Pakistan: Over 34 universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa grappling with financial crisis

Over 34 universities in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been facing a financial crisis, with a collective loss of Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 15 billion, ARY News reported.

According to the details, the financial crisis is due to the significant disparity between the income of the universities and expenditures. The total expenditure of the universities is PKR 34 billion, the income is merely PKR 18 billion.

The hike in salaries and pensions has further enhanced the problem, resulting in a substantial gap between income and expenses.

The Higher Education Commission has frozen the annual grant of PKR 9 billion 40 million since 2018. However, the provincial government has released a grant of PKR 1 billion 90 million for the universities in 2023-2024.

In order to address the pension and grant obligations, the universities need PKR 13 billion. Furthermore, an additional PKR 8 billion 75 million are required to settle the pension obligations, according to ARY News report.

To reduce financial woes, experts have recommended establishing endowment funds and digitizing fees and other processes to streamline functioning and enhance efficiency.

In May last year, the biggest university in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was facing financial issues. The university had no money to pay the salaries to employees and the projects were also halted due to lack of funds, ARY News reported.

The university administration required PKR 300 million for the payment of salaries and budget. However, the full budget was not released by the High Education Commission (HEC). Furthermore, the students did not pay the fees on time.

The Vice Chancellor of the University said that the employees’ protest caused a loss of PKR 200 million. The university was facing a loss of PKR 350 million and the payment of salaries was fully dependent on the fees given by students.