Chairman HEC vows to bring stakeholders together for solution of national challenges.

ISLAMABAD -- Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed Tuesday said that the commission would take forward the agenda of improving quality of teaching and research in higher education institutions and the universities would be encouraged and supported to play a proactive role for socio-economic growth of the country.

During his first media briefing after assuming charge of the Chairman HEC, Dr. Mukhtar said the commission would bring together universities, research organisations and other government departments to jointly work on presenting solutions to the problems facing the country, especially water depletion and flooding, food security, climate change, and country's security.

'Nations face adversities, however they strive to rise up. We together have to steer the country out of these problems by prioritising our objectives and synergising for sectoral development,' he emphasised.

Stressing the need for being selective in areas for PhD studies, he said that the research carried out at universities and research centres must provide solutions to local and national issues.

The chairman pointed out that quality, governance and technology-readiness as the major challenges facing the higher education sector, and assured that HEC would put more efforts for continuous improvement in quality and governance.

He warned that those universities which...