PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will need Rs18 billion to implement the proposed higher education reform programme that underlines a three-year roadmap for improving regulatory framework, academic standards, departmental functions, and institutional output.
The provincial government’s working group set up to recommend reforms in the higher education sector has pointed out the regulations that need improvements, set timelines for the reforms to take effect, recommended the establishment of some new institutions, and proposed measures to improve quality of higher education institutions.
“The group has recommended the provincial government to invest five per cent of the provincial Gross Domestic Product in education, including 1.25 per cent for higher education and 3.75 for the remaining (schools and secondary educations),” said an official.
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led provincial government after assuming office last May set up 17 working groups to pin point grey areas and suggest reforms to improve provincial public sector functioning and services delivery.
According to the officials, the government will either need to arrange additional funds to implement the proposed reforms or make budgetary adjustments in its existing current and development budgets to implement the reforms.
“The province has seen a mushroom growth in the number of its public sector universities during the past five years, now it needs consolidation to turn its newly set up universities into quality institutions,” said a senior official.
The group for recommending reforms for the higher education sector, according to official circles, was tasked to focus on four topics: transformation of higher education sector to contribute to socio-economic development through policy reforms, role of the higher education and library department in the post 18th constitutional amendment scenario, academic reforms in higher education institutions, and reforms in the college sub-sector to make it a ‘vibrant and responsible partner’ in higher education.
The government has been recommended to arrange an in-house exercise to devise a mechanism for prioritising human resource development and research in the higher education to contribute to socio-economic development.
Similarly, an enhanced role for academia has been suggested in policy formulation and the government has also been asked for sponsoring internship programmes for university graduates.
The working group also recommended funding for higher education institutions under a standard mechanism to be adopted in due course of time whereas the amended Khyber Pakhtunkhwa University Act will be adopted in the next financial year. The government has also been asked for introducing periodic audit of universities to ensure transparency.
In an effort to strengthen the higher education department, the group has recommended to hold an inter departmental dialogue for bringing the Agriculture University and Khyber Medical University, commerce and managements science colleges under the ambit of the higher education department.
In this respect, the department will improve its capacity and introduce changes in its rules of business after approval from theKP needs Rs18bn for higher education reforms competent authority.
The department will also undertake an exercise in 2015-16 to ‘identify ways and means’ to promote and encourage higher education in private sector.
With regard to the department’s role in the post-18th constitutional amendment scenario, the working group has recommended the establishment of the ‘Provincial Higher Education Council’ to manage and regulate higher education institutions in the public and private sectors.
Consultative process to providing regulatory framework for setting up the new council will begin during the current fiscal whereas it will start functioning in the 2014-15 financial year after hiring the required staff and allocating sufficient financial resources.
The government has also been asked to look into the possibility of merging the higher education and secondary education ministries for which consultation will begin somewhere next fiscal.
The proposed academic reforms have been categorised in seven sub-areas, including resource rationalisation, quality improvement, relevance (of academic courses), financial sustainability, international linkages, research and knowledge transfer, and higher education institutions’ involvement in public policy formulation.
The resource rationalisation has been recommended to ensure the prudent use of the available resource by avoiding duplication of academic programmes. In this respect, it has been proposed that feasibility reports be made mandatory for establishing new HEIs.
To improve and ensure quality education, the group has recommended that the government introduce anti-plagiarism and anti-unfair means laws.
The province has also been recommended to switch over to semester system from the existing annual academic system of education. Besides, the public sector universities have also been asked to institutionalise performance evaluation of vice chancellors, teaching, and non-teaching staff. Public response will also be solicited for switching over to the semester system after which the new system will be introduced in the next fiscal year given approval by the competent forum.
The government has also been proposed to introduce demand drive programme in the higher education institutions by strengthening their relevance. The relevance will be established through national and international surveys. Similarly, surveys will also be conducted to launch associate degree programmes in the public sector HEIs.
To encourage and promote research in HEIs, they will be allowed to market their research products of commercial significance and the provincial government will match the grants earned by HEIs. The working group has recommended that HEIs should be made to allocated 10 per cent of their budget to research. In this respect, the establishment of the ‘Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialisation’ has also been recommended in all the HEIs.
In an effort to utilise the knowledge base of HEIs in public policy formulation, the government has been recommended to create a think tank from academia for public policy.
The government has also been suggested to complete the transformation to the four-year BA/BSc programme in the next fiscal and in this respect bridging programmes have also been suggested to facilitate the complete the conversion of the programme to the four-year programme.
Apart from recommending the introduction of a comprehensive posting and transfer policy in HEIs and bringing the teacher/student ration to 1:40, the working group has urged the government to conduct an exercise for rationalising colleges and college faculty and reward good performers.
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