ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has reportedly failed to utilize 49 percent of the development funds released during the ongoing fiscal year, Daily Times has learnt. According to the available documents, out of 62 new development schemes proposed by the HEC during 2017-18, only one could be approved. The 61 schemes that couldn’t be approved during the previous year have again been added to the proposed plan for fiscal year 2018-19. As per the documents, the federal government had allocated an amount of Rs 35 billion for the development projects in higher education sector for fiscal year 2017-18 in the Public Sector Development Programme which was later rationalized to Rs 28 billion following a cut of Rs 7 billion. The total released development budget for the year stood at Rs 373.738 million, while the HEC failed to utilize 49 percent of the released funds. The failure of the commission to utilize development funds was also pointed out by auditor general of Pakistan in a recent audit report. In financial year 2018-19, a total amount of Rs 6.462 billion has been allocated for 42 new development projects in the higher education sector, as compared to Rs 9.188 billion for 2017-18 earmarked for 62 development schemes. As per available statistics, the commission had been allocated total amount of Rs 113.548 billion during the last four years, out of which a sum of Rs 80.57 billion – approximately 70 percent – was released. For the fiscal year 2012-13, Rs 15.8 billion were allocated to the HEC, out of which a sum of Rs 12.013 billion was released after a cut of Rs 3 billion. Similarly an allocation of Rs 22.49 billion was made for year 2013-14, out of which Rs 18.813 billion were released after deduction of approximately Rs 4 billion. In 2014-15, the commission was allocated an amount of Rs 27.02 billion, and almost the whole amount was released by the federal government. For fiscal year 2015-16, the HEC was allocated an amount of Rs 20.734 billion, out of which Rs 14.790 billion were released by the government. In fiscal year 2016-17, Rs 27.504 billion were allocated to the HEC, out of which Rs 14.943 billion were released. The HEC could only get approval of around 50 percent of the 106 development projects proposed during the last four years. As per Higher Education Commission Ordinance, 2002, the commission is responsible for submitting to the federal government the recurring and development budgets for public sector institutions and allocating funds to the public sector institutions out of bulk financial provision received from the government and other resources on performance and need basis. According to the ordinance, the commission is supposed to formulate and enforce policies, guidelines, principles and priorities for higher education institutions for promotion of socio-economic development of the country and evaluation, improvement and promotion of higher education, research and development. The commission has, meanwhile, sought new proposals under the Technology Development Fund (TDF). An official statement issued by the HEC said that the TDF is a five-year PSDP approved project with total worth of Rs 2.91 billion and aims at supporting joint proposals of academia and industry to ensure prototype product development and its commercialization. Published in Daily Times, May 12th 2018.