Due to the failure of meeting the requirements set by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), as many as 31 PhD and 26 MPhil programmes have been shut down across number of universities in Pakistan.

The Chairperson of HEC, Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed during a press conference explained that different institutes offering MS, MPhil and PhD programmes were inspected by the education commission’s Quality Assurance Agency. The programmes that couldn’t meet the quality requirements were ceased.

In addition, he stated that amendments are also being made to allow commission to put penalties on such institutes that are violating the rules and regulation.

According to the recent inspections in different private and public institutes, a total of 293 PhD and 57 MPhil programmes of almost 171 universities have been reviewed for quality check. Out of the programmers, 31 PhD and 26 MPhil programmes that did not fulfill the requirement and standard of the HEC have been shut down.

Furthermore, the chairperson also revealed that 56 PhD and 10 MPhil programmes in different institutes have been closed by HEC. He stated:

“During the review process, HEC teams primarily assessed whether or not the universities were following the Act under which they are operating are their statutory bodies in place, if they are abiding by structural guidelines, and if they are following proper criteria for affiliations”

As per the report, there were only minor defects in 21 MPhil and in some 195 PhD programmes.

Institutes affected

Some of the ranked universities such as Bahauddin Zakaraiya University Multan, Iqra National University Peshawar, Beaconhouse National University Lahore, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, National Defence University Islamabad and various others had their PhD degrees sealed.

Moreover, there were number of issues that caused the penetration of PhD and MPhil programmes in various institutes. According to the report, the issues included not conducting meeting of academic council, approval of admission policy from legal authorities and not holding selection boards.

Do you think HEC made a fair call by taking this step?

Source: Express Tribune