Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has approved the appointment of Dr Tariq Banuri as chairperson of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

After months’ long rigorous process and clearance from the anti-corruption authorities, PM being controlling authority of HEC, approved summary for appointment of Prof Banuri as fourth permanent head of HEC.

Dr Banuri was already providing free consultative services to Pakistan government in the area of climate change and to Mehran University in the area of water.

He has broad experience in government, academia, civil society and the international system. Recently, he served as Director, Division for Sustainable Development, at the United Nations. Dr Banuri started his career in the Civil Service of Pakistan, went on to receive a PhD in Economics from Harvard University, and joined the United Nations as a Research Fellow at World Institute for Development Economics Research, a model that he adopted in setting up Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Pakistan which he served as its founding Executive Director.

He was also member of the Board of Governors of State Bank of Pakistan, member of the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council and Member/Secretary of the Presidential Steering Committee on Higher Education, and a Coordinating Lead Author of the Nobel Prize winning Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  Tariq Banuri was also member of Steering Committee on Higher Education Reforms which contributed a lot in establishment of HEC in 2002. Lately, he was affiliated with University of Utah, US, as Professor in Economics