Meaningful research
May 6, 2021
The best-known examples of technology-based knowledge economies built through higher education, scientific research and innovation are the Silicon Valley and the Boston’s Technology Corridor, which each contribute more than $275 billion and $ 400 billion annually to the US economy.
Many universities contribute to the success of both these regions. A 2012 study estimated that the companies formed by Stanford entrepreneurs generate $2.7 trillion in annual revenues. A 2009 study showed MIT alumni had founded 25,800 active companies worldwide, employing 3.3 million people and generating nearly $2 trillion in annual revenues. These would be the equivalent of the 10th and 11th largest economies in the world.
Search for the HEC head
Opinion
April 15, 2021
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is the engine for the socio-economic development of Pakistan through human resource development and research. Its responsibilities include, among others, raising enrollment levels, improving quality, offering scholarship programs for faculty development, strengthening and creating a culture of research, developing international linkages, improving regulatory framework, and the financial sustainability of higher education institutions.
Pakistan has over 220 universities, 1.5 million students and 40,000 faculty, approximately 25 percent of them holding a PhD degree. Each university also has a large number of supporting staff (These universities are in addition to the thousands of colleges that are regulated and controlled by the provincial governments which also need skilled faculty and teachers). In other words, each university, established through its own act of governance, has a very complex m
Fix the HEC
April 8, 2021
The vision of HEC is to serve as an engine for the socio-economic development of Pakistan through human resource development and research. Its mission, among others, includes raising enrollment levels, improving quality, offering scholarship programs for faculty development, strengthening and creating a culture of research, developing international linkages, improving regulatory framework, and the financial sustainability of higher education institutions.
The socio-economic development of a country is attained through building up a knowledge economy. The World Bank identifies education and skilled force, information & communication technologies, and innovation as three of the four key pillars of the knowledge economy.