Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC) has blacklisted four universities and has ceased them from enrolling further students in its degree programme. The step has been taken by HEC since the universities failed to comply with the minimum requirements to provide a proper education system. HEC repeatedly asked the institutes to fill the gap in their academic irregularities but as the universities failed to cooperate, they got blacklisted.
Following are the four institutes which got banned:
- Preston Institute of Management Sciences and Technology (PIMSAT), Karachi
- Imperial College of Business Studies, Lahore
- Global Institute, Lahore
- Al-Khair University, AJK
In addition to this, all sub-campuses and affiliated branches of the aforementioned universities have also been banned from the further enrollment of students.
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In 2016, HEC officials visited universities across Pakistan to check the level of education being given by them and to review the quality and environment of education there. A number of universities were asked to fulfill the deficiencies in their education system. With repeated warnings and reminders, these four universities didn’t comply with the warnings which resulted in a ban.
One thing that needs to be noted here is that the HEC keeps issuing reminders through newspapers and social media for students to check the list of HEC recognized institutes. The HEC will not be responsible and will not cooperate in the attestation or verification of degrees obtained from institutes not included in the list. Hence, the general public should check the list before getting admissions in such institutes.
In order to check the status of recognized and non-recognized institutes, head over to this website.
Furthermore, the HEC also has a list of Accreditation Councils. These councils are responsible for accreditation of respective degree programme. The list of Accreditation Councils is given below:
- Pakistan Bar Council (PBC)
- Pakistan Council for Architects and Town Planners (PCATP)
- Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC)
- Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC)
- Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC)
- Pakistan Pharmacy Council (PCP)
- Pakistan Veterinary Medical Council (PVMC)
- National Council for Homoeopathy (NCH)
- National Council for Tibb (NCT)
- National Accreditation Council for Teachers Education (NACTE)
- National Agricultural Education Accreditation Council (NAEAC)
- National Computing Education Accreditation Council (NCEAC)
- National Business Education Accreditation Council (NBEAC).
With the help of these, students can check if a certain programme from a certain institute is certified or not.
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Pakistan Qualification Register
In addition to this, HEC has also started to develop a Pakistan Qualification Register (PQR). This is a great approach as this online database will consist a list of all approved programme of public and private HEC recognized institutes. Furthermore, the list will also include the names of all sub-campuses and affiliated institutes of those HEC recognized institutes.
The PQR will aim to provide a clear chart of skills and competencies to be acquired by every graduate. Not only this, the register will be linked to all HEC related programme and initiatives. These include the appointment of HEC approved supervisors, attestation of degrees, award of national research grants, thematic research grants for social sciences, local and overseas scholarships etc.
Most of the universities have already submitted the required information for the PQR. However, due to slow response from a number of institutes, the development of the PQR is still undergoing. The institutes are asked to submit the information at the earliest to speed up the process of the PQR and launch it online.
