The Higher Education Commission’s budget in Karachi has been slashed significantly, dropping from 65 billion to 25 billion rupees. Consequently, funding has been restricted solely to federal universities.
For the fiscal year 2024-25, the federal government has drastically reduced the recurring budget of the Higher Education Commission to 25 billion rupees, allocating it exclusively to federal universities. This means that provincial universities under the commission will no longer receive funding, and provinces will have to finance their own universities.
The Ministry of Finance has communicated this budget cut to the Higher Education Commission, which had initially requested 126 billion rupees for over 160 government universities nationwide.
Dr. Mukhtar, Chairman of the Higher Education Commission, confirmed receiving letters from the Ministry of Finance regarding the reduction in the recurring grant, as well as from the Planning Commission regarding the development grant. He mentioned that letters have been forwarded to the Prime Minister regarding this issue and stressed the need for cooperation between provinces and the federal government.
