Available in: Urdu Islamabad, October 5, 2006 ─ Pakistan’s higher education sub-sector is rapidly improving as needed to meet the country’s desire for sustained and rapid economic growth according to the World Bank Report launched today. The report, which sets out to assess the Medium-Term Development Framework (MTDF) for higher education, says the current state of the sub-sector in Pakistan needs the improvement for the country to develop as a modern society and a competitive economy. The legacy of past neglect is that less than four percent of the post-secondary age group enrolled in universities. In addition, teaching staff are under-qualified, curricula outdated and static, and research capacity in the higher education system is weak. “Reforming Pakistan’s higher education system will have a tremendous pay off,” said John Wall, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. “We are already seeing some positive developments thanks to the creation of the Higher Education Commission which has provided strong leadership with clear political backing.” The Higher Education Commission (HEC), established in 2002, developed the MTDF to provide a vision and a set of articulated programs to be implemented. Since its inception, the Commission has successfully launched a number of reforms aimed at improving the most immediate issues such as access, quality, and relevance for market and country needs. John Wall commended Pakistan for moving forward with the reform agenda, but underscored that reforms needs to be further strengthened and refined to have the desired impact. Government spending on higher education through HEC has increased by more than 340 percent in real terms from 2001/02 to 2005/06. “But this recent growth in spending is merely the beginning of the rehabilitation campaign,” said Benoit Millot, World Bank Lead Education Specialist and team leader for the report. “Compared to other countries in the region and elsewhere, government spending per student is still low, and clearly there’s space for growth.” At present time, Pakistan spends less than 0.4 percent of GDP on higher education. In comparison, India’s spending on higher education stands at 0.7 percent, and Malaysia spends 2.7 percent. The report says that for the needed higher education reforms to be implemented, Pakistan will have to more than double its spending as percentage of GDP in the sub-sector over the next ten years. Finally, the report makes four key recommendations going forward: strengthen the quality of education agenda; promote wider access to higher education; ensure effective use of public funds; and encourage private sector participation. # # # |
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