HEDP is a World Bank supported project (USD. 400 Million). It is assisting HEC in key strategic areas of research and development, improving the quality of higher education and support to affiliated colleges, leveraging technological resources and capacity building of faculty/ staff through the National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE).
Project Development Objectives: The HEDP project has following key development objectives:
- To support research excellence in strategic sectors of the economy.
- To improve teaching and learning
- To strengthen IT/governance in the higher education sector
Key Project Statistics:

Project Components: The project comprises of six components.
Component 1 (C1)
of HEDP comprises of research grants. These grants are contributing to
COVID-19 related medical research, improving exports, and are
accelerating research to contribute towards economic growth. HEDP is
also supporting development of national start-up ecosystem and hence
will play a key role in contributing towards the knowledge economy of
the country.
Component 2 (C2),
HEDP focuses on new Undergraduate Education Policy 2020 (UEP) based on
best international practices. In order to improve the quality of
education in the affiliated colleges, new Quality Enhancement Cell for
Affiliated Colleges (QECACs) are also being setup in parent
universities. After a comprehensive study of the HEC QA model and
international benchmarking, the existing QECs will also be revamped so
that the higher education quality assurance model in Pakistan is in line
with international best practices.
Component 3 (C3), HEDP is required to leverage technology for improve the teaching, learning
and research environment in Pakistan. PERN (Pakistan Education Research
Network) connectivity will be extended to Higher Education Institutions
and will expand further to include more universities. This network
provides faster access to internet and research databases to higher
education institutions across Pakistan.

The Component 4 (C4) key feature is to acquire latest higher education technology and make it available to the universities in Pakistan at a reduced cost. Under this component, ERP and Student Life Cycle systems will be implemented in 50 universities across Pakistan. These systems will greatly improve the efficiencies of these institutions. A central higher education data repository is being established to collect data from HEIs.
The Component 5 (C5) is focused on training of higher education faculty, project monitoring & evaluation and project coordination unit. HEDP is providing crucial support to National Academy for Higher Education (NAHE), which is tasked to train fresh PhD graduates, faculty members and HEC staff. NAHE has already completed capacity building of 2045 HEI faculty and management. The need-based capacity building initiatives are being taken under component 5 that will have impact for the years to come.
Under Component 6 (C6) , HEDP is aiding universities in improving their Financial Autonomy and develop a framework to address these needs. In addition under this component HEDP shall ensure access to the latest technology and connectivity, improving governance and long-term sustainability of institutions.
HEDP strongly believes in engaging stakeholders and beneficiaries right from the start. No solution is successful and sustainable unless proactive and interactive consultations are made with its beneficiaries. From the start of project all stakeholder’s including teachers, researchers, faculty, VCs and educational departments of both federal and provinces are engaged at all levels and for all activities of the project. The first comprehensive citizen engagement report of the project encompassing Year 1 to Year 4 of the project consultations was published in Oct 2023.
Download by clicking the link: -->
citizen engagment report-final-1.pdf
To learn more about the project updates, please visit project LinkedIn page.
The project extension for another year is in final stages.