period of 1960–65 in a joint collaboration led by Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (the then called Ministry of Education), University Grants Commission and Planning Commission. Colleges were transformed into full-scale research universities and special research institutes were established in all over the country. According to the calculations performed by the Statistics Division and published by Isani, around 430,000 students were enrolled in different universities to pursue their higher education over the fiscal period of 1960–65. From 1965 to 1971, the government spent 173.8 million rupees on the education sector as opposed to actual allocations of ₨. 278.6 million. 1971–2000s: Revision and policies After the 1971 war with India which saw the separation of East Pakistan as Bangladesh, the new education policy was announced with the implementation of nationalization program in 1972, by the Pakistan Peoples Party. Under this policy, all two-year colleges were transformed to university status under the state-controlled policy, and privatized universities were nationalized. During this time, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had spent 70% of natural resources on higher education efforts; enrollment in the universities increased to 56%. Prime Minister Bhutto sought integrated social change and economic progress through nationalization. In 1974, the University Grants Commission was officially established by an Act of Parliament. In 1979, President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's policies announced "The National Education Policy, 1979" (NEP-79) which saw the harmonization of higher education in Pakistan with Islamic concepts and the national ideology. President Zia's policies led to the fundamentalist ideas flaring in the higher education system in the country. In 1992, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a "National Education Policy 1992" (NEP-92) to streamline the process of higher education. This was followed by the Eighth Five-year Plans launched by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1993 which focused on primary education. 2000s–present: New Era Prior to the year 2000, different higher education policies, priorities and the need of competition between the political forces in Pakistan led to disturbances in the higher education sector as well as adversely affecting the University Grants Commission's ability. The inadequate financial funding and policy implementation never matched the need of higher education in the country. In 2002, President Pervez Musharraf took the initiative of dissolving the University Grants Commission and establishing a new autonomous organisation which was completely independent of the Federal Ministry of Education – the Higher Education Commission. The Chairman of the Higher Education