Senate committee chief meets VCs of KP varsities

PESHAWAR: Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee for Higher Education Senator Abdul Nabi Bangash has assured the vice-chancellors of universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that all their problems would be taken up in the meeting of the committee on December 5.
He gave the assurance while chairing a meeting of the vice-chancellors of public sector universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the University of Peshawar (UoP) here Friday night.

The meeting was attended by acting vice-chancellor UoP Prof Dr Qibla Ayaz, Kohat University Vice-Chancellor Nasir Jamal, VC of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan Prof Dr Ihsan Ali, acting Vice-Chancellor Islamia College University Dr Noor Jehan, Johar Ali, acting VC Malakand University, Dr Abdur Rahim Marwat, acting VC Bacha Khan University, VC Swat University Prof Dr Jehanzeb and others.

Provincial Minister for Higher Education Qazi Muhammad Asad and additional Secretary Higher Education Dr Khalid Khan were also present on the occasion. A five-member committee headed by Dr Ihsan Ali was formed to finalise a draft proposal regarding the problems of the universities of the province for the meeting of Senate Committee.

The vice-chancellors informed the chairman that all the universities were under tremendous financial pressure and if condition continued in the same manner, the universities may not be able to operate in the months to come. They said the development projects were stopped and expansion of varsities to accommodate more students and courses has become impossible in these circumstances.

The VCs of newly-established varsities said their income generation is restricted and the funds being allocated to them are not enough to build new academic blocks and hostels.They complained about the biased attitude of Deputy Chairman Planning Commission towards KP universities in rejecting their valid projects.

They said the funds allocation to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa universities is far less than other provinces like Punjab and Sindh.Adequate funds required for recurring and developmental projects are not provided to KP, they said

Senator Nabi Bangash said that there should be equal allocation of funds and he would resolve the matter. The Senator added that 18th amendment is a blessing. “This is transitional phase of devolution process. Things would improve with the passage of time,” he argued.

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