| HEC Alerts Students about Fake News on Education | HEC Alerts Students about Fake News on Education | <p><strong style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;">Islamabad, June 15, 2020</strong><span style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;">: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has alerted students and faculty members about false information being circulated by anti-education groups through WhatsApp and social media forums. Students are advised to verify HEC-related information from its website </span><a href="http://www.hec.gov.pk/">www.hec.gov.pk</a><span style="background-color:transparent;color:inherit;">.</span></p><p>HEC has clarified that contrary to some news report, the HEC website has not been hacked. The fake information consists simply of crude photoshop images designed by some persons pushing anti-education agendas and circulated by them through their WhatsApp and social media links. These images pretend to be screenshots of the HEC website, but are just manipulations of other downloaded content from the website. They pertain to a variety of topics, but their common aim is to advocate a lowering of educational standards in Pakistan, e.g., by canceling exams, canceling all educational activities including online education, or disrupting admissions or scholarship processes. <br></p><p>While there have been cyber-attacks on the HEC website, which appear have originated from servers outside the country, HEC technical teams have been working round the clock to ward off these attacks. <br></p><p>Students, academic and research community as well as public, availing or inquiring about HEC programmes and services, are requested to exercise vigilance and trust no other resource except the HEC website, and authentic social media pages that are linked to it. Should they need any confirmation, it is advised to reach out to the respective focal person of HEC. <br></p><p>All these activities have also been reported to the cybercrime unit of the Federal Investigation Agency.<br></p><p>===============<br></p><p><br></p> | 15-06-2020 16:22:17 | <img alt="" src="/english/PublishingImages/ThematicImages/HEC%20ICON-15.png" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | https://hec.gov.pk/english/news/news/Pages/HEC-Fake-News-Alert.aspx |
| Press Release: 36th Commission Meeting of HEC | Press Release: 36th Commission Meeting of HEC | <p style="text-align:justify;"><strong>Commission Denounces Cut in Higher Education Budget </strong></p><p style="text-align:justify;">Approves Funding policy for FY 2020-21, Revises Tenure Track Statutes, Appoints Chairperson ETC, Introduces New Policy against Sexual Harassment, and Regulations for Installation and Use of Security Cameras in Universities<br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">Islamabad, June 13, 2020: The two-day 36<sup>th</sup> Meeting of the Commission, the governing body of Higher Education Commission, concluded on Saturday. Chairman HEC Tariq Banuri chaired the meeting, which was conducted online. <br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">The Commission unanimously deplored the sudden cut in the higher education budget by another Rs.5.90 billion from the committed Indicative Budget Ceiling of Rs.70.00 billion for FY 2020-21, and emphasized that the move will dismantle the country's higher education systems by forcing the shutdown of universities, which are already suffering from historically unprecedented budgetary shortfalls and the impact of the Covid crisis. The Members stressed upon the Government to reconsider its decision, and take immediate steps to appropriately fund the universities in order to protect access to and quality of higher education. The Commission stressed that without adequate investment on higher education, the youth of Pakistan will never acquire the competencies needed to develop and compete internationally. <br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">Meanwhile, the Commission thoroughly reviewed HEC funding formula for universities, took into account various proposals, and decided that for FY 2020-21, the actual total allocation of FY 2019-20 will be treated as base plus need grants, accounting for 85 percent of the total allocation, while the remaining 15 percent will be treated as a performance grant, allocated on the basis of the number of publications, the number and amount of research grants received, as well as number of PhD faculty and students. It was also agreed that for FY 2021-22 and beyond, a new funding methodology will be developed on the principles of equity, needs, and credit for performance. <br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">The Commission amended the Tenure Track Statutes by indexing TTS salaries to the comparable BPS scale plus a 35% TTS Premium, thus introducing automatic adjustments of future TTS salaries in line with increases in BPS salary scales. Consistent with the international practice, the Commission increased the maximum time limit for the tenure decision from the current 6 years to 9 years, and endorsed collection of granular data of TTS faculty separately in HEMIS (Higher education Management Information System) to help universities and HEC maintain proper oversight over the progress of TTS faculty, and improve transparency and fairness of recruitment, promotion and tenure. <br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">The Commission appreciated the comprehensive work done by the HEC in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, to minimize academic disruption, develop and guide universities to acquire online readiness, provide supplementary resources of Rs.1.20 billion, deploy live dashboard to monitor quality of online delivery, build free online academic content and resources, and motivate students to continue learning. The Commission impressed upon the Government to support HEC initiatives viz. Taleem Bundle, University Support Package, etc., and advised HEC to resolve connectivity issues faced by students, and use platforms such as virtual think tanks to carve out imaginative solutions. <br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">The Commission also approved revised HEC Policy on Protection against Sexual Harassment in Higher Education Institutions 2020, which reflects significant improvement from its 2011 anti-sexual harassment guidelines in terms of enforcement, simplicity, scope, definition of prohibited conduct, consistency with national act for Protection of Women against harassment as work place, and appellate process. The Commission also adopted the "Safe Campus Acceptable Usage Policy 2020" to protect the privacy of students and avoid possibilities of harassment because of the installation, placement or use of security cameras within the universities and campuses. <br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">The Commission appointed Mr. Kamran Rasool, former Interior Secretary and former Chief Secretary Punjab in an honorary capacity as the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Education Testing Council (ETC) considering his professional eminence and implacable integrity. <br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">Some items could not be taken up because of the shortage of time, and will be considered at the next meeting in July. <br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">The meeting was attended by Mr. Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani, Additional Secretary, [representative of Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training], Dr. Tariq Masood, Joint Scientific Adviser [representative of Ministry of Science and Technology], Dr. Suhail Shahzad, Special Secretary [representative of the HED, Government of the Punjab], Prof. Dr. Shafiq ur Rehman, Adviser (QAP), [Representative of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa], Mr. Abdul Saboor Kakar, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, [Representative of the Government of Balochistan], Mr. Shamsh Kassim – Lakha, Former Federal Minister for Education and S&T, Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, President, SZABIST Karachi, Prof. Nisar Ahmed Siddiqui, Vice Chancellor, Sukkur IBA University, Engr. Ahmed Farooq Bazai, Vice Chancellor, BUITEMS, Quetta, Prof. Dr. Javeid Iqbal, Former Vice Chancellor, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Dr. Naveed A. Malik, Former Rector, Virtual University of Pakistan, Lahore, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Asif Mumtaz Sukhera, Former Surgeon General, GHQ, Rawalpindi, Prof. Dr. Bhawani Shankar Chowdhry, Former Dean & Adviser, Faculty of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering, MUET, Jamshoro, Dr. Faisal Bari, CEO and Senior Research Fellow (Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives), Associate Professor, LUMS, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Muhammad Asghar, Consultant (CPEC), HEC, and Dr. Fateh Muhammad Mari, Executive Director (Acting), HEC.<br></p><p style="text-align:center;">=====================<br></p><p><br></p> | 15-06-2020 16:17:32 | <img alt="" src="/english/PublishingImages/ThematicImages/HEC%20ICON-15.png" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | https://hec.gov.pk/english/news/news/Pages/Commission-Meeting.aspx |
| HEC addressing students’ concerns regarding online classes & exams | HEC addressing students’ concerns regarding online classes & exams | <p style="text-align:justify;">Islamabad, June 3, 2020: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has assured the students to solve problems, being faced by some of them, regarding internet connectivity and quality of lectures in their online classes as well as subsequent examinations.<br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">On Wednesday, a few students gathered in front of HEC Secretariat Islamabad to raise their concerns. They were told that HEC is in contact with the vice chancellors to resolve all such issues being faced by students. They were, however, categorically informed that promoting students without examination was out of question.<br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">They were told that the purpose of the whole activity is to save their semester, avoid disruption in academic calendar, and let the learning process continue. HEC has circulated prudential guidelines on exams in order to ensure that the students' concerns are not ignored and every attempt is made to ensure quality of education.<br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">Also, efforts are afoot to address some of the connectivity issues faced by students through collaboration with PTA and the Telecoms.<br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">Regarding their concern for fee being charged by the universities, students were told to inform HEC about any specific issue that will be taken up with the respective university.<br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">It is pertinent to mention here that during a meeting with the Vice Chancellors just before Eid, the Chairman HEC had also asked the Vice Chancellors to take steps to resolve the problems facing the graduating students on urgent basis, in addition to making decisions about new admissions, thesis research and use of laboratories. HEC has also shared its guidelines with the universities about thesis defense, allowing it to be online.<br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">The Chairman also urged the Vice Chancellors to supervise and assist their faculty to streamline the labour intensive work, helping them render the online learning management system a success. <br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">"All the complaints need to be taken seriously." He informed the VCs that an appellate procedure will soon be set up to look into the complaints.<br></p><p style="text-align:justify;">===============<br></p> | 05-06-2020 14:50:26 | <img alt="" src="/english/PublishingImages/ThematicImages/HEC%20ICON-15.png" style="BORDER:0px solid;" /> | https://hec.gov.pk/english/news/news/Pages/students-concerns.aspx |