Karachi:
Despite the worsening of Pakistan’s financial crises and growing budget deficits in public universities, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) continues to approve sumptuous expenses using public funds. In its latest decision, the HEC published letters to vice -chancellors and rectors of public sector universities across the country, inviting them to attend a conference in Rabat, Morocco – to the detriment of their own university budgets.
Organized by the HEC itself, the conference is scheduled for the last week of June in the capital of Morocco. The committee asked the vice-keys interested to confirm their participation and to contact HEC Islamabad before May 28. However, travel costs must be covered by university funds – which mainly come from taxpayers’ money and student costs.
The public universities of the four provinces receive funds from the federal government via HEC, while Sindh institutions are also supported by the provincial government with several billion rupees per year. However, within the framework of the Sindh government policy, if a university leader travels abroad, the notification on leave generally precisely specifies that spending must not be paid by the university or the government.
In this case, however, the HEC letter explicitly places financial responsibility for the Moroccan travel on the universities themselves. Meanwhile, reports indicate that the HEC will cover the travel costs of a few senior officials from its own budget.
This development comes as several universities are struggling with financial distress. Regular employees of the Federal Urdu University would not have received wages in months, while retired staff expect delay pensions.
The University of Balutchistan faces a similar crisis. Even the newly established federal university in Hyderabad is short of funds, and several Sindh institutions have borrowed from banks just to pay the staff.
Ironically, the conference was to be held in Pakistan on May 12. However, the place was changed in Morocco because of what the HEC described as “regional conditions”.
