Islamabad-Higher Education Commission (HEC) in 2016 closed 31 PhD and 26 MPhil programmes because of lack of fulfilment of minimum quality standards, an official said on Wednesday.
The commission reviewed a total of 293 PhD and 57 MPhil programmes of 171 universities, of which 31 PhD and 26 MPhil programmes of different universities were closed due low quality standards.
In other measures taken in2016, HEC also launched the first phase of establishing sub-campuses of different universities and degree awarding institutions in 31 districts of the country.
The project aims to open 16 campuses of public sector universities in those districts which have potential intake of 1,000-1,500 students, in addition to setting up campuses of Virtual University in districts where the population is relatively thin. The second phase of the project will cover another 35 districts with regard to establishment of the university campuses.
In 2016, the commission inaugurated Cloud Data Centre with an aim to facilitate universities to become part of the world-class research environment.
HEC cloud service aim at increasing efficiency, productivity and collaboration between the universities and reduce costs by using an optimised IT infrastructure.
It received 198 plagiarism complaints since 2006, in which 160 cases have been finalised; 90 complaints have proved to be false, while 38 faculty members have been blacklisted. About 38 cases are under process and six cases are sub judice.
The newly formed Technology Development Fund, a project worth Rs2.91 billion, is for duration of five years and will cover 200 proposals. Its priority areas will be IT/computers, micro-electronics, biotechnology, material sciences, telecommunication and robotics. The fund aims at promoting prototypes for problem-based solutions. The first year target will be 50 joint proposals from university and industry projects.
HEC extended 1,036 foreign and indigenous scholarships, over 23,000 need-based scholarships, and 24,640 scholarships under the Prime Minister Fee Reimbursement Scheme in addition to the scholarships provided to Pakistani students under various programmes developed as a result of foreign collaboration. It has also been executing the Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme.
Meanwhile, as many as 2,000 faculty members from public sector universities will be provided opportunity to enrol in PhD programme in local universities.
During the year, Fata University was made operational and work was initiated on University of Gwadar as well as University of Central Asia, Pakistan.
Besides, the number of offices of research, innovation and commercialisation, and business incubation centres has also increased remarkably.
In the last year, HEC announced the 5th Ranking of Pakistani Higher Education Institutions for 2013-2014. It ranking was carried out under various categories including engineering and technology, business education, agriculture and veterinary, medical, and arts and design.