Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: As the five-year tenure of the incumbent government is about to complete in a few days, it has miserably failed to resolve the longstanding issue of devolution of powers and functions of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in light of the recommendations of the 18th constitutional amendment.

The 18th constitutional amendment came into effect in 2012. Almost all sectors followed the devolution plan accordingly. However, the matter of a few institutions still stands unresolved, and the HEC is on top of those.

The 18th constitutional amendment triggered a debate between the provinces and the centre in the higher education sector. Ever since the passage of the amendment, both provincial HECs and the federal HEC are at loggerheads with each other. While the provincial HECs, especially that of Punjab, demand implementation of the legislation in true letter and spirit, the federal HEC is least bothered to devolve its powers and functions.

After a long debate, the matter was referred to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in 2017. According to the available information, several meetings of the CCI took place since then but the issue stood unresolved. The prime minister, who is chairperson of the CCI, then formed a sub-committee of the council with exclusive mandate to sort out the issue. Last month, a meeting of the CCI sub-committee, which comprises representatives from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and officials from the HEC and the Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC), was held. An official who attended the meeting told Daily Times on the condition of anonymity that except for the federal HEC, almost everyone endorsed the idea of devolution of powers and functions of the commission, arguing that concentration of powers within one entity is against the spirit of the constitution.

According to the minutes of the meeting, it was decided that both federal and provincial governments would undertake the functions of monitoring, evaluation and accreditation of the higher education institutions along with setting up of testing bodies.

The meeting recommended that among seven members of the federal HEC, there shall be one member from each province to further enhance the representation of provinces in the body. It also rejected the proposal of federal HEC regarding change of names of the provincial higher education commissions.

The committee made a number of recommendations regarding defining standards of higher education in the country. It was declared that the authority must be vested in the federal HEC, however it needs to be limited to the extent of setting up standards, whereas the functions of monitoring of the institutions of higher education against these standards should vest with the provincial governments and the provincial HECs.

In response to a public petition filed by a university professor with the Senate of Pakistan in February this year, the House had recommended that the devolution plan of the HEC should be implemented in letter and spirit.

The petition had pleaded that like other sectors, the 18th constitutional amendment should be implemented in higher education sector as well by confining the role of the federal HEC merely to the formulation of standards and enhancing legitimate role of the provincial governments especially in funding and implementation of the higher education policies.

The House had also barred the HEC from interfering in matters concerning universities without any solid reasons to maintain academic autonomy. “The academic freedom and autonomy of the universities should be ensured and respected as guaranteed by the constitution of Pakistan and the respective universities acts,” the Upper House had directed.

Published in Daily Times, May 25^th 2018.