A task group was set up to help colleges and universities improve their pay systems so they can keep their best employees.

ISLAMABAD: On Tuesday, the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives announced that it would set up a task group to review the pay scale systems of higher education institutions (HEIs) across the country so that “top talent” could be hired and kept.

Ahsan Iqbal, the minister for planning, development, and special initiatives, said that putting together the task group showed that the government was serious about helping the higher education sector deal with its problems.

“By improving the pay scale system, Pakistan hopes to create an environment that rewards excellence and innovation in research and academia,” he said.

Iqbal said that Pakistan’s higher education sector had to have qualified teachers and staff in order to stay competitive in the world of academia and research.

In a statement, the ministry said that the basic pay scale (BPS) or their own pay scales were used by higher education schools in the country. But HEIs did not always do what the provincial governments said they should do and raise pay and benefits.

“These differences in BPS scales between universities have led to pay differences, which have caused teachers and staff to lose motivation, be unhappy, and fight with each other. “This situation has also hurt the quality of research and education in the country,” the statement said.

The ministry said that the new pay scale system that would be put in place by the task force would be fair, clear, and in line with market rates. It would also give top workers incentives and rewards based on how well they did their jobs.

It said that the task force’s goals included resolving salary-related conflicts between faculty and staff, standardizing the salary system across universities by getting rid of differences, preventing brain drain by keeping talented faculty and staff through market-based compensation packages, attracting the best talent from both local and global job markets to universities, and making sure that quality faculty are available in remote and under-developed areas.