Islamabad, Aug 6 : Although the core mission of Pakistan's Higher Education Commission (HEC) was to enhance access and quality in higher education in the country, it continues to be crippled with administrative and organisational deficiencies due to faulty decisions, systemic lacunas and a lack of direction, local media cited on Wednesday.

"Over the years, the HEC has been experiencing mission creep and now finds itself involved in internship programmes, laptop distribution schemes, delivering career planning workshops, CV and interview prep sessions, communication skills, university staff training, etc. A very pertinent and recent example was the unveiling of a hologram of the HEC chair at an event titled Pakistan Digital Leap," a report in Pakistan's leading daily 'The News International' detailed.

This, it said, has led to massive deviation from its goals and responsibilities.

"These are not the responsibilities of a regulator but of universities. Regulators set expectations and define KPIs, then let universities take ownership of the task and work as 200+ labs, each developing the right approach for its context. The HEC has been involved in activities of secondary and tertiary relevance," it mentioned

The report noted that the Commission's primary purposes should have included the appointment of its chairperson, pushing for budgetary support for public universities, and initiatives that could have a positive impact on the students, while all these priorities were overshadowed by distractions.

In recent years, successive governments in Pakistan have reportedly claimed to champion the cause of higher education. However, they have not increased the budgetary allocation since 2017. Additionally, Pakistan's Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT) has taken control of the HEC, but the bureaucrats lack formal training in higher education and have no understanding of the sector. On the other hand, the HEC chairs primarily focus on appeasing the MoFEPT officials.

According to the report, there were too many "flashy distractions" and little attention to basic problems that could improve higher education in the country. It mentioned that bureaucrats chasing for quick results during their two-three year tenures and HEC chairs and Vice Chancellors focused on pleasing superiors and always looking for the next job, led to the current situation.

"The HEC must urgently refocus on its core mission ... Making headway will require a departure from the kind of short-term decision-making that the present setup encourages, asking aspiring HEC chairpersons (and VCs) to present concrete plans that strive to achieve during their tenure and then giving them the time and leeway to execute on those plans. In the meantime, leave peripheral initiatives to other offices of the government," the News International report highlighted.

/IANS