ISLAMABAD, Jan 18: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) chairman, Dr Attaur Rehman, on Wednesday said Pakistan’s economy needed to be transformed into a knowledge-based economy to bring the much-needed social change through innovations and research.

He was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day workshop on Fuel Cell Systems organized by the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB).

Only quality research in the field of science and technology and innovations can convert Pakistan into a knowledge-based economy and only then can we see a change in the lives of the people, Mr Rehman said.

He said most of the initiatives taken by the HEC were focused not only on enhancing standards of existing educational institutions but developing new world class institutions. He said universities were not just places of teaching but were also judged by their ability to generate new knowledge and come up with innovations for socio-economic development of the country.

He said the government in collaboration with the US Fullbright Foundation had initiated an ambitious $150 million project for providing scholarships in various fields of higher education to Pakistanis. He said candidates were required to pass examinations of international standards before their selection for the scholarship.

The government, he observed, had recently increased the number of PhD scholarships for students desirous to study abroad from 300 to 500 per year. In the next 10 years, the government would increase the number from 500 to 1,500.

Before the initiatives of the HEC, he said only 20 to 30 Pakistani people went abroad every year for higher education either on their own expense or on scholarships provided by various international universities.

“Besides, our programmes, scholarships provided by international institutions and various other countries would serve as cream on the cake,” Mr Rehman said.

The government, he said, was awarding great priority to the engineering sector. He said six new engineering universities in collaboration with some European countries and Korea would be established in the near future. This would not only disseminate technological knowledge but also develop linkages between local and foreign industry.

He said the HEC had also provided Rs200million to each engineering university. At present, the HEC had initiated a research strengthening programme for engineering universities under which $50 million was being dispersed. Another similar project worth $16million had been sent to the Central Developmental Working Party (CDWP) for approval.

He said new selection criteria and salary package were being implemented in universities all over the country. In the first stage, the system was being introduced in 32 universities.

He said Quaid-i-Azam University had also implemented the new salary system three weeks ago, under which salary of a professor heading research at university was three times higher than a minister.

The HEC chairman said the system was encouraging hard working teachers to establish more.

“We want our students to enjoy the fun of scientific research,” Mr Rehman said.

He suggested that the AEDB should prepare a proposal to establish a world-class institution focussed on alternative energy in any leading engineering university of Pakistan. He assured that funds would be provided by the HEC for this purpose.

Technical experts from Helicentris Energy Systems, Germany, demonstrated the construction and working of fuel cell systems and imparted orientation and operational training on the system to relevant technical personnel and academia who were participating in the workshop.