Short Bio of Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi  Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi is the Executive Director of the Higher Education Commission where he has helped develop and implement a comprehensive strategy for the revival of the university education sector of Pakistan. The Higher Education Commission with an annual budget of US$0.5 Billion is responsible for all matter relating to higher education in Pakistan including, higher education policy, quality assurance, degree recognition, development of new institutions and uplift of existing institutions. The HEC is also responsible for operational funding of public sector universities, degree awarding institutions and centers. With a PhD in Electrical Engineering and extensive teaching and research experience both in Pakistan and the US, where he was tenured at the University of New Mexico, Dr. Naqvi brought a wealth of teaching and research experience to the task of transforming the University Grants Commission of Pakistan to an autonomous ministerial level Higher Education Commission. He spearheaded the development of a medium term (5 year) strategy for higher education reform in Pakistan whose implementation has fundamentally altered the higher education landscape of Pakistan. The second five year strategy developed under his leadership and focusing on “Universities Building Economies” has just been launched. Dr. Naqvi has a number of patents to his credit and has also worked with startups bringing high-tech inventions to the market place. These experiences have helped him lead the implementation of an ambitious portfolio of programs that have resulted in an explosive growth in research activity in the universities in Pakistan coupled with a tripling in the number of students, launch of the most ambitious program in the history of Pakistan for faculty development, significant enhancement of quality, standardization of programs at the undergraduate and postgraduate level with clear quality related benchmarks, and the implementation of a comprehensive higher education quality assurance regime.

Message

Since 2002, the higher education sector in Pakistan has witnessed the launch of a sea change of initiatives by the Higher Education Commission that have fundamentally altered the higher education landscape. Change is visible in all the universities and degree awarding institutions in Pakistan. There is excitement in the air in these institutions, and scholars and researchers are beginning to roam the hallways of knowledge once again. The change is physically manifested in the restored buildings, new classrooms, new laboratories, computers, jogging tracks and state-of-the art libraries. New universities, such as the University of Faisalabad and the University of Sargodha, have risen in the heartland of Pakistan; the Balochistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences provides state-of-the art IT and management science education to thousands of students, while Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur has a new laboratory and library building.

The real success of the HEC development programs is not however manifested in the restored campus buildings and wireless 'hot spots', it is visible in the hearts and minds of the faculty and students, who are publishing once again in international journals (up more than 40% in the last two years), it is apparent on the faces of the students searching the Digital Library archives to complete a psychology assignment.One reason that universities are set up is so that, “common good, just laws, human reason and prudence might develop and grow (University of Vienna, Manifesto 1365)”. The HEC has endeavored to bring this spirit back, which is also our Islamic heritage. Logic, philosophy and mathematics used to be a hallmark of an 'education'. With the elimination of undergraduate education from the universities, and the consolidation of the two-year bachelor degree in colleges, universities in Pakistan had ended up merely catering to the provision of post-graduate studies.

Education comes from 'eduction' which means to make visible what is latent. To be educated really is to have a fire lit inside that allows one to think, rationalize, contemplate on the mysteries of the universe, and understand events and situations to which solutions are proposed. Being educated does not simply mean being able to solve differential equations: it is much more. The world over, universities provide education in all subjects with the first degree imparted after a period of four years. This allows the student to explore his/her interests, understand related areas, specialize in core subjects while also developing as a caring, communicative human being who knows how to harness the powers of information technology. During the past year numerous institutions from the University of Sindh to the University of Peshawar have introduced four-year honors bachelor's degree programs, and it is hoped that the students of biology and mathematics in Pakistan, may once again understand the message of Iqbal and the power of “Google.”

Since 2001, the Higher Education sector in Pakistan has undergone a dramatic renaissance. The realization of the Government of Pakistan of the importance of higher education in contributing to sustainable socio-economic development, as well as poverty reduction, stimulated a chain of events that led to the establishment of the Higher Education Commission. Founded by Presidential Ordinance on September 11, 2002, following the recommendations of the 'Task Force on Higher Education', the Higher Education Commission inherited a higher education system having a myriad of problems. While concrete progress has been made in improving the state of higher education, an impact will only be possible if the reform process that has been initiated is sustained, supported and strengthened.