ISLAMABAD - Higher Education Commission (HEC) has decided to announce reserved seats in the fields of medical and engineering for the students of Balochistan and FATA on open merit and self-finance basis.
This was decided during a special meeting held at HEC Islamabad. The meeting was presided over by Executive Director HEC, Prof Dr Sohail H. Naqvi.
HEC has reserved 29 medical seats in the medical colleges of KPK and around 50 seats in different engineering universities including UET Lahore, UET Taxila, UET Peshawar, MUET Jamshoro, and QUEST Nawabshah.
The distribution of seats is on 60:40 ratios for the students of Balochistan and FATA respectively.
The test of the potential candidates would be conducted though National Testing Service (NTS) during the first week of October this year at Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad and Karachi. The participants of the meeting lauded the efforts of HEC for the promotion of higher education in Balochistan and FATA.
The officials were of the view that this step would enable students of Balochistan and FATA to get the opportunity of equipping themselves with professional education at leading higher education institutions of the country.
During the meeting it was also decided that the current needs of Balochistan and FATA would be assessed in the higher education sector and future programs would be chalked out accordingly.
Since its inception, HEC has paid special attention towards promoting higher education sector in the Balochistan province.
The main initiatives include special scholarship schemes for the faculty and youth of Balochistan, implementation of federal government `s quota policy in award of local and foreign scholarships and establishment of a well-equipped HEC regional centre at Quetta.
Other steps include an increase in the number of universities from 2 to 7 including the first women’s university of Balochistan and the launching of special projects for the development of basic infrastructure at higher education institutions of the province including labs, class rooms, seminars rooms, labs, transport facilities, digital libraries and video conferencing facility etc.
HEC had already awarded 2000 scholarships to students of Balochistan and FATA under the project “Provision of Higher Education Opportunities for Balochistan and FATA” during the last four years.
Under the second and new phase of the project, 1500 scholarships would also be awarded to the students of Balochistan and FATA.
has also arranged a foundation course for 684 students of Balochistan at Quetta.
To date 66 scholars have completed their studies and among these 7 scholars from Balochistan have shown outstanding performance and have clinched gold medal from leading universities of country, including COMSATS, NUST, GC University Lahore and University of Balochistan. Recently, 600 Masters leading to PhD scholarships for the natives of Balochistan province have been announced under the “Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package” with the cost of Rs 3,138.692 million.
The project is focused towards providing opportunities for access to higher education to the financially constrained youth of Balochistan, who despite possessing academic merit are unable to continue their further studies.
The offered scholarships would cover tuition costs, accommodation and living expenses of the selected candidates.
Under faculty development program, HEC has accorded approval for more than 360 foreign scholarships for the faculty members of seven higher education institutions of the province.