ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Thursday said under Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) it awarded 142 research projects, some of them were completed and the remaining in the completion stage.

HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed assured the World Bank mission that it will get completed all remaining activities under HEDP by June 2025. The HEC also stated that HEDP, a World Bank-funded programme, also contributed to faculty training and financial support for over 100 higher education institutions to promote self-sustainability.

A press release issued by HEC stated that it had concluded a series of meetings with the World Bank stocktaking mission to review the implementation progress of the HEDP ($400 million project) before its closure in June 2025.

According to HEC, the HEDP project supports strategic research, quality assurance, IT initiatives, and capacity building. The project has facilitated initiatives like industry-academia collaborations, establishment of quality enhancement cells in affiliated colleges and improvements in IT infrastructure, including establishing datacentres and student lifecycle management systems.

It said HEDP also facilitated the formation of two policies, including their implementation named Undergraduate Education Policy (UEP) and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) policy. More than 4500 college faculty staffers were trained to implement UEP across Pakistan. The management of the Office of Research Innovation and Commercialisation (ORICs) and Business Incubation Centres (BICs) were also trained to develop quality research proposals and successfulexecution ofthese projects.

The meeting covered various aspects of the programme, including financial management, university autonomy, digital learning initiatives, and procurement. The discussions were expected to shape the final reporting and closure strategy of HEDP, ensuring that the programme`s impact on Pakistan`s higher education landscape was effectively documented and sustained.

HEDP started its operations in 2019 with a focus on improving the overall higher education infrastructure by enhancing the quality of education, teaching-learning practices and implementing the latest ed-tech solutions in universities, particularly establishing two Tier 3-certified data centres called Astrolabes.

As per the last World Bank mission, the project`s overall rating was satisfactory. The mission met the HEC chairman and discussed progress on the HEDP project and upcoming activities to be completed by June 30. The chairman assured the mission that the remaining activities would be completed by June 2025.