Pakistan Seeks World Bank’s Assistance to Revamp Higher Education Project

The Pakistani government has formally requested the World Bank (WB) to restructure the Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) initiative. This $393.73 million project is undergoing its fourth restructuring to facilitate the completion of essential information technology (IT) and IT-related projects within universities, with the anticipated positive impacts extending beyond the project’s timeline.

Currently in its sixth year, the project aims to bolster research excellence in crucial economic sectors, enhance teaching methodologies and learning outcomes, and reinforce governance structures within the higher education landscape.

Request for Extension

The Economic Affairs Division has communicated the need for a four-month extension via an official letter. This extension is crucial to finalize the remaining five packages encompassing IT and associated services, which are currently in advanced stages of implementation.

The request for additional time arises from several disruptions and procedural bottlenecks that have impeded the timely delivery of IT hardware to designated ports, consequently affecting the deployment of relevant software and service packages.

Extending the closing date will enable the successful establishment of critical IT infrastructure within universities, ensuring long-term benefits beyond the project’s duration.

Overall, the project’s implementation progress is currently rated as moderately satisfactory.

Key Achievements:
  • Thirty-one research grants awarded in Year 2 have reached 80% of their intended outcomes, while 28 research grants from Year 3 have achieved 60% of their targets. Additionally, nine RTTGs awarded in Year 5 have achieved 50% of their outcome targets.
  • The National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE) has provided training to 1,113 faculty members and 903 higher education administrators.
  • Fifty Quality Enhancement Cells in Affiliated Colleges (QECACs) have successfully completed Self-Assessment Reports (SARs).
  • Twenty affiliating universities or ACs are actively implementing the career and internship framework.
  • Three hundred higher education institutions are now connected to the Pakistan Education and Research Network (PERN).
  • The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has formulated, ratified, and implemented essential policies, including the Undergraduate Education Policy and the Open Distance Learning Policy. Nine out of eleven intermediate results indicators have been successfully met, with the remaining two anticipated to be achieved by June 30, 2025.
  • As of June 10, 2025, disbursements from the International Development Association (IDA) Credit amount to $375.70 million, comprising $319 million against Performance-Based Conditions (PBCs) and $56.70 million for the Investment Project Financing (IPF) component. The final disbursement of $12.3 million against the PBCs has been approved and is currently being processed. The remaining balance of the IPF component is scheduled for disbursement in fiscal year 2026.

This restructuring will exclusively involve extending the project’s closing date by four months, pushing it to October 31, 2025. The work plan will be adjusted accordingly. No changes will be made to the Project Development Objective (PDO), PDO indicators, project activities, or components as a result of this restructuring. The implementation arrangement and Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) mechanism will remain unchanged. Furthermore, there will be no modifications or scaling up of any project activities.

The extension of the project’s closing date will not entail any alterations to the existing Financial Management (FM), procurement, and environmental and social safeguards arrangements, which are deemed adequate and will continue to effectively support the project’s operations. The established FM systems, encompassing budgeting, disbursement, accounting, and financial reporting (including reporting frequency), will remain consistent with established procedures.

The project has undergone three previous restructurings. The initial restructuring, approved on June 14, 2021, was a response to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and included:

  • Introduction of Component 6 to support continued learning during unforeseen crises and university lockdowns, along with providing special funds to universities to enhance their financial autonomy.
  • Reallocation of funds between components to better address ongoing needs.
  • Revision of the Results Framework to reflect changes in activities.

The second restructuring, approved on June 15, 2023, was designed to repurpose unutilized funds from lapsed targets under Performance-Based Conditions (PBC) 1 and PBC 2 toward:

  • A new round of Rapid Technology Transfer Grants (RTTGs) focused on emergency response, climate change, extreme weather event preparedness, and import replacement research (PBC 1, Component 1).
  • A new target to track RTTG outcomes (PBC 2, Component 1).
  • An increased target for universities participating in the framework for improvement in financial autonomy (PBC 10, Component 6).

The third restructuring, finalized on April 1, 2024, aimed to:

  • Extend the project closing date by 12 months to June 30, 2025.
  • Adjust four PBC targets to align with implementation of activities.
  • Drop two PBCs associated with activities that were no longer relevant and reallocate the associated US$ 4 million to support funding required for Information Technology (IT) and IT-related activities, as well as conduct a tracer study to inform labor market outcomes of higher education graduates.
  • Refine the Results Framework to reflect the activity changes, set more ambitious targets given the 12-month extension, and add a corporate scorecard indicator.