ISLAMABAD, JAN 27 /DNA/ – The Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan, in close partnership with the British Council Pakistan, has formally commenced five-day deliberations on the development of Research Excellence Framework (REF) under Pak-UK Education Gateway programme. Once finalised, the framework is expected to strengthen the research evaluation, benchmarking, and performance assessment ecosystem in Pakistan.      

During the course of the consultations, organised by Research & Innovation Division (R&ID) of HEC, a four-member expert delegation from the University of Sussex, UK – the lead consultant providing technical expertise for the initiative – will remain engaged in in-depth discussions with the HEC and British Council leadership, academic leaders and policymakers, and stakeholders to finalise the proposed policy framework.

The flagship bilateral initiative – the proposed REF – is envisioned to serve as a formula to evaluate the quality, impact and integrity of research to drive evidence-based funding and global competitiveness. It envisages deepened academic collaboration, strengthened quality assurance, consistency, and international competitiveness of Pakistan’s research environment. Being tailored to national needs and policy goals, the framework will serve as a unified model with transparent scoring, standardised evidence requirements, and quality assurance processes in higher education.

On the opening day, the participants were briefed on the planned week-long activities, their expected outcomes, and key decision points. The discussions emphasised that REF must be a robust, fair and transparent mechanism to evaluate research quality, research environment, and societal impact, while supporting institutional improvement and national research priorities.

The UK experts – comprising Prof. Jeremy Kenthall, Director, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex; Prof. Paul Nightingale, Professor of Strategy, University of Sussex; Ms. Mandy Samantha Crawford Lee, Chief Executive, University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC), UK; and Ms. Breda Maria Mostret, Associate Consultant, University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC), UK – shared an overview of the work completed to date and outlined the proposed roadmap ahead.

Through a comprehensive presentation, the experts underlined the vision behind the initiative, the work completed so far, and the future strategy. They said the REF aligns with the global research excellence systems, particularly the UK Research Excellence Framework. They revealed that a Steering Group and REF Project Team have been constituted under the partners’ oversight. The framework is at present in the pilot phase with selected HEIs to stress-test the criteria, they highlighted.

Senior officials from different HEC’s Divisions actively engaged in the day-one discussions and highlighted the necessity of development of a Pakistan-specific REF. They said the initiative reflects HEC’s commitment to international best practices while keeping in view the national context.

The session focused on reaching consensus, in principle, on the ethics framework, including a governance model suitable for piloting, oversight mechanisms, accountability structures, and safeguards to ensure integrity and credibility of evaluation process. The conversations concluded with a debrief to synthesise key messages and refine narratives ahead of subsequent stakeholder engagements during the week ahead.

Over the course of the week-long discussions, the HEC, British Council, and the UK REF teams will hold detailed technical sessions to reach the finalisation of the REF policy and the design of pilot phase. The engagement represents a major step forward in HEC’s efforts to align Pakistan’s research system with global standards, enhance accountability, and maximise the societal and economic impact of publicly funded research.