Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A loophole has been left in the eligibility criteria to apply for scholarships under the US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor Project, which would lead towards further brain drain in the country.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) did not mention a categorical term to serve in Pakistan after completing PhD degree from a United States University i.e. 5 or 10 years while inviting applications in the print media.

An advertisement announcing 1500 PhD scholarships in top ranked universities of the US for Pakistani students only contained that a student is eligible to apply, who has an ‘active commitment’ to serve the universities and research & development institutions of Pakistan instead of including a categorical term as it mentioned in previous scholarships programmes.

The “active commitment” is an open quoted phrase and nobody can measure the level of commitment of any scholar whereas such a relaxed condition would help scholars to drag the Higher Education Commission in courts by lodging litigations after completing their degrees in foreign countries.

It is pertinent to mention here that a large number of students have already dodged the commission by rejecting to serve in Pakistan even though they had signed categorical agreements containing a precondition to serve in the country for five years.

In April 2016, the Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Engineer Balighur Rehman had briefed the National Assembly that 126 PhD scholars out of total 5,934 sent abroad by the Higher Education Commission for their studies had not returned to the county.

On the other side, the report of the Auditor General of Pakistan for the year 2015-16 had also pointed out a loss of Rs 55.11 million to the public exchequer incurred due to non-return of only six PhD scholars whereas the total loss is in billions of rupees besides the heavy brain drain in the country.

Now, the Higher Education Commission is itself providing a chance to the scholars to create dispute and avoid service in Pakistan.

When contacted Higher Education Commission Chairman Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, said that there was a clause in the eligibility criteria that the successful scholar shall serve for 5 years in Pakistan after completing his degree in the US, but when questioned about the advertisement, he avoided a direct answer and replied; “it’s an initial advertisement and we will upload full details on our website soon.”

The question here is why full updates are not mentioned in the advertisement and what will be the legal binding of any details on the website in the eyes of the law as compared to the published advertisement.

“The advertisement needs a corrigendum on prompt basis to avoid any litigation and brain drain, which will be possible in the guise of the said open quoted term in advertisement”, a legal expert suggested.

The project US-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor was a brain child of the Federal Minister for Planning Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal, who made it possible due to his continuous pursuance and commitment.

So, it is also his duty to take notice of the matter and make the eligibility criteria clear and categorical to save billions of rupees, which will be incurred on the studies of students.

A written question in this regard has been sent to Mr. Ahsan Iqbal, his Public Relations Officer Mr. Asim Niazi and an officer who usally coordinates with the media in the Planning Ministry Saad bin Ayub, but nobody responded.