Daily Times

LAHORE: A three-day Vice Chancellors’ Committee Meeting that ended on Wednesday developed a consensus that the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and universities across the country would make more concerted efforts to assure quality, whether it is faculty appointment, student admissions, opening of new institutions and sub-campuses, curriculum development, offering new degree courses, granting affiliations, teaching and research or any other matter related to higher education.

Concluding the session, HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed appreciated all the vice chancellors for their active participation and discussing in detail various challenges being faced by higher education sector and deliberating possible solutions. He stressed the fact that implementation of quality criteria and other higher education policies in letter and spirit was inevitable for development of university education that is compatible with international standards.

Former adviser to prime minister and SZABIST President Shahnaz Wazir Ali said that for all matters related to higher education, leadership has to come from HEC and there should not be different standards for different universities. She urged the university heads and HEC to adopt a cohesive approach for policymaking and its implementation. A detailed session was held on Tenure Track System (TTS) for faculty appointment wherein HEC Member (Operations and Planning) Dr G Raza Bhatti described in detail the purpose of introducing the system and the discrepancies arising due to deviation from set criteria for appointment under TTS.