PM's help sought over budget cut

ISLAMABAD  - Around 62 Vice Chancellors (VCs) and Rectors of the leading public sector universities Monday expressed concern over the budgetary cut by the government, saying this could lead to substantial increase in fees and unrest among students. At the 4th Vice Chancellors’ Meeting held at a local hotel here, the VCs and Rectors from across the country passed a unanimous resolution that underlined the urgent need to meet the Prime Minister in order to apprise him of their viewpoint and apprehensions.
In his address to the leaders of higher education institutions, HEC Chairman Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman urged the Vice Chancellors/Rectors to generate their own resources in addition to reliance on the Government funding. He said that universities around the world do not rely on public exchequer alone and have, over the years, found many different ways for fulfilling their financial needs.
“No doubt, the Government funding is the main source of universities’ recurring and development budget but the higher education institutions must have alternate sources, especially in times of financial crisis that has currently engulfed our economy�, he said. The Chairman said that the HEC is making all out efforts to provide universities their required finances and the matter has been taken up with higher authorities at all levels. He said that after their meeting with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the latter had directed the Secretary Finance to issue funds allocated for higher education at the earliest. “But the problem is that the finances are not available with the Government�, he said. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman said that a major problem facing the higher education sector is the wrong perception. “In 2007-08, the total education budget allocated by the Federal and Provincial Governments was Rs. 253.7 billion out of which Rs. 28 billion were released for higher education.
This is only about 13 per cent of the total education budget, whereas international norm is above 25 percent so the result is that too little is being spent on higher education as a percentage of the total education budget�, he said. He also asked the Vice Chancellors to urge their faculty members to win international funding. “International funding is available for those who know how to tap it�, he said.