Cash-strapped HEC to get $100m loan from World Bank

[LahoreEstate]

* WB asks the commission to increase transparency in higher education infrastructure to avoid financial mismanagement

Staff Report

KARACHI: The World Bank (WB) will provide a loan of 100 million dollars in 2009 to help the financially strapped Higher Education Commission (HEC) in a bid to allow HEC to overcome its deepening crisis.

“The provision of loan to the HEC is aimed at strengthening its ability to carry on with the uplift work in higher education institutes,” officials of the commission said. The loan would be awarded under the title of ‘Higher Education Development Policy’ to bring the education and administrative affairs at par with international standards besides warding off the fiscal crisis.

The amount will help out HEC as at present is not releasing funds to universities across the country. The gravity of the crisis could be assessed by the fact that it has compelled universities to borrow money from banks in order to pay the staff salaries. A case in point is the Federal Urdu University for Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST) that borrowed Rs 10 million from a bank to pay its employees.

Likewise, development projects in many universities have been halted by the HEC due to insufficient funds. HEC officials said that the project funding would be made through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which is one of five institutions that comprise the WB.

Responding to a query, HEC officials viewed that the WB had also asked to increase transparency in higher education infrastructure to avoid financial mismanagement. “If the amount is properly utilized, another $ 100 million would be provided in 2010 for the development of additional areas, however, all this depends on the program’s performance,” they revealed.

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