Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed

Early life and background

Ahmed was born in Hazro, a village in Attock. His forefathers migrated from Kashmir to Pakistan in 1947. [1]

His father was a veterinarian, and his family wanted him to become a doctor. He wanted to become a teacher. His father died, and he was the eldest at home. [1]

Education

Ahmed says he is proud of the school he attended. He went to Muzaffarabad to study FSc with an uncle. He completed a BS at a college in Pindi and then an MS in Faisalabad. [1]

He was admitted to a PhD programme at UC Riverside. His PhD research was on phytochemistry of medicinal plants. He earned a PhD in science and an MS in business. His wife and one child were with him. [1]

Career

Ahmed started his career as a lecturer at a college in Pindi. He was offered jobs abroad. He returned to Pakistan right after his studies, saying he owed it to his country. He set up a business school, and later an IT institute. He says he lived and worked at the OIC. [1]

Hamdard and COMSATS

Ahmed says he was taken to Hamdard. He built the Islamabad and Faisalabad campuses of Hamdard. He was later invited to COMSATS. He says he was the first professor in the history of COMSATS, and he established the business faculty there. [1]

Higher Education Commission

Friends pushed Ahmed to go to HEC, and he joined as member operation planning, which he says was in about 2004. He says he worked on the BOT model. He says Pakistan recommended him and he was selected as Deputy Director General. He says that after two years, problems arose at HEC and the government asked him to come back. [1]

Ahmed became Executive Director of HEC, then Chairman after one year, serving from 2014 to 2018. He says ISESCO called him back because he had not finished his term. The government gave him a chance to become Chairman again in 2022. He received a one-year second term instead of two years. He says his current term ends on 29 July. [1]

HEC was created by upgrading the UGC after a 2001 World Bank report. It is both a regulator and a government funding agency. The chairman of HEC was given the status of a federal minister. Ahmed is the current Chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan. [1]

Universities and quality

Ahmed says Pakistan has 272 universities, public and private. He puts the higher education access rate at about 12-13%, and says 48% of students in the university system are female. He says the number of Pakistani universities in the top thousand rose from three in 2019 to 18. He says one Pakistani university will certainly reach the top 200-250. [1]

Ahmed says governance and quality are the two main problems of universities. He says ranking is not his main concern; the depth and breadth of institutions matter more. He describes quality as a continuous learning process. He says quality enhancement cells exist within universities, and that a quality system with 16 parameters and hundreds of indicators was approved by the commission. [1]

Ahmed says HEC will begin auditing universities and publish audit-based reports. He says HEC has regional offices in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad. He says degree attestation, once manual with queues, is now fully online. He says everything was agreed through consultation, approved by the commission, sent to universities to implement, and put on the website. He says he wants to remove the human factor from the university system. [1]

Ahmed says universities must meet HEC's minimum criteria but may add more. He also says universities are technically autonomous. [1]

Degrees and skills

Ahmed says the associate degree has been offered since 2005, with an exit option after two years. He says Pakistan's system mainly follows the US model, with a 4 plus 2 plus 3 to 5 structure. He says the two-year course was turned around to 80% hands-on skill and 20% theory. He says the Prime Minister instructed him to head a committee. He says Pakistan adopted a German-style Fachhochschule model with two tracks, one of them skills-based. [1]

He says the first national skill university was set up in Islamabad. He says a skill university was set up in Nowshera by the KP government, and another in Khairpur by the Sindh government. [1]

Scholarships, research and enterprise

Ahmed says HEC has awarded more than 400,000 scholarships. He says that in the past two or three years scholarships were not given because about 3,000 students studying abroad on Pakistani scholarships had to be protected first. He says conditions are improving and scholarships to the country's youth are being reactivated. [1]

Ahmed says that over the past five or six years the slogan has changed from impact factor to impact. He says he wants research that benefits humanity. He says entrepreneurship has been made compulsory, and that people should not look for jobs but create jobs. He says multi-million companies are being started at Pakistani universities. [1]

Ahmed says around 150 million young people are under the age of 30. He says the requirement for nursing staff is over 2.1 million. [1]

Digital infrastructure

HEC built the Pakistan Education Research Network (PERN). Ahmed says China is providing 250 million dollars in grant aid. He says the dark fibre and fibre optic network laid is about 7,000 kilometres long. He says thousands of full-text journals are available free of cost to students and researchers. He says 4,000 to 5,000 students can be given training at a time. [1]

Ahmed says the first four agents have started being built in Pakistan. He says an ERP system was taken live in 25 universities. [1]

Views

Ahmed says degrees will remain, though their shape will change. He says the teacher's role will change rather than end. He does not agree that AI will end jobs; he says roles will change. He says the mobile phone will be a student's university, instructor and lab. [1]

Ahmed describes himself as an optimistic person who says the future is bright. He says there is no reason Pakistan cannot be much better by 2047 or 2050. He describes himself as a teacher and says he must give the nation hope. He says he returned to Pakistan to work for his country and his sector. [1]

Timeline

1947

His forefathers migrated from Kashmir to Pakistan.[1]

2004

Joined HEC as member operation planning, by his account in about this year.[1]

2014

Became Chairman of HEC, serving until 2018.[1]

2022

Given a chance by the government to become Chairman again.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. Pakistan's two real university problems are governance and quality . Thought Behind Things , 2025-07-23.