Karachi / Islamabad:
A dispute appeared between the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the Sindh Higher Education Commission (Sindh HEC) regarding the participation of university vice-chancellors in a next international forum to be held in Rabat, Morocco.
HEC invited vice-chancellors from across the country to attend the forum, asking universities to cover travel costs themselves. However, the Sindh HEC refused to allow the universities of the province to use provincial subsidies for this purpose.
The president of the Sindh HEC, Dr. Tariq Rafi, issued an opinion to the leaders of all the universities of the public sector advising them not to undertake trips abroad using public funds, with a warning that such cases will be reported to the Minister of Chief, the Chancellor or the Controlling Authority of the Universities of Sindh.
“The Sindh government grants subsidies strictly universities for academic and research purposes. These funds cannot be spent on trips abroad,” said Rafi. He added that if the vice-chancers are free to attend the forum at their expense, they are not allowed to use university or government funds for the trip.
The Sindh HEC recalled that it was difficult for many universities in the public sector of the Sindh to even pay the wages of teachers and staff. Even essential expenses have been covered by loans, he said.
If such expenses for international travel have an urgent need, they can only be incurred after approval of the same thing by the Minister -in Chief.
The Sindh HEC citing the existing policy of universities and the Sindh Council said that the leave notifications issued for foreign visits explicitly mention that the expenses of these visits will not be carried by the Sindh government or the university funds.
The Vice-Chanceliers forum was initially to be held in Islamabad last month, but it was moved to Rabat due to the climbing of tensions between Pakistan and India, sources said.
The Sindh HEC stressed that most universities in the province are already faced with financial deficits, and spending rare resources for international trips would be irresponsible.
