Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has directed the Higher Education Commission to include entrepreneurship and export-led growth as course subjects for degree programs in all universities to enhance capacity of the students.

He was speaking during a meeting in Islamabad on Thursday to discuss the performance audit framework and pending initiatives of HEC.

The Minister directed the concerned authorities to create corporate-level innovation labs in various universities and to provide all the facilities in the existing innovation labs.

He emphasized on ensuring quality standards in the higher education sector with six key parameters including quality and impact of research, university-industry linkages, technology enablement, corporate governance, community service and graduate quality and employability.

During the meeting, projects related to science and technology under PSDP were also deliberated in detail. The Minister assured of all possible support related to the approval process and release of funds for the proposed projects.