HEC's endeavors to promote excellence in learning, research
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is working on a proposal to establish central research laboratories at the premier research universities in Pakistan.
These facilities, aimed at promoting excellence in learning and research, would be centralized and have essential equipment required byresearchers in a variety of disciplines.
Support to these laboratories would be provided by a dedicated staff of engineers, fully trained in the proper utilization of the respectiveinstruments.
The Commission's efforts for promotion of research at universities have greatly enhanced the number of national and international research grant recipients and increased the number of publications in reputed international journals.
Predominantly, the post-graduate programmes of universities in the country are essentially research-based, so this generalization is more true for doctoral studies requirements. According to HEC five-year development plan, this research based system is more effective in those countries which have very strong broad-based academic programmes for bachelor and masters degrees.
However, even in those countries, post-graduate students are required to demonstrate their independent research skills by submitting a literature review based thesis in their first year. Therefore, there is a need that our postgraduate students should undergo at least two semesters of course-work focusing not only on their chosen field, but also giving them working knowledge of other allied disciplines relevant to the field of concentration.
Another avenue that the HEC is providing to Pakistani faculty is to provide seed-money for short visits to foreign institutions for doing some joint research and to develop collaborative research proposals.
An important component of this programme is to facilitate visits of foreign collaborating scientists to their Pakistani counterpartlaboratories/institutions for training of post-graduate students and researchers.
The Commission also aims to enhance the research capacity of local institutions by providing opportunities for faculty members topursue Ph.D.-level education, through foreign and indigenous Ph.D. programmes. Diversification of the degree programs offered atuniversities, particularly in the introduction of quality undergraduate programs is essential to ensure that graduates are well-quipped for the demands of employers. The transition of existing programs to four-yearundergraduate programs will facilitate the delivery of a broad-based educational curriculum, aimed at producing well-rounded graduates.
The HEC has also launched a research grant programme under which creative researchers of the country working in various fields of science and technology as well as social sciences are awarded research grants to enable them to conduct R&D in priorities areas of science and technology and social sciences. The normal limit of the grant is Rs.2 million over a period of three years. Meritorious scientists can apply for grants of up to Rs. 6 million.
The major focus of the Research Grant Programme is to strengthen laboratory facilities to ensure the continuity of research beyond the funding period. The Commission is also implementing the system of university overheads, whereby 10% of research funds made available to institutions will go to the universities to cater for the implementation of modern financial management practices as well as general institutional strengthening. In turn, the HEC will require institutions to develop capabilities to efficiently manage research grants, and develop an office of research.
The office of research would be a central resource facility available to all university faculty to assist them with the development of research projects, negotiate research contracts and enhance the ability of the faculty to attract research and development grants. The HEC is introducing initiatives to digitize university librarycatalogues, facilitating the search through nation-wide collections and inter-library loans.
Sabbatical leave fellowship programmes are intended to encouragefaculty members to avail sabbatical leave for undertaking research orother intellectual activities which are otherwise not routinely possible. The HEC has already launched a fellowship programme with financial incentives and provision of research grants during the sabbatical leave period.
The HEC has initiated numerous schemes for the strengthening and development of S&T labs and libraries. State of the Art technology and the latest books and journals will be available to universities students/researchers as a result of execution of these schemes.
Hi-technology centralized Resource Laboratories are being established in selected universities across the country. Implementation of this project aims to place costly Hi-tech laboratory equipment at centralizedlaboratories at each university so that all the faculty/researchers of concerned departments may have access to this sophisticated equipmentfor Research activities.
The basic objectives of these all programmes are to ensure that all higher education students benefit from a high-quality learning experience fully meeting their needs and the needs of society, as well asincrease the capacity of higher education institutions to carry out cutting-edge research in all areas of Science and Engineering as well asHumanities, Social Sciences, Economics and Finance.