Financial Crisis Hits KP Universities Hard

According to ARY News, more than 34 universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) are facing a severe financial crisis, with combined losses exceeding 15 billion rupees.

The crisis stems from a major imbalance between income and expenditure, with universities incurring total expenses of 34 billion rupees against an income of just 18 billion rupees.

Rising salary and pension costs have widened this gap further. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has also frozen an annual grant of 9.4 billion rupees since 2018. In contrast, the provincial government released a grant of 1.9 billion rupees for the universities in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Universities require 13 billion rupees to cover pensions and grants, and an additional 8.75 billion rupees are needed for pension obligations.

Experts recommend establishing endowment funds and digitizing fee collection and administrative processes to improve operational efficiency and reduce financial strain.

In May of last year, KP’s largest university was also hit by a financial crisis. Due to a lack of resources, it was unable to pay employee salaries or fund ongoing projects. The university needed 300 million rupees for salaries and pensions, but the HEC failed to release the full budget, and students were late in paying fees.

The Vice-Chancellor noted that employee protests caused a loss of 200 million rupees, adding to the university’s financial woes, with total losses reaching 350 million rupees. The university’s ability to pay salaries depended on timely fee submissions from students.

News Courtesy: Pro Pakistani