ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission(HEC)onTuesdayinformedthe Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training that National Technology Council (NTC), a body to regulate technology education, will be made operational by December 31.

The committee met here with Senator Rahila Magsi in the chair. During the meeting, HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed told the committee that with the establishment of NTC, the decades-long issue of registering B-Tech and other technologies` graduates would be resolved.

`NTC has been notified in the Gazette of Pakistan and will be operational by the end of the year,` Dr Ahmed told the committee.

The Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) does not recognise B-Tech degrees which has been creating problems for skilled graduates particularly in getting jobs since the introduction of technology education in 1973.

State Minister for Federal Education Balighur Rehman told the meeting that various steps were being tal
Talking to Dawn, Dr Ahmed said the technology council would have a chairperson and vice chairperson and representatives of HEC, ministries of science and technology and information technology will be its members.

`The first ever council will give registrationand proper patronage to around one dozen diversified technology disciplines,` he said.

Wajid Ali Khan, chairman B-Tech Engineering Association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, termed the decision to set up NTC a good step as it would provide a platform to the technology graduates.

National Law University project shelved The meeting was told that a project to establish National Law University was shelved in 2011.

Senator Javid Abbasi pointed out that if the project was not feasible then why the HEC spent Rs460 million on this project.

`Those who floated the idea (to establish the university) should be taken to task,` he said.

The project was approved in 2006, paving the way for setting up main campus of the varsity at Islamabad and campuses in each province. The HEC had purchased a land in Islamabad and equipments for the main and provincial campuses. Interestingly, the HEC had sent 33 scholars abroad for getting higher education who were supposed to join the university.

The HEC chairman told the committee that the commission had sent a draft bill to establish the law university to the Cabinet for approval but to no avail. Finally, in 2011 the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) directed the HEC to shelve the project. He said that following the CDWP directive, `All movable physical assets, procured under the project were transferred to threepublic sector universities`.

BZU Lahore Campus & Al-Khair University The committee was apprised by the HEC chairman that after closing down around d160 campuses of the Al-Khair University, the commission had recommended to the AJK President, who is the chancellor of the Al-Khair University, to close down its operations because the varsity was not meeting quality standards. However, he said that the chancellor gave three-year time to the university to improve its standards.

Senator Mushaidullah Khan said the HEC should have taken strict action against those who facilitated the setting up of 160 campuses.

Senators Mushaidullah and Azam Swati said that the HEC should take action against those universities which were not following quality standards set by the commission.

Vice Chancellor, Bahauddin Zakaria University (BZU), Dr Tahir Amin told the committee that federal and provincial committees have suggested options to resolve the issue of running its Lahore campus.

The former VC of the university had illegally allowed a private firm to run varsity`s campus in Lahore under public private partnership. However, recently the BZU had disassociated itself from the campus, which panicked thousands ofstudents.

`Various options such as taking up Lahore campus by the university and giving one time relief to its students are under consideration,` the VC told the committee.