Islamabad, The future plans of around 400 students, who cleared the mandatory written examinations for foreign scholarships, have faced obstacles due to financial inability of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to provide them with any support after severe cut in its annual education budget.

An English daily newspaper reported that these students were intended for universities in Italy, France, Germany, Australia, England and Thailand and most of them were almost ready to fly to their respective destinations, but at the eleventh hour the HEC directed them through letters to abandon their plans, as it could not provide them with any financial support.

Sources said that the travel plans of 200 students, who were ready in September to join their universities, were first put on hold and now the remaining students also faced the same fate, much to their disappointment and their family members as well.

According to sources, the HEC has also stopped processing of 1,700 such opportunities in government-run universities within the country that resulted in a wave of disappointment among young and talented students, who planned to secure higher education on scholarship.

Sources said that Federal Finance Minister Hafeez Ahmad Sheikh has told the HEC high-ups that the government could provide funds only for those who were currently studying in foreign universities and it would never facilitate any such foreign scholarship scheme in future.

One of the senior HEC officials claimed that when the finance minister was asked to extend funds for those who were already selected for the foreign scholarships then he said “not to even think about it.” Since its inception in 2002, the HEC has so far spent Rs20 billion on its human resource development program that covers all its scholarship schemes. Out of the total 13,436 scholarships, 5,765 were given for foreign universities. Of them, 2,449 have returned and the rest were still studying abroad.

It is pertinent to mention here that the cut in HEC budget led the situation to the extent where the commission stopped funding those students studying in the foreign universities, but when students raised their voice the government promised to provide funds for their ongoing studies. A total of Rs15.762 billion PSDP budget for 2010-11 was approved for the HEC, which is Rs7 billion less than the last year’s approved budget of Rs22.5 billion. The issue had drawn widespread condemnation for the government after which it promised to provide the required funds for ongoing development projects and students currently studying in foreign universities.

The official said there would be no new development project and local or foreign scholarship scheme unless the government increases the funding to a required level, apparently showing a dismal situation in the higher education sector.

HEC Executive Director Dr. Sohail Naqvi told ‘The News’ that they are in touch with the government high-ups and trying to secure funding for students selected for foreign scholarships this year. “These students are our future and we should try our best to secure funds for their scholarships. We have not yet lost hope that is why we have informed students through letters that they should postpone their travel plans for the time being,” he said.