Moalims

ISLAMABAD: Host ofl challenges need immediate attention of newly appointed executive director of Higher Education Commission (HEC) who is responsible for the utilisation of HEC's budget worth of Rs 65 billion being the principal accounting officer.

The recently appointed Prof Dr Arshad Ali who is former rector of National Textile University and founding principal of the NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS) has formally joined the Higher Education Commission (HEC) as executive director (ED).

The post was lying vacant since April 15, 2014 and now after two years, the appointment of permanent executive director is itself a good sign but he will face several challenges while his stay in the apex body of education in the country.

The sources inside the commission told the Daily Times on the condition of anonymity that one of the biggest challenge for the new executive director is to finish adhocism from the HEC as the two important divisions finance and audit are functioning in the absence of permanent director generals (DG).

The Daily Times learnt that the audit and finance divisions are working without advisor and regular director generals. The slot of advisor finance is lying vacant since the retirement of Ghlum Mujtaba Kiyani in March 2015 whereas its former director is running the audit division on contract bases. He was retired from the same post in April 2015 and his current appointment is also a violation of Supreme Court decisions in this regards. The post of DG finance is also still vacant from last five months due to the retirement of Ijaz.

While talking to Daily Times, an officer of HEC told that the higher officials feel more convenient with the officers on adhoc or contract basis as compared to permanent appointees especially in the case of finance and audit divisions as the both sections are dealing with funds of billions.

A critic also put light on the people working on deputation in HEC as key officials and considered them another challenge for newly appointed executive director. He said, "In last few years, more than seven officials were appointed on important position at HEC whereas four officials are still working at HEC including Quality Assurance Agency Director General Dr Rafique Baloch (BPS-20), Member Dr Raza Bhatti (BPS-22), Director (M&E) Syed Naveed Hussain Shah (BPS-19) and Dr Ishrat Lodhi (BPS-19)".

The newly appointed HEC Executive Director Dr Arshad Ali is a prominent educationist of the country and concerned circles once again become optimistic for the betterment in the field of higher education in the country. He told Daily Times while responding on the challenges faced by HEC that, "I believe abilities of a man are more important than its status whether he is working on contract or permanent bases. I will use my full potential to extend the services of the commission for the spread and betterment of higher education in Pakistan and I will deal all the matters according to the law including the issue of vacant posts and deputation".

A renowned scholar told the Daily Times on the basis of anonymity that according to two recent international university rankings by Times Higher Education and QS, no Pakistani university is ranked among top 500 world universities and not even in top 100 Asian universities which is also a challenge for the commission, a renowned scholar told the Daily Times on the basis of anonymity.

News Reference