and rectors of public sector universities Saturday announced that they are facing financial emergency on account of shortfall of Rs 26.9 billion in the current financial year as well as budget cuts in the past three consecutive years.
In a two-day meeting here at the Higher Education Commission (HEC), the university heads met to explore solutions to the financial crisis. The HEC is also facing severe financial crunch due to cut in development budget by the incumbent government as well as no increase in the recurrent budget for the last three years, sources revealed to Business Recorder.
Chairman Vice Chancellors Committee, Dr Masoom Yasinzai said that the recurring budget of the higher education sector is facing a shortfall of Rs 26.9 billion in the current financial year. He expressed hope that the current government, a known supporter of the education sector, would help universities come out of the crisis.
For the last three years, funding for universities has failed to keep up with growing enrolments. The crisis has been exacerbated because of legislated pay and pension increases and demands from newly established universities. The quality of education has suffered as a result, and universities are finding it impossible to meet pay and pension obligations.
The vice chancellors expressed their hope that the government will restore university funding for the current fiscal year and ensure that the projected requirement of Rs 103.55 billion for the coming year (2019-20) is satisfied. They also asked the government to ensure adequate funding for the development budget of universities.
Official sources revealed that HEC is also facing severe financial crunch as no significant increase was made in the budget during the last three years. The government has recently cut the development budget for the higher education which would badly hit the sector.
"We have submitted a summary to the Finance Ministry while seeking the restoration of HEC development budget as well as demanded 20 percent increase in the budget to meet the financial crisis," sources added.
The previous government had allocated Rs 46 billion for various development projects of HEC under Public Sector Development Programme (2018-19), which was later revised by the incumbent government to Rs 30.96 billion. According to the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, the government has released Rs 18.5 billion to HEC under the PSDP so far against the revised allocation of Rs 30.96 billion.
Addressing the university heads, Chairman HEC Dr Tariq Banuri assured them that he will present their concerns to the highest levels of the federal as well as provincial governments. He said that HEC has set up a committee to review the budgetary formula for distribution of government funding to every university.
The chairman also advised the heads of universities to invest in the efficiency and transparency of university operations as well as in fundraising programmes. He announced that HEC is preparing guidelines for a major fundraising drive for universities, which will culminate in an Education Week in December 2019. He asked universities to set a target of mobilising 20 percent of their revenue from non-government and non-tuition sources by 2022.
Other issues discussed at the meeting included the vice chancellors' vision of harnessing university resources for such national objectives as the promotion of national unity, development of the knowledge economy, and the projection of the soft power of the country.
Specific actions envisaged in this regard include student and faculty exchanges between different parts of the country, admission of students across provincial boundaries, attracting foreign students as well as faculty members to Pakistan, and investing in the capacity of university faculty to undertake research on issues of national and international urgency. They asked HEC and the government to ensure the removal of hurdles in this regard.
The chairman appraised the gathering of the importance of resolving complaints received through the PM's Grievance Portal. "We must ensure that there are zero escalated or super-escalated complaints," he underlined.
The vice chancellors also discussed other ongoing efforts, including plans to establish a National Academy for Higher Education (NAHE), targeting research programmes towards concrete deliverables and problem-solving, strengthening college level education, and building upon the success of the Pakistan Education Research Network (PERN) project.