ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Education Muhammad Balighur Rehman on Wednesday directed the Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman to design a new website with the proposed name of ‘Learning Opportunities Abroad’ and link it with the websites of HEC and the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. He was chairing a meeting of HEC’s new development policies including scholarship programmes, criteria For MPhil and PhDs, facilities for the special students, Pakistan Chairs Abroad, collaboration with different countries regarding higher education, and overall achievements of the commission. The minister said the new website would contain all the education information including scholarships and guidelines for suitable and accredited foreign universities etc. “It will give a comprehensive account to the Pakistani students about the opportunities available in the world,” he said, adding it would also help the local students immensely, as they would have easy access to the required information. The minister also directed the HEC to write letters to all the embassies in the country and asked them to provide information regarding scholarships available in their respective countries for international students. HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar briefed the minister regarding the scholarship programmes monitored and facilitated by HEC. He said that around 2,654 students have been sent on scholarships from 2009 till date through different agreed programmes among countries and HEC. He added that there was no lapse in scholarships for the year 2016 but there was always a room for improvement. The HEC chairman told the minister about the criteria of selection of PhDs, adding that they have recently conducted a study in which they have identified areas where PhDs are required. “For example textile, sports, logistic, transport and supply chain, are among the few sectors that need experts. We have already started implementing this study in true letter and spirit.” Talking about the facilities for the special students, the HEC chairman said that as per the direction of minister of state, HEC has shared the draft for facilitation of special children with all universities. After getting the input from the universities, the policy would be adopted officially, he added. Moreover, he informed about the Pakistan Chairs Abroad, saying that there are 14 chairs of Pakistan abroad including Germany, Egypt, Turkey and China etc, adding that there were several chairs still lying vacant. “These chairs are mainly looked after by the Cabinet Division with the collaboration of HEC. We have discussed the criteria of sending suitable candidates for the position of chairs abroad.” The overall performance of HEC, its human resource development and research were also discussed in the meeting. The minister proposed to give grant of Rs 2 billion to the public sector universities, so that they could create their own endowment funds. This grant would be increased by Rs one billion after every 10 years, while it would be utilized to provide financial assistance/loan to the students. A student, after getting the job, would payback to the university by giving 10% of his/her annual salary. A renowned and credible agency would be hired for the assurance of the return of money. Federal Secretary Humanyon Khan, CADD Additional Secretary Qaiser Majid, Joint Education Advisor Rafiq Tahir and officials of the ministry and HEC were present on the occasion.