Chairman HEC Sindh advises universities to become self-sustaining

KARACHI: "As you know, the financial situation of the country is bad, so there will be cuts in universities' funding too. Many universities will not be able to sustain themselves because they have no other sources of funding, and they depend totally on the government. All universities in the world have to develop methods to become self-sustaining," said Dr Asim Hussain, Chairman Higher Education Commission, Sindh. He advised higher education institutions while speaking at a ceremony at the Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) feting the Sindh Medical College graduates who have received honors from the Government of Pakistan.

“The Sindh Higher Education Commission is still in a quandary under the effects of the 18th Amendment. The funding remains with the Federal and the Sindh government. The Sindh HEC struggles to find its way, and I think we should try and set up academic standards first. I am trying to have academic people at the HEC so we can move forward,” he said.

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of JSMU, Prof S M Tariq Rafi, appreciated the contribution of the alumni to the service of the country and said that this event was held to inspire the current students to achieve distinctions in their fields as their college’s alumni have done in the past.

He also presented a progress report of the university. Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Lubna Ansari Baig, an alumna herself, presented a detailed citation of the services by the distinguished guests.

A total of seven SMC alumni and two guests were awarded shields to acknowledge their recognition from the Government of Pakistan for distinguished services to the country. These included Dr Altaf Hussain Hashmi (Sitara-e-Imtiaz), Dr Shahid Ahmed Sami (Sitara-e-Imtiaz), Dr Majida Bashir Ahmed (1956-2014) (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz), Dr Saeed Akhtar (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz), Dr Javed Suleman (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz), Col Dr Muhammad Khalid Rafi (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Military), Col Dr Sharafuddin (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz), Dr Rukhsana Wamiq Zuberi (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz) and Dr Abdul Bari Khan (Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Hilal-e-Imtiaz).