Govt plans major cuts to HEC budget despite rising demands from universities

ISLAMABAD: Instead of increasing the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) budget in line with rising needs, the federal government is planning to reduce it in the upcoming fiscal year 2025–26 — a move that has triggered alarm in academic circles.

Sources within the HEC told HUM News English on condition of anonymity that the government is considering significant cuts to both development and recurring allocations. In FY2024–25, HEC’s total budget stood at around Rs70 billion.

HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmed confirmed the proposed cuts. “The Ministry of Planning and Development has proposed slashing our development budget from Rs61 billion to Rs45 billion,” he told HUM News English, adding that the decision was made during a meeting at the planning ministry, which was also attended by senior HEC officials.

The development comes at a time when universities nationwide are grappling with severe financial constraints, salary delays, and deteriorating infrastructure. Educationists fear that any further reduction could cripple research, scholarship programmes, and digital transformation initiatives.

HEC officials are pushing back, urging the Finance Division to at least maintain current funding levels in the upcoming budget cycle. They warn that a reduction would jeopardise progress made in expanding access to and improving the quality of higher education.

For FY2025–26, the HEC has requested Rs70.08 billion to cover both development and recurring expenses. Of this, it needs at least Rs80 billion for recurring expenditures alone.

Also read: Stagnant HEC budget triggers financial crisis in higher education sector

The commission’s funding is typically divided into two components:

Recurring budget: Covers salaries, allowances, operational expenses, grants, subsidies, and debt write-offs.

Development budget: Supports infrastructure, faculty development, ICT upgrades, lab equipment, transport procurement, and extracurricular promotion.

Dr Ahmed stressed that adequate funding is vital for sustaining and advancing Pakistan’s higher education system. “Without sufficient financial resources, public universities struggle to meet even basic operational needs,” he warned, adding that discrepancies in funding would ultimately impact the quality of education.

He also pointed to the HEC’s ongoing digital transformation project aimed at modernising universities through online systems and digital tools — initiatives that require substantial financial investment. Scholarship programmes such as Fulbright and the Pak-US Knowledge Corridor, he added, are entirely dependent on government support.

In FY2024–25, the federal government approved Rs18.13 billion for 19 new development projects in public universities. These include the Higher Education Development Programme of Pakistan (HEDP), a Rs10 billion World Bank-supported scheme focused on digitisation, governance reforms, and research promotion.

Last year, the federal government released Rs61 billion to incorporate 159 development projects across the country.

Notably, the HEC’s budget has remained stagnant at around Rs70 billion since FY2017–18, despite mounting financial pressures. Documents show that for FY2024–25, the HEC had submitted a consolidated demand of Rs125 billion through the Ministry of Federal Education, but only Rs70.08 billion was approved — nearly unchanged from previous years.

The Rs125 billion figure was based on recommendations from a joint budgetary assessment committee comprising representatives from the HEC, Ministry of Finance, and provincial HECs. The committee had evaluated the annual recurring needs of universities across the country.

Following the 18th Constitutional Amendment, funding for provincially chartered universities became a provincial responsibility. However, apart from Sindh, most provinces have failed to provide the required support — placing additional pressure on the federal HEC and affecting federally chartered universities.

Despite these challenges, the HEC has disbursed over Rs400 billion to public sector universities since 2017, benefitting 156 institutions nationwide.