Presentation held to highlight efforts for social sciences development

A presentation on “Advancement of Social Sciences” was organized by Faculty of Social Science at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU).

Chairman of the Committee for Development of Social Sciences and Humanities of Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr. Nasir Khan in the presentation highlighted efforts aimed at consistent and sustainable development of Social Sciences.

The purpose of presentation was to bridge the gap between faculty members and HEC by creating awareness about Commission’s Programmes among academia.

He said HEC is currently offering almost 5600 scholarships in sciences and some 900 scholarships in Arts, humanities, social and business sciences.

He pointed out that there are only 5 out of 29 subjects of Arts, Humanities, Social and Business Sciences listed in HEC are getting the major share of funding.

“Economics, Management Sciences, Education, History, and Statistics are the major subjects which are getting almost 90 percent of the resources for the research activity,” he said.

Dr. Nasir Khan said HEC allocated 700 million rupees for research last year out of which 30 million were allocated only for social sciences. He emphasized the need to increase number of applicants and improve quality of research proposals.

He urged the participants to benefit from the funding that is available with HEC for holding conferences, seminars and workshops.

He invited proposals for three thematic areas of research for social sciences for 2010-2011.

QAU Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, deans, chairpersons and directors of various departments and centers and faculty members attended the presentation.