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06-28-2016, 04:02 AM
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QAU?s Rs2.5 bn project could **t be presented for approval this year
HEC says it will try its best to present the budget for future approval
ISLAMABAD: Despite being ** 1 University of the country as per national and international rankings, The Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) has been ig**red in higher education development schemes and its mega project worth Rs2.5 billion has been omitted from Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) schemes for the year 2016-17. According to the documents available with The News, a mega development project titled “Enhancement of Academic and Research Facilities at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad,” was reflected in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) of fiscal year 2015-16 under the allocations of HEC and an amount of Rs100 million was also included as initial release for the 1st year. But surprisingly, the project is altogether ******* from the PDSP schemes under HEC for the year 2016-17. The university which is celebrating its Golden Jubilee of inception has been ranked 101 in the Times Higher Education Ranking last week. A senior official of the university told The News that the project was submitted to the HEC four time during 2015 after amendments, yet its omission from the PSDP is shocking. “The project was part of PSDP last year, and we have worked really hard to satisfy HEC with all the details of the project, but it has **t been sent by the HEC for inclusion in PSDP schemes,” he said adding that QAU is a federal university catering to the needs of people from all over Pakistan. According to the documents, the scope of the proposed project included strengthening of PhD and M Phil research programmes, up-gradation of four-year under-graduate programme in the faculty of natural sciences and faculty of social sciences and also to start under-graduate programme in eight departments. To accomplish these goals, lecture halls and laboratories were to be provided with highly sophisticated latest scientific/IT equipment and provision of chemicals/glass wares. Computer laboratories were to be provided in all under-graduate programmes. The project proposal also included the provision for re**vation of existing five decades old constructed buildings and landscaping of the campus. Furthermore, the project also includes construction of two academic blocks, two student hostels, a centralised lab, a conference hall (1,000 person capacity), combined services block, admission and examination block. There was also provision for improvement of various infrastructure facilities like roads and water supply. Construction of boundary wall was also included in the said PC-1 of the project in view of current security situation. The project was aimed to increase the enrollment of the university from 7,445 to 12,000 students by the year 2020. According to the documents, the university submitted the PC-1 amounting to Rs2,996 million of the proposed project to Higher Education Commission on August 3, 2015, for onward submission to the Planning Commission for approval from the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) . But the HEC did **t process the proposal and asked the university to rationalise the project. Accordingly, the revised PC-1 was resubmitted on October 15, 2015, with a rationalised cost of Rs2,754.908 million. The HEC again returned the PC-1 to the university with new observations. The university resubmitted the proposal on January 19, 2016 with a revised cost of Rs2,892.662 million as per suggested changes by the HEC. The bureaucratic delays continued, and the proposal was sent back with observations. Finally, a revised proposal with rationalised cost of Rs2,461.499 million was submitted to the HEC fourth times on June 5, 2015. But surprisingly the HEC has dropped the said PC-1 from the PSDP of current financial year 2016-17 and even was **t included among the new 39 development projects which means this important project would be unable to get any funding throughout current financial year. The Executive Council of Academic Staff Association (ASA), in its meeting on 20/06/2016, strongly condemned the attitude of the HEC with **1 ranked university of Pakistan and requested the president of Pakistan and chancellor of the university to personally intervene in the matter to include again the project in the PSDP in best interest of higher education. While contacted, the QAU Academic Staff Association President, Dr Asif Ali, said the HEC was discriminating against the best Pakistani university. However, while contacted, the HEC Executive Director Arshad Ali said the HEC is **t discriminating against the QAU. “In fact, the QAU receives heavy funding from the HEC although I don’t have figures at hand,” he said. The executive director said he did **t receive the HEC project as the principal accounting ******r of the higher education commission. A**ther HEC official said that the project that is **t approved by the Central Development Working Party within one year is automatically dropped from PSDP. However, QAU officials maintain that delay in approval from the CDWP is caused by the HEC by constantly sending the project back to the QAU for amendments. "Even small universities get their PC-1 approved within weeks by the HEC, but our PC-1 has been delayed," a QAU official said requesting a**nymity. Giving detailed version of HEC, a spokesperson said the project in question was ‘Unapproved’ last year. However QAU was **t able to provide a proper PC-I that fulfilled all the requirements in time despite spending a whole year on it. Due to QAU inability to develop the PC-I, it failed to make it to “Approved’ list of Planning Commission. “PC I approval does **t happen in one go. There are many stages where project is conceived and pre CDWP meetings are held to ensure that it meets eligibility requirements. However this does **t mean that it will **t be considered again,” she added. She said HEC will try its best to present the project for future approval. A meeting was held at HEC two weeks ago where QAU confessed their failure to provide a proper project due to inadequate Planning staff and it was agreed that they would hire a consultancy to help them prepare projects. The Higher Education Commission is responsible for all universities and it treats all of them equally. “It is a naive allegation that HEC can halt the approval of projects. It is part of the process that Planning Commission goes through the vetting and approval of projects with a fine combing and many projects go through this process before they are actually approved. Multi billion rupee projects are dealt here and it is done transparently and on basis of the project strength and merit. Furthermore projects are **t approved because of university rankings and being number one does **t mean it will be dealt with differently. All projects must be able to be defended on merit. She said the budgetary allocations for universities are formula based. HEC can**t change them to please anyone. The issues with the Tenure Track professors are with regard to 3-4 professors, while a big number is quite happy with HEC decisions which have endorsed their Tenure Track packages. HEC is also working with QAU to help them resolve the issues that have been created. The Higher Education Commission is unbiased in its decisions and actions. أكثر... ??????? ??????: QAU?s Rs2.5 bn project could **t be presented for approval this year || ??????: ahlam1399 || ??????: اسم منتداك
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