HEC Affair

THE international scientific community is dismayed at the unfair criticism in some newspapers against the chairman of the Higher Education Commission, Prof (Dr) Attaur Rahman, for spending billions of rupees without any visible impact on quality and performance of universities and their graduates.

Those who have closely watched the development of higher education in Pakistan from outside and have been involved in the numerous programmes established by Prof Rahman in the past eight years can testify to the contrary:

the progress made was breath-taking and has put Pakistan ahead of comparable countries in numerous aspects.

To name just a few, the establishment of a free access to scientific literature by high-speed Internet for all universities, the thousands of promising young scientists who were granted PhD studies at top universities abroad, the upgrade of research equipment accessible across the country and the programme of establishing new universities of science and technology, including technology parks attracting foreign investors, prove the efficiency and the long-term benefits for the country enabled by the HEC’s chairman.

His efforts have made Pakistan a respected partner for cooperation for many countries leading in research and development, and it has to be feared that without Prof Rahman this status will be lost.

The United Nations Commission on Science and Technology has closely monitored the development in Pakistan in the past years, coming to the unanimous conclusion that Prof Rahman’s policy and programme is a ‘best-practice’ example for developing countries aiming at building their human resources and establishing an innovative, technology-based economy.

Moreover, to poorly qualify the graduates of Pakistan universities is another unjustified blame: almost all of the thousands of young Pakistani university staff sent for doctorate studies to Europe’s and Asia’s top universities in the past five years have performed well at these foreign institutions, thus causing their academic supervisors to ask for further supply of PhD candidates from Pakistan.

Those who have completed their PhD and returned to Pakistan to share their knowledge with students at their home institutions are keeping close contacts to their former supervisors, creating valuable international research networks.

The impact of this programme, installed by Prof Rahman, will only be seen after some more years, and is expected to bring progress to the country, not only in terms of science and technology, but also in terms of economy. DR BERND MICHAEL RODE Chairman/European Coordinator of ASEA-UNINET

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the international scientific com- munity is dismayed at the unfair criti- cism in some newspapers against the chairman of the higher education commission, prof (dr) attaur rahman, for spending billions of rupees without any visible impact on quality and per- formance of universities and their graduates. those who have closely watched the development of higher education in pakistan from outside and have been involved in the numerous programmes established by prof rahman in the past eight years can testify to the contrary: the progress made was breath-taking and has put pakistan ahead of compa- rable countries in numerous aspects. to name just a few, the establish- ment of a free access to scientific liter- ature by high-speed internet for all uni- versities, the thousands of promising young scientists who were granted phd studies at top universities abroad, the upgrade of research equipment acces- sible across the country and the pro- gramme of establishing new universi- ties of science and technology, includ- ing technology parks attracting foreign investors, prove the efficiency and the long-term benefits for the country ena- bled by the hec’s chairman. his efforts have made pakistan a re- spected partner for cooperation for many countries leading in research and development, and it has to be feared that without prof rahman this status will be lost. the united nations commission on science and technology has closely monitored the development in pakistan in the past years, coming to the unanimous conclusion that prof rahman’s policy and programme is a ‘best-practice’ example for developing countries aiming at building their hu- man resources and establishing an in- novative, technology-based economy. moreover, to poorly qualify the grad- uates of pakistan universities is anoth- er unjustified blame: almost all of the thousands of young pakistani universi- ty staff sent for doctorate studies to europe’s and asia’s top universities in the past five years have performed well at these foreign institutions, thus causing their academic supervisors to ask for further supply of phd candi- dates from pakistan. those who have completed their phd and returned to pakistan to share their knowledge with students at their home institutions are keeping close contacts to their former supervisors, creating valuable international re- search networks. the impact of this programme, in- stalled by prof rahman, will only be seen after some more years, and is ex- pected to bring progress to the country, not only in terms of science and tech- nology, but also in terms of economy. dr bernd michael rode chairman/european coordinator of asea-uninet

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