Islamabad, Panic gripped the scholars studying in various international universities under Higher Education Commission (HEC) scholarships, as they are not sure of what would happen to them after the change in the legal status of the HEC.

There are currently 4,975 scholars studying abroad under various scholarship programs who are clueless about their future as the bond they have signed with the HEC would automatically come to an end if any change takes place in its legal status.

‘The News’ has received dozens of emails of the scholars who have inquired about the legal status of the HEC after devolution. The students were worried about the funding process in future and more importantly the future of the country.

Anwar Shah, PhD student at the University of Melbourne on HEC scholarship is one such perturbed student. “My personal opinion is that HEC is doing good job for the promotion of higher education. All scholars of HEC are supposed to come back and serve the country. I have observed here that all Pakistani students who are not on HEC scholarship are not interested to come back,” he said.

He said that uncertainty about HEC was neither better for students like us neither for our beloved country. “At the moment I am not sure whether I will be able to complete my PhD or not. And there are hundreds of students like me,” he mentioned.

Shah opined that HEC must remain as an independent entity as its independence has provided chance to average people like us to get scholarship on merit; otherwise it was just a wishful thinking in the past.

The other students who have expressed their grave concern over the future of HEC included Aliya Gul (economics), Shabbir Ahmed (economics), Mohammad Akbar Shahid (veterinary sciences) and Babar Hussain (economics).

The students were of the view that their future and the future of the country would be at stake if HEC devolved to provinces. “We are aware of the condition of schools and colleges in provinces. What to talk about universities and scholarships,” said one of the students.

The sources privy to this scribe revealed that there were some scholars who have written to HEC and threatened if any change made against the bond. “The students said that they would approach court if any change takes place in the legal status of the HEC,” he said.

He said that legally the bond signed between HEC and the scholars could not be cancelled and any party who would abolish the bond would have to face the music. “A party could approach the court against the other party who is responsible for breaking the bond,” he said.

Talking to ‘The News’, HEC Executive Director Dr Sohail Naqvi said that it has been categorically clarified by the government that all scholarship programs would continue, however, the mechanism to deal with this particular subject is still to be revealed. While talking about the bond, he said that there was a possibility that the contents of the bond would be transferred to the successor organization; however, he was not sure about that either.